The silence in the study was unnerving.
Leon sat behind his desk, a single lamp casting shadows across the dark wood. A phone lay face-up beside his hand, the last message still on the screen. He didn't blink. Didn't move.
She helped bury the body, Leon. There's more to your girl than you know.
The message had come from Marco, his top informant in the Monroe network. It came with a video — grainy footage of a younger Ayla, dirt-streaked, eyes wide with panic, helping Daniel cover a shallow grave in the middle of the woods. She looked terrified. Not like someone trying to hide a crime — but someone trying to survive one.
Leon leaned back slowly, dragging a hand across his jaw.
Everything made sense now. The fear in Ayla's eyes when Daniel's name came up. The quiet way she carried herself, like she was always ready to run. And the shadows she never spoke of — the ones that haunted her when she thought no one was watching.
He stood, pacing the room once, twice, before grabbing his coat.
He had to see her.
⸻
Ayla stood in front of the kitchen sink, her hands soaked in warm water, scrubbing a plate she'd already washed three times. Her mind was distant — caught in old memories, in voices she couldn't erase.
She didn't hear the front door open. Didn't hear Leon until his arms wrapped around her from behind.
She froze.
"Leon—"
"I know," he said, his voice low. "About Daniel. About what he made you do."
Her heart stopped.
She spun around, stepping back as her throat tightened. "I—It wasn't what it looked like, I—"
Leon stepped closer. "You don't have to explain."
"But you think I'm—"
"I think," he said firmly, "that you were eighteen. Alone. In love with a monster. And you did what he asked because you thought you had no choice."
Tears welled in her eyes. "He's been using it to control me ever since."
"I know." Leon reached out, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "And that ends now."
She blinked. "You're not… leaving?"
"I'm not letting him hurt you anymore," he said. "You're mine now, Ayla. And I protect what's mine."
Her lips trembled, a sob catching in her throat. For so long, she'd waited for the moment everything would fall apart. She never imagined it would hold her together instead.
"Leon… what are you going to do?"
He looked into her eyes, calm but deadly. "What I should've done the moment I learned his name."