pte

ation

targeted with precision cyberattack by morning. Not destructive-just revealing. Leaked emails. a trail of transactions that suggests

urned with a flash drive and a grim look. "She met with someone last night. Café Orly, west end. Emil Navarro i

e. Scandal, espionage, leaked government contracts. a man who never t

ing." "A wall. Around her. Around ev

h. "Then let's take

uaranteed loyalty. Luca's eyes lingered too long. The house staff whispered too s

ng a relic in

citing "concerns." By two, a trusted board member had tendered resignation, citing "conflicts

d at him again. Wom

pick up. Just silence. accompanie

game. Don't forget

ifferent number. On

Directive

use, then a rep

asn't

operations agent, carried his past around like a burden he couldn't get rid of, dragging it from one case to the next, from war zones to shady apartments, always looking for the one thing he'd lost along the way: purpose. He had no intention of working as a private eye. After an ambush in Kandahar ended his military care

The client, a politician with too many powerful connections to ignore, wanted to see her. Suspected treason, whispered affairs, and "dam

d pulsated beneath her polished exterior. Watching her at first was a routine. It became an obsession to follow her. And when Adrian fi

't beg. She o

ocuments. A trail of breadcrumbs leading to something much bigger than either of them: an international cover-up involving arms

demanding moral clarity he thought h

he di

n justice. He had been taught to kill, question, and vanish. But now,

e. When it arrived, I didn't know how to describe it. It was in the way she challenged him-called out his brooding silences, demanded he explain his scars. It was in the way she didn't flinch when he told her the truth-that he'd watched

began to protect her as though it were sacred. Their alliance became personal.

ain-not with a foreign enemy, but with his own past. Every choice

't know if he

y to fight for something

med Colman Rusch-an alleged middleman in the corruption scheme. Adrian picks the lock with practiced ease, bypassing biometric scans with a prototype

it was priceless. They escape through the service stairwell, chased by security drones Adrian had failed to anticipate. Back at their safehouse, Valeria plugs in the drive. The contents ma

rescued from the field. Suddenly,

atches his expression tight

I bled for him." "And he us

hanges bet

laying has just bec

rises – The Betr

n returns to their safeh

ria i

Nothing. No sign of struggle. No blood. But the hard drive

an's eyes narrow. He knows how to speak. It's St

nel that only Valeria had access to, then surfac

He punches the wa

she

she t

d she sell t

ce becomes

e in years, Adrian

alizes he might not be in co

f his