Aria Vale
Kira didn't ask questions. She never did.
By the time I reached the warehouse on the edge of Southwick, the one we used for black bag jobs and things that didn't belong on paper. She was already inside, loading a fresh magazine into her sidearm.
"You want names," she said. "Or blood?"
"Both."
She tossed me a folder of her own. "Then you're in luck. Bishop's been slipping. I traced his last three surveillance nodes. Someone's been feeding him partials, leaks meant to get you watching the wrong door."
My pulse kicked. "You think Damian's protecting me?"
She tilted her head, eyes unreadable. "I think he's protecting something. But it's not you, Aria. Not anymore."
I didn't flinch. I couldn't afford to.
"He didn't even warn me," I said. "There's a kill order, Kira. My name is on it, printed, processed, packaged for execution."
Kira's jaw clenched. "Then we bury whoever signed it."
"No," I said, quieter this time. "We give them what they want."
She looked up sharply. "Explain."
"We let them believe I've snapped. That I'm cutting ties with Damian. We'll stage it—hell, I'll make it real. I'll dismantle Wolfe Enterprises from the inside out. Blow the smoke high enough and they'll all come running to the fire. Everett. The Board. Maybe even the bastard who signed off on my father's murder."
"You're saying you want to go rogue."
I met her eyes. "I want to burn down everything they love."
Kira studied me, then nodded. "Then we start with Jasper."
I raised a brow.
"He's still feeding Everett," she said. "Sloppier than before. They want to use you, Aria. Turn your pain into a blade you'll drive through Damian's heart."
I didn't tell her that part of me was already tempted.
Let them think I was unhinged. Let them believe the girl was broken and out for blood. Maybe they'd even feel safe long enough to slip.
And then?
I'd carve the truth out of them, one lie at a time.
---
Perfect. Let's make the next scene a carefully orchestrated *act of betrayal*—Aria goes public with a damaging leak about Wolfe Enterprises, sending shockwaves through the elite while making Damian believe she's truly turned on him. But underneath, it's all bait to draw the real monsters out of the shadows.
---
~One week later~
They wanted a traitor? I gave them one.
The headlines exploded like shrapnel across the city's screens:
"Whistleblower Reveals Wolfe Enterprise Corruption Ties: Internal Documents Leaked by Aria Vale."
I watched it happen from a private lounge across the street from Wolfe Tower, high heels kicked off, glass of bourbon untouched.
Kira sat beside me, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
"Your face is everywhere," she muttered. "That's the fifth news cycle. You ready for the fallout?"
I didn't answer. My heart was a hollow thud in my ribs, a steady war drum that didn't know what side it was beating for.
Because the documents I leaked?
They were real.
Financial ledgers, black funds, offshore accounts tied to Monarch-backed shell companies, files I'd uncovered when I first began digging for my father's killers. It wasn't just dirt. It was history. Wolfe history. Vale history. Blood money soaked in generations of secrets.
I leaked enough to shake Damian. But not enough to destroy him.
Yet.
Because I needed him watching me, not the real threat gathering behind the curtain.
"Bishop's been circling the Vault 07 servers again," Kira said, tapping her phone. "Everett's laying low, but Jasper's not. He's getting cocky. Even tried to call you."
I smiled faintly. "Let him."
"You really think he believes you're turning against Damian?"
"I made sure of it. The press loves a good revenge story. Billionaire burns his mistress. Mistress burns his empire. It's poetic."
Kira snorted. "You sound like him."
I didn't deny it.
Because somewhere beneath all the smoke and mirrors, part of me was still listening for the sound of his voice. Still wondering why he hadn't come for me yet.
Because if he truly wanted me dead…
He would've done it by now.
But doubt was poison. And I had no antidote.
I rose from the couch and walked to the floor-length window. Wolfe Tower loomed across the skyline like a monument to control. Order. Fear.
I was about to tip it into chaos.
"Kira," I said quietly. "Tomorrow, I want you to call in our asset at Monarch. The one embedded in the lower ranks. Tell them to spread the word: Aria Vale is going off-script."
Kira raised a brow. "You sure?"
"I want them to believe I'm unstable. Angry. Useful."
I met her gaze. "And when they reach out? We give them the bait."
She exhaled slowly, then nodded. "It's time."
---
Damian Wolfe
The penthouse office was silent... Unnaturally so.
No phones ringing. No assistants pacing. Just the flicker of a news broadcast playing on mute.
Aria's face.
On every screen.
"Internal documents leaked by former Wolfe Enterprises strategist Aria Vale suggest decades of covert financial alliances with criminal syndicates..."
My jaw locked. I didn't blink.
The betrayal was sharp, surgical. It struck exactly where it would bleed the most.
She hadn't just gone public.
She'd gone nuclear.
Bishop stood across from me, arms folded, waiting for the explosion. "We scrubbed the original servers. The documents she released are real but incomplete. Enough to smear, not sink."
"She knew what to hold back," I muttered. "She knew exactly what to keep."
"Which means she's either playing a longer game..." Bishop said.
"...or she's done playing at all," I finished.
I stepped closer to the screen. Her face was unreadable. Composed. Beautiful. Dangerous.
God, Aria.
Why didn't you run to me?
Why did you run *through* me?
Bishop's phone buzzed. He glanced at it, then held it up. "Intercepted Monarch chatter. Code phrase: 'The Phoenix wants a throne.'"
My chest went still.
"They're making contact," I said.
"They think she's on the market," Bishop confirmed. "Monarch's lower tiers are buzzing. Jasper's been feeding Everett constant updates. They're calling her 'the golden knife.'"
I turned away from the screen.
She was becoming exactly what they wanted her to be: mine, but twisted into a weapon I couldn't hold.
"She's walking straight into the fire," I said quietly. "They'll use her. And when they're done, they'll burn her."
Bishop nodded. "Unless we pull her out first."
I shook my head. "No."
He blinked. "Sir?"
"We let her walk deeper. Let her believe she's alone. Let Monarch believe they've won. Because the moment they drop their guard..."
I looked back toward the screen, eyes cold.
"I'll gut the whole Syndicate from the inside out."