~Flashback ~Sinveer's POV~
For some weeks now Liach has been moving strangely as if she knows she is being watched. Her steps are light feeted, almost calculated enough to make me forget, there's someone like her in my house.
And I don't like that I recognize it.
Not because I don't want to think of her. But because it reminds me of someone I buried a long time ago.
Serafin. My brother. My ghost. The first perfect De Luna. The one who laughed louder, killed quicker, charmed everyone, until he died.
His death was strange, no evidence, no witnesses to testify about how it happened.
All I was told was that Serafin is dead.
They told me it was a car crash.
That's what Rigo said when he pulled me into the old library, eyes too calm. "There's been an accident, he said, it was a malfunctioning break."
I didn't cry, even if I was deeply hurt. I didn't ask questions, even after knowing the man I look upon, my idol is dead. What I know is that it was never an accident. Serafin was a very thorough person, the embodiment of perfection. I just walked into my father's study, and he handed me a gun before I even sat down.
"The seat is open now," he told me. "Don't fail like your brother."
Then they dragged a man into the room, blooding and weak, and evidence of being tortured. My father didn't tell me who he was. Only said, "This one had a lot to say. So, choose the right place to shoot at."
I shot him once in the chest. Then again in his mouth. The silence after was the loudest thing I've ever heard.
That night, my mother locked herself in the dining room and shattered every wine bottle in the house. "He was the good one," she screamed through the door. "Now you've cursed the wrong one."
I was fifteen. And I became the heir in blood, not in blessings.
~~ Flashback Ends ~~
I've never told anyone that story.
But watching Liach now…
I think she'd understand.
And that's what terrifies me.
What will I do if she turns out a spy? But that's what draws me towards her, I'm contradicting myself.
Because no bullet wound ever bleeds as slowly—or as deadly— as someone you are trying to own betrays you. You don't feel it at first. It's not loud, not messy. It's quiet, methodical and Strategic.
Just like these reports. The reports are clean, the numbers are balanced. The security logs are... too perfect, and that's the problem.
There's no chaos. No missed details. No trail.
Only a feeling crawling under my skin like heat before a storm.
A lot has been going wrong inside my walls, and you know what. The fractures are starting to show.
9:32 AM – De Luna HQ – Lower West Wing
As I checked three hours of internal footage for the fourth time, I noticed something.
There's no breach. No hand-off. No evidence.
Just slight behavioral change of Marek lingering near Enzo's locker. Enzo texting mid-meeting.
Suddenly I heard, Enzo and Marek are snapping at each other again. This time it's over a missing batch of firearms that were allegedly rerouted without proper documentation.
I don't need to hear the whole argument.
Just the pitch of their voices, it was sharp. Accusing each other and getting easily distracted.
Two of my most trusted men—off balance. Exactly how someone would want them to be.
I step into the room. And they fall silent.
"Get your shit together," I say, flat and cold. "You're not street dogs. You're captains in my house." They nod.
" We're sorry Boss."
But the damage is done.
The loyalty I built is cracking under pressure I didn't apply.
~~MY OFFICE~~
I pull up the asset logs myself. Pages of manifests scroll across the screen. Most of it checks out. But some entries have been adjusted—timestamped during hours when Marek and Enzo weren't present. Not faked—adjusted.
And only someone with mid-tier admin access could've done it. Since it's not my captain, definitely not those foolish grunts outside, not me, it narrows the list down to exactly one person, who could have motive, access, and proximity.
I stared at the screen sharing the footage from the CCTV across Liach's desk in the hallway.
Liach Brian or instead Cisco.
I believe that bastard has a daughter, who is his only family by blood, remaining.
But my logic and instinct are still at war, because no part of me wants it to be her.
Which makes her even more dangerous.
~~
I find Liach typing reports like nothing in the world is unraveling. She doesn't look up right away. Just finishes her sentence, then lifts her gaze like she didn't notice me.
"Mr. De Luna?"
"We need to talk." I said.
"Of course."
She follows me into my office.
I sit on the edge of my desk, arms folded, while she stands by the door, adjusting her glass as if it will ever fall, her expression neutral, posture perfect. If I have one man as exactly as she is. I'll be thrilled.
"Tell me," I begin, "do you enjoy working here?"
She nods once. "Yes."
"Have you noticed anything... off lately? Between Marek and Enzo?"
Another nod. "They've been tense, distracted and short-tempered."
And whose fault is it
"And any idea why?"
She hesitates not for long, not enough to incriminate. But enough to make my stomach twist.
"I assumed they were competing for your trust," she says carefully. "Territory realignment usually shakes up hierarchy."
It's the exact kind of answer I'd expect from someone so innocent. Guilty instead.
She steps forward. "Is there something I should know?" Her voice is genuine. Or at least she makes it feel that way.
I shake my head. "Not yet."
She doesn't flinch, doesn't fidget and doesn't break eye contact. If she's hiding something, she's buried it, deep. Too deep for me to reach. I watched her as she stood there, not saying anything just staring at her, thinking. What should I do to her to make her confess this instant.
But I decided against it. Because if she should confess right now, the fun will be over too quickly. So, since she was to play house with me, my kingdom. No problem, I will allow her and when she thinks she has won. It will all, dawn on her that she was the one who was played with.
"Liach Brain, my patience is wearing tin, be fast with all your plans."
" What do you mean sir?"
" Go finish the works I gave you."
" Of course sir."
Later at the Rooftop Balcony
I lit a cigarette I don't even want.
Marek stood beside me. "They're going to kill each other," he says flatly, meaning Rigo and Enzo.
"I won't let that happen."
"You shouldn't have to step in for this. They know better."
"They're not the only ones acting strange."
Marek looks at me sideways.
"Who?"
I pause. Then shake my head. "Forget it."
Because saying her name out loud feels like treason. And I'm not ready to betray myself like that. If I should say it, she would be killed in an instant.