Chapter One Hundred and sixty- Five
Asli’s phone rang the mont she shed the Midnight Reaper
persona.
The leather gloves were barely off when the vibration cut
through the silence. She paused, her senses flaring, and her eyes scanning her
surroundings; every corner, rooftops, and reflections. Only when she was
certain she had not been followed or spotted did she reach for the phone.
Her father’s na glared back at her.
She exhaled slowly and answered.
"Sir."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Marco’s voice roared
through the line, loud enough that she instinctively pulled the phone a
fraction away from her ear.
Sothing twisted low in her belly, the familiar sharp, and instinctive
tightening. Her fingers curled around the device as her mind raced. Did he find
out? The secrets she carried were layered, carefully buried, or so she hoped.
However, Marco was soone who had a way of sensing rot even
when he didn’t know where it festered.
She waited.
His silence stretched, as if deliberate.
"Cole had the audacity," Marco continued, "to tell that
any orders I have for him should go through you."
Asli closed her eyes briefly. Was this what his outburst was
about? She thought he had found out about her relationship with Aht. She thought
Aht had ratted her out.
If only Marco knew the truth, his anger wouldn’t have been
because of this. He would have better things to explode about.
"What kind of training did you give him?" he continued, "Did
he think he is superior. Did he think he was untouchable?"
Why would Cole ask Marco that? Did he not know that her
father was already going through sothing only he understood? She was sure
Aht’s mission had shaken sothing in him.
Regardless, her father was their master, and everyone he ordered
obeyed. Cole knew that so why would he say that to him?
"I apologize, sir," she said evenly. "I will speak to him."
"You’d better," Marco barked. "Because it’s either his head or
Markus’."
The line went dead.
Asli stood there long after the call ended, the phone still
pressed to her ear, as the words echoed too loudly in her skull.
Why was her father asking Cole to kill Markus when she was
not involved in the mission? Why was her father trying everything to exclude
her? He would now rather ask Cole to do sothing other than her doing it, wouldn’t
he?
That alone was enough to ignite her interest.
Whatever this was, she wasn’t waiting for the sun or
permission to uncover the truth. She was calling Markus. Whether he liked it or
not, he was going to tell her everything.
She dialed Cole’s number first. He had rushed back to the
Villa to listen in on Marco and Demir, just as she had ordered.
"Boss."
The word registered a beat too late. Cole only used it when
things were serious.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Running an errand. Your father called," he said.
She nodded instinctively, then murmured an absent "Hmm" when
she realized he could not see her.
"You asked him to direct orders to you through . Why?"
"I didn’t ask him," Cole replied. "I told him."
Her brows knit together. Cole didn’t speak to Marco like
that. Ever.
"What did you hear?" she pressed.
"Nothing conclusive. Not yet."
Her grip tightened. "Tell ."
There was a pause.
"Whatever the warehouses are," Cole said finally, "Demir was
running them."
She knew he was holding back. She needed to know what the
warehouses were about. What was in them?
"I need to confirm sothing," he added. "I’ll call you
back. I promise."
For once, she needed to be patient. She dismissed him and
headed ho.
Sleep had been a
stranger for days. Her body moved on autopilot; shower, clothes, chair but the
mont she sat at her desk, exhaustion claid her.
She did not rember falling asleep.
She woke to sunlight and Matilda knocking impatiently at her
door, calling her to breakfast.
Asli checked the ti and sighed.
She then picked up her phone and called Markus. She didn’t care
whether he was still angry at her. If anything, she’d match his energy. The
imbecile tricked her father and she was going to draw a score with him after
finding out the reason.
The line clicked.
"Hello, woman of my heart," the voice joked and she wondered
if he had bipolar.
She blinked once.
"This is not one of your toys. Idiot." Asli snapped.
"Oh?" he chuckled. "Funny. This number looks exactly like my
woman’s."
Her teeth ground together. She didn’t like to be owned. Maybe
not by the owner of this voice.
"Markus, call that again," she said softly, yet dangerously,
"and you won’t find your tongue tomorrow. I am not your woman."
"Of course you’re not," Markus replied lightly. "Aht won
that race."
Silence fell.
She wasn’t surprised he knew. They had fooled everyone, including
her.
"I want to know what is going on." She demanded.
"And here I thought you’d find out yourself. Are you losing
your touch?"
"I tried but you guys cleaned everything."
"Well, we didn’t clean up everything. We only took what we
needed. Your beloved father must’ve done the cleaning."
"et at my warehouse." She ordered
Markus laughed... louder. "Wait a damn fcking minute. You want
to co to your warehouse so you can kill too? Or try, on this matter?
Please, I’m not done sleeping with half of the won in the world yet. I still
have a long way to go." He joked and it annoyed her. She knew his jokes were
a pretense. Now she knew who exactly he was, but why was he still pretending to be a
clown?
Her patience snapped. "Pick a location and send the
directions. You better not play gas with !"
"I don’t think I want to et you. Go and ask your father."
"If you don’t et at my warehouse in the next thirty
minutes, I’m coming to your Villa and you know how good I make my entrances."
She hung up imdiately.
It was her ti to blackmail him. She had wanted him to pick
their eting place but not anymore. He was a clown. He was never going to
change. Asli was accepting the fact that this man probably would always be like
this.
Before she could leave her room, her phone chid.
Asli stopped mid-step and turned back, irritation already
curling in her chest. She snatched the phone from the table.
Markus.
A location pin blinked beneath his na.
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"Imbecile," she muttered, the word sharp enough that it almost
escaped as a shout.
She didn’t waste another second.
The drive was fast, and
reckless at the sa ti, her mind racing ahead of the road. When she arrived,
she didn’t step out imdiately. She stayed in the car, her eyes sweeping the
periter; every window, corners, shadows, the way the gate stood half too
open. Only when nothing felt wrong did she step out and approach.
Asli waited just outside the gate, the engine humming softly
beneath her.
She hadn’t even shifted in her seat when a smaller door set
into the main gate opened. A man stepped through. He was calm and unhurried,
eyes already assessing her before the door sealed shut behind him.
He stopped a few feet from the car.
"Identify yourself."
"Asli."
That earned her an unimpressed look.
"ID."
Her fingers stilled on the steering wheel. Slowly, she
turned her head, her eyes lifting to his through the open window.
"If you need that," she said evenly, voice low, dangerous,
"I’d snap your neck before you finished checking it."
For a heartbeat, nothing moved.
Then the corner of his mouth tilted.
He straightened, his thumb brushing his earpiece as his gaze
lingered on her face and this ti with interest.
A single nod.
"Open the gate, she’s the one."
He stepped back toward the gate. The heavy tal groaned as
it slid open fully.
"Drive in. Park where you’re directed."
Asli pulled forward as the gate closed behind her, the sound
echoing through the compound like a seal being broken.
She followed his directions, parked where he indicated, then
trailed him inside.
The mont she crossed the threshold, sothing in her chest
tightened.
The tone floors, clean lines, muted colors, and even the
faint scent in the air; expensive, and understated reminded her of a house she knew.
Aht’s.
The resemblance hit her so suddenly she slowed without
aning to. Her fingers brushed the smooth surface of a pillar as she walked,
and mory slipped in where thought should have been.
Aht’s hand there once, warm, possessive, and guiding her
back against the sa kind of cold stone. The way his body had caged her in
without effort, breath grazing her ear as he murmured sothing low and
indecent. The heat of him, the contrast of marble against skin, and the quiet
intensity that had made the world narrow to just the two of them.
Her pulse jumped.
She pulled her hand back as if the wall had burned her.
Needing a distraction, she took out her phone and dialed
Markus. It rang. And rang.
No answer.
She paced the hall, boots echoing softly, as irritation built
with every step. It didn’t help. The house kept offering up reminders. Every
space felt too intimate, and pieces whispered of things done in confidence and secrets.
Enough.
She dropped into the chair near her.
The sound of a voice cut through the silence almost
imdiately.
It was... Familiar.
Her head snapped up.
He was speaking to soone, voice low but firm, telling them
to hurry, that he didn’t have ti for delays. The words drifted toward her
from just beyond the doorway.
Asli straightened, spine rigid, and her attention
sharpening.
Her eyes locked on the entrance, and unblinking as if she
feared she’d miss whoever walked through the doorway.
Why was he here?
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