Chapter One Hundred and Fifty- Nine
Asli’s nails bit into her palm. It took discipline not to move, not to reveal herself. How dare he talk to her father like that? Why was Demir calm? Why was everyone watching Aht talk to their Godfather like that? Then she saw as her father signaling everyone to stay put.
Why?
Marco stepped forward slowly, the faintest smile tugging at his mouth.
"So," he said calmly, eyes never leaving Aht. "You’re the ghost that’s been haunting my warehouses."
Aht’s lips curved, not in humor, but in challenge. "You destroyed lives and called it business. I have decided your fate."
Who the hell did he think he was to decide her father’s fate? Was he high on sothing?
Marco laughed softly. A sound without warmth. "You think you’re the first man to co at with justice in his mouth?"
"No," Aht said. "Just the one who’ll finish it."
From the shadows, Asli felt sothing shift.
This wasn’t their first conversation. That much was clear now.
The way Marco didn’t bristle. The way Aht didn’t rush. There was a rhythm here, both asured and practiced like two n who had crossed paths before and survived it several tis. Her adoptive father had sworn otherwise. He had sworn Aht was nothing more than the son of a man who deserved to die. Had sworn he had never stood face-to-face with him because of what Aht’s family had done to hers.
Yet here they were.
Too calm and too familiar.
Marco took a step forward. "I won’t warn you," he said lightly. "n like you and like your father never listen. But I will tell you this. Return what you took from my warehouses. Including every sealed package." His eyes hardened. "I hope they’re still sealed."
Aht’s smile barely moved. "Or else what?"
The question landed without fear. Without caution.
Marco tilted his head, changing direction as if bored with threats. "I’m surprised you haven’t noticed your brother is on my side."
Asli’s teeth clenched.
’No, no. He’s not.’ Asli answered herself, hurting for him.
Aht’s gaze flicked, sharp. "And it didn’t occur to you to ask?" he said. "You know we don’t take betrayal well."
Marco stiffened. "What?"
Before Demir could even lift his gun, Markus raised both brows, amusent dancing in his eyes.
"Oh, relax," he said lightly. "I swapped all your guns. You are all holding toy models. Pretty convincing, right?"
The air exploded with clicks and dry snaps as n pulled triggers. Nothing fired.
Demir stared at his weapon, disbelief tearing across his face as he tried again, then again. Even his personal gun was useless.
Asli’s lips curved despite herself.
Sloppy.
If this had been her operation, Aht would already be bleeding.
Marco’s voice tightened. "Aht. Return my property. Don’t ask for war."
If this was going to be a peaceful encounter, why did Marco bring all these n along? Why did it seem her father was afraid of Aht?
Aht laughed this ti, low and humorless. "I’m afraid I want war." His gaze swept the n, lingering on Demir. "You really think everyone standing behind you is loyal?" His eyes sharpened. "Your nephew certainly isn’t. And where’s your daughter?"
Asli’s pulse slamd hard against her ribs.
Aht’s tone shifted, it was not louder, but darker. Sothing sour crept into it when he spoke again.
Her chest constricted.
No.
Her fingers dug into her palms. Heat surged up her spine, sharp and furious, drowning out the rest of the world. Whatever he was about to say, she couldn’t let it leave his mouth.
"Why didn’t you bring her?" Aht pressed, eyes glittering. "Did you send her hunting for your things while you handled this?"
Markus moved subtly, trying to pull his attention, but Aht was already lost to whatever storm had crossed his face.
"She won’t find anything," he continued, disgust thickening his voice. "That bitch you love so much..."
Asli moved even before she could think.
The shadows spat her out like a blade.
She launched herself at him, montum sharp and furious. Her fist cut through the air; fast, fast, and brutal but Aht caught it inches from his face, fingers locking around her wrist with iron force.
Recognition flickered across his features as they collided.
She twisted, kicked, and drove her elbow toward his ribs. He blocked, and countered, grabbing her waist and shoving her back. Boots scraped concrete. Their movents were vicious and precise; no wasted motion, no hesitation. Fists t flesh and their bones rang.
Around them, chaos erupted.
Markus slamd into Demir, his playful grin gone now, movents sharp and deadly. Demir roared, swinging hard, fury blinding him. n piled into one another, shouting, grunting, bodies crashing as loyalties fractured.
Marco turned, moving fast for his car.
Asli saw it.
He yanked the door open, reaching inside, and then sothing clinked across the ground.
A small canister rolled.
Then another.
White smoke burst outward, thick and sudden, swallowing the yard. n coughed, cursed, staggered blind as visibility vanished in seconds. Headlights flared uselessly against the fog.
Then the engines roared to life.
Through the smoke, Asli heard the cars peeling away in rapid succession. Those were... The sound pattern was familiar. Controlled.
Her people.
Did her father leave a scene before his enemy was down?
She broke from Aht’s grip with a sharp twist, landing lightly, already retreating. She vanished into the smoke, her heart hamring, fury singing in her blood.
As she ran, she threw one last promise into the night.
I will kill you, Aht.
Asli sprinted for her bike, boots striking asphalt in sharp, controlled bursts. Her helt was still sealed by the ti she swung on, the engine roaring to life beneath her. She shot forward, cutting through side streets, lights blurring as the night peeled open to let her through.
She didn’t slow until the steel and concrete rose familiar around her. She was at her warehouse after a short while.
She rolled inside.
A thin veil of white still clung to her clothes, the residue of smoke grenades, CS-based and military-grade, designed for clean dispersal and fast extraction.
If Cole hadn’t deployed them when he did, if that cloud hadn’t swallowed faces and silhouettes whole, her father would have known. The way Aht’s hand had gone for her helt... a second longer and Marco would have seen her eyes... Her face.
Her jaw tightened.
Why had he tried to unmask her?
The warehouse door creaked again. Cole slipped in minutes later, alert, and scanning. His weapon lowered only when he saw her.
"You used smoke," she said.
He nodded once.
Her pulse was still racing, loud enough to drown her thoughts. Even her father, Marco had stepped back when Aht moved. Not fear exactly. Sothing worse. Calculation edged with restraint.
Was Aht that powerful?
Her mind replayed it in flashes, the way Aht stood unflinching, the way n twice his number hesitated around him. The way his presence bent the air, unsettled sothing old and dangerous.
It always started the sa way: kidnappings, then murders, and by the ti anyone understood the order of it, an entire syndicate was already dead.
Was he the rot threatening the foundations?
Or...
Her fingers curled slowly.
’Return everything.’
She’d heard it clearly. Out of pure rage. Her father was not confused.
’Do not ask for war.’ A demand made by a man who knew what he’d lost and what it ant.
Was Aht blackmailing him? With what?
The thought lodged deep and sharp. Marco didn’t beg. He didn’t negotiate unless sothing precious was already cutting his soul.
What did Aht take from him?
And then there was the question that refused to loosen its grip.
Why had Aht co for her? Why did he choose to blackmail and get close to her?
Why not Marco first? Why her and not Demir?
Her.
Asli crossed the floor, boots echoing softly, her mind racing faster than her bike ever had. She couldn’t ask her father, not without setting off alarms she wasn’t ready to face.
There was only one man who held the answers she needed.
Aht.
What was her father so afraid he took? What did he take? And why was his father asking him calmly?
What was going on?
And why after everything, had Aht decided to tell on her?
**************
Marco made a small gesture and said, "Here." The word ca sharp, and brittle. The car rolled to a stop halfway down the deserted stretch of road, headlights cutting a pale corridor through the night. He shoved the door open before the engine fully idled and stepped out, the cold air striking his face like a reprimand.
He dragged a hand through his hair, paced once, then stopped.
A sound tore out of him. It was raw, hoarse, and too loud for a man who prided himself on control. It echoed off the street, off the trees, off the silence that followed. His chest rose and fell as if the air had turned heavy, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Demir was already out of the car, moving without hesitation, coming to stand beside him. Close enough to hear the uneven rhythm in Marco’s breathing. Close enough to see the tremor he was trying to suppress.
"Aht is asking for an early death," Marco said at last. His voice sounded wrong, too tight, like it might crack if pushed. "How dare he?" He let out a short, disbelieving laugh that went nowhere. "And Markus?" His head shook slowly, as if refusing what his mind had already accepted. "They were playing ?"
The question lingered between them, unfinished. Not really a question at all. More a hope, thin, and desperate, that Demir would contradict him. That soone would tell him he didn’t hear them right. He needed to hear badly that no one could fool him, that no one fooled him.
"Uncle," Demir said carefully, "I told you not to trust him. His behavior was off for a Mafia."
Marco’s head snapped toward him.
"Are you telling I was blind?" he snapped back, irritation flaring hot and sudden. His hands clenched at his sides, then unclenched, restless, searching for sothing to strike. "I should have known. When his father had also betrayed his brother and changed his mind."
"What do you an, uncle?" Demir sounded interested but he should know better that Marco would never share any information he didn’t want to. "Markus never wanted to betray Aht." He could only conclude.
Marco only glanced at him briefly. He turned away again, staring into the darkness beyond the road, jaw working as if he were grinding sothing bitter between his teeth. His foot tapped once. Twice. He could not keep still. He kept pacing now, then stopping, then pacing again, the control he wore like a second skin slipping at the seams.
"Call the Villa," he said, already moving back toward the car. "Tell them I want Asli in my office the mont she returns from her mission." His tone hardened and sharpened by resolve. "She executes her revenge imdiately."
He paused, one hand braced against the open car door.
"And make sure to increase security," he added, the words coming faster now. "Double..." He exhaled sharply, reconsidered. "No. Ten tis what we have at the other warehouses. Every entrance. Every exit. I don’t want any gaps. If Markus was never on my side, then I need as much security as I can get."
Demir nodded, already reaching for his phone.
Marco slid back into the car, shoulders rigid, eyes fixed ahead. The engine started, but the tension didn’t ease. If anything, it thickened and coiled tight beneath his skin.
Marco was going to make sure Aht wouldn’t win this as his father did so many years ago.
"I almost forgot. His real parents couldn’t." He thought aloud.
"What did you say, Godfather?" His driver imdiately asked.
"Nothing that concerns you. Drive!"
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