Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three
"Then why didn’t you tell her that?" Markus pushed.
Aht did not answer. What was he supposed to tell her?
Markus did not press. Not yet.
The tension stretched between them, brittle and silent. Until finally, Aht let himself sink into the nearest chair, hands rubbing through his face like he was trying to erase it.
Markus watched him, really watched him. This wasn’t just a comrade who had missed a shot. This was a man unraveling under the weight of a truth he couldn’t dodge anymore.
Markus was watching Aht fall in love for the first ti and that too with the woman forbidden to them.
"She thinks I’m like her father," Aht said quietly.
"Using people. Brutal. Controlling. Cold."
"And are you not?" Markus sincerely wasn’t judging. Using people. Brutal. Controlling. Cold. Those were who they were.
"No," Aht snapped. "I am not like him. He is a rpist, kills innocent people. He is more than a monster."
"Right. But does Asli know her father does those things?" That was a good question. They had wanted to strip her father of his role because of this and that was what entangled him with Asli as well, thinking she was aware of what her father did. But when they confird she was the Midnight Reaper, they should have left her out of it.
"Then prove to her what you feel for her is..."
"How? Besides, I’m not so sure about what I feel or if she would want to see ."
Markus shrugged. "Maybe. But talk to her. I don’t care about what you feel. I care about her. She left here but maybe she’s waiting again. Just not outside the gate this ti."
Aht said nothing. But the way he clenched his fists was answer enough.
Markus slid off the table and stretched, back popping slightly. "Talk to her."
"She won’t listen."
"You haven’t tried."
"I’m not going to beg."
Markus turned to him, smirking faintly. "Why? Because you are Aht the untouchable? You already begged on the phone, brother. I was right there. If you are going to fall, at least fall with so damn style."
Aht opened his mouth, maybe to defend himself, maybe to curse, but Markus cut him off, walking toward the bar and pouring himself a short drink.
"Look," he continued, "I don’t give a shit what you think this is, or how twisted the past was. You two have always been circling the sa fla. You think I didn’t see that? I knew from day one."
"Markus—"
"No, let talk now. You want honesty? Fine. You think you are scared of how she feels? I think you are scared of how you feel. Because for once, you can’t control this. You can’t predict her. You can’t own her. She has the power to wreck you and guess what, my dear?"
He tossed back the drink and set the glass down with a thud.
"She already has, just as much as you have broken her heart."
The silence returned, but this ti it was dense. Thick with tension and pain.
Aht’s chest rose and fell heavily. "You think I don’t know all that?"
"Then stop pretending you don’t."
There was another pause. Then Markus stepped closer, eyes narrowing not in malice, but in sothing rare: sincerity.
"Fix it," he said quietly. "Because if you leave it like this... if you walk away from what you had with her, what you still have, you are going to regret it. And if I decide to fix it for you, I will make sure you pay ten tis for how you ssed it up."
Aht huffed a bitter laugh. "You wouldn’t." Oh, how was he going to face the world if anyone aside from him knew he loved soone.
"I would. Because for all her madness and fire, Asli deserves soone who fights for her, not just sleeps with her."
There was a long beat of silence.
"Why did we even want her Villa?" Aht asked suddenly, his gaze turning toward the sealed gates on the monitor.
Markus was quiet for a mont, then nodded toward the screen. "To end her father’s black market empire. To shut down his trafficking routes.
To break his grip." This wasn’t because they didn’t know them... Aht just wanted to hear that he had a good reason for going after sothing she loved the most.
Aht nodded. "And she would want that too."
"She always would. That is why she created Midnight Reaper. Because her father wanted that auction hall taken... the hostages and all. He told us to raze it. But she... she went in to save them. Alone, disguised as the Midnight Reaper. Asli would understand if you co clean."
Aht closed his eyes, the mory searing through him like fire. "She loves the man. That’s the man who saved her. She would never understand us wanting to hurt him. Besides, if we were to get the Villa, what would happen to her? She would never have sat still while we ruled it. If she regained it, she would have given it back to her father. Unless we killed him and if we killed him... it would have caused her to hate us forever. No matter how we explained our intentions to her..."
"We did her dirty," Markus continued softly. "We didn’t think things through. We never imagined you would fall for her."
"I haven’t fallen for her!" Aht tried defending himself as he tried to mask his embarrassnt.
"Tell that to yourself. You used her submission to you. Her naiveness. We gave her every reason not to trust us. Power ans nothing if you can’t protect the people you love."
"I wish you were joking. At least it would seem the situation had a solution." Aht could use so jokes to remind him that the situation wasn’t as intense as it was.
"No," Markus whispered. "I’m not. I can’t."
He stood slowly, his movents heavy with thought.
Then, quietly, like a confession: "I have to apologize."
Markus nodded. "Damn right, you do. What do you think this whole conversation was about?"
Aht stared at the door for a long mont.
Then he turned back. "What about you?"
Markus gave a lopsided grin. "? I’m going to keep getting on her nerves. Though this ti..."
He gave a playful shrug.
"I think I’m getting shot."
He winked, then walked out, leaving Aht alone with his thoughts, and the gate still humming softly behind the glass.
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