Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Five
Markus stood by the window long after Aht finished speaking, the glass cool beneath his palm. Everything seed busy and calm. And yet, sothing about it felt newly fragile, like a house built over a fault line he’d only just discovered.
"I’ve been trying to rember," Markus said at last, his voice low. "For years."
Aht didn’t interrupt. He’d learned that Markus only spoke this seriously when the mories were sharp enough to cut.
"Our fathers fought," Markus went on. "Not shouting. Not the kind that draws attention. The quiet kind. The kind that makes the air heavy." He exhaled slowly. "It was about a child."
Aht’s brows knit. "A child?"
"Yes." Markus nodded once. "Soone who wasn’t supposed to be in the fire. The mother and aunt too." His jaw tightened as if the words tasted wrong. "Back then, I thought it was just another mission gone bad. But now... now I’m not so sure."
Aht shifted, the weight in his chest pressing harder.
"What if they burned the place thinking the won were not around but ended up being in there and burning too? We were barely ten," Markus continued. "I rember waking up in the middle of the night. My father was standing over . I thought I was dreaming." A faint, humorless smile tugged at his lips. "He told to protect everyone. Said I had his blood. That one day, I’d be strong enough to face him."
"Face who?" Aht asked quietly.
Markus turned from the window. His eyes were darker now, and sharper. "He didn’t say. But he wasn’t talking about himself." A pause. Then, almost reluctantly, "What if he ant Marco?"
The na settled between them like a loaded weapon.
Aht’s mind raced, threads tangling, then snapping into place. A child. A mother. An aunt. A fire. A lie hidden too carefully for many years.
"Markus," he said slowly, "what if that child was Asli?"
Markus stilled.
"If that’s true," he said after a mont, "then why would Marco claim it was his friend who died?"
Aht shook his head. "Because Marco never tells a story unless it benefits him. A friend’s death is tragic. A family being wiped out is dangerous. But if our fathers were the ones who set the fire, then I am sure her father deserved it. If he deserved it, then Marco being his friend explains it." His eyes hardened. "Let’s find out when Asli first appeared on that board. Her age. Then we track every Villa fire from that period."
Markus nodded imdiately. There was no hesitation now. Only resolve.
"Why is Dad not accepting killing innocent people? If indeed the won were burnt as well, then that was a mistake he needs to own up to." Aht ntioned. "An apology will not settle this. Asli would have a good reason to co after us if it were true."
"I bet! You got shot when she thought you were trying to steal her Villa. Imagine what she’s going to do when she starts to avenge." Markus said.
"Maybe, she shot because I am my father’s son. She did ntion that." Aht told without thinking about it. "Asli will kill everyone. You know how she is when she’s angry. Oh goodness! And I blackmailed her."
"You didn’t know." Markus began. "She had all the chances to kill you but she did not until she thought you wanted to steal her Villa. I don’t think she will add you to this revenge. Maybe that is why it had kept for a long ti. So it is good you blackmailed her. Out of it, you two have your twisted relationship. We don’t know when she strikes. And until then," he said, already moving, and already thinking like a man preparing for war, "this place shuts down. We go on full lockdown. Nothing cos in and nothing goes out."
Aht followed him. "We planned for this after we began to ruin Marco’s Warehouses. We didn’t know the past would catch up eventually."
"Yes," Markus agreed. Then, quieter, more honest, "I just never thought it would co wearing her face."
He stopped, turning back to Aht.
"She’s coming," Markus said. "And whether she knows it or not, she’s walking into a trap that was set long before either of us understood what we were protecting."
Aht’s jaw tightened.
"You know that no matter what," he said. "We keep her alive."
In that mont, he didn’t care about anything. There were only two won in this world whose loss would tear sothing out of him beyond repair.
And Asli was one of them.
"I’ve got a couple of rounds this morning," Markus said out of nowhere, the weight in his voice evaporating, replaced with sothing almost careless.
Aht snorted, shaking his head. That was typical of him.
He watched Markus leave, then pushed off the desk and stepped into the corridor himself, already shifting into command.
He strode into the open field, and the effect was imdiate. Conversations died mid-sentence. The n straightened without being told, as their fingers adjusted grips. The air tightened around him, as if everyone had instinctively rembered what they were there for.
He moved through them with purpose, eyes sharp, cataloguing positions, exits, and blind spots. A hand lifted, two fingers snapped forward, and units split exactly where he wanted them.
The grass crunched beneath his boots as he took his place at the center, gaze fixed on the gates, jaw set. Whatever day Asli and her n were coming, weren’t eting a scattered Villa, they were eting them prepared.
His phone buzzed.
Markus.
Aht answered as he walked. "What..."
"They’re on their way." Markus’ voice was rough, breath cutting in and out like he’d been running.
Aht stopped cold.
"Who?" even as his chest tightened, and even as he already knew, he still asked. He turned sharply, eyes scanning the n nearby. "Lock the Villa down. Now. Shut everything down."
Orders snapped through the air. All the gates began to grind as the n moved.
But, it was too late.
Engines roared outside. One after another, cars tore through the compound gates, tires screaming against concrete.
Aht’s breath left him in a sharp curse.
"Shit."
Aht didn’t move at first.
The call was still pressed to his ear, Markus’ breathing loudly. Then the first gunshot ripped through the atmosphere. Aht’s hand went slack.
The phone slipped from his fingers and hit the ground.
"Take cover!" Aht barked into the walkie-talkie. "Everyone listen. The woman stays alive. Do you hear ? I want her breathing. And protect my mother. That’s an order."
A chorus of sharp, disciplined voices cracked through the radio and across the field: "Yes, sir!" "Yes, boss!"
He drew his gun as he moved, muscle mory taking over. He slid behind a stone barrier just as bullets tore into the field, chunks of earth exploding upward, tal screaming as it was struck.
He yanked the magazine free with a sharp, tallic click, letting it fall into his palm. His eyes followed each bullet as if counting them aloud in his head. One... two. Only two. Just two. His pulse thudded in his ears.
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