📖 Chapter 6: The Legacy of Shadows
They hid in a safehouse buried beneath the ruins of an old subway. No windows. One steel door. A security system older than Aria, but untraceable.
Aiden poured water over his bleeding knuckles. Aria watched in silence, gun still resting in her lap.
"You said you knew my mother," she finally said.
Aiden glanced at her. "She saved my life. Years ago. When I was nobody."
Aria's throat tightened. "Tell me everything."
---
🕰️ 15 Years Ago…
She was called "The Raven" in the underworld. A deep-cover operative who never missed a shot—and never left a trace.
One night, Aiden was the target. He'd uncovered a government trafficking ring and was going to leak it.
Instead of killing him, The Raven protected him. Hid him. Risked her own mission.
"She gave up everything," Aiden said. "For me. Then she disappeared. I never saw her again."
Aria felt her pulse tremble. My mother was The Raven.
And the agency… the one who raised her… they lied.
"She was labeled rogue," Aria whispered. "They told me she abandoned her mission. That she died a traitor."
Aiden met her eyes. "They lied to both of us."
---
Aiden stood and walked to a hidden drawer in the wall. He pulled out a sealed envelope, yellowed with time.
"I kept this. She made me promise to give it to her daughter… if I ever met her."
He handed it over.
Aria's hands shook as she opened it.
> "To my daughter—
If you're reading this, then I've failed to protect you from the world I tried to leave behind.
They'll raise you to follow orders. But never forget: you have my blood. That means you have a choice."
Her breath caught. The bottom of the letter held a photo. Her mother—holding a newborn baby.
Her.
---
Suddenly, Aiden's security monitor beeped. Someone was breaching the safehouse's perimeter.
"They found us," Aria muttered.
Aiden loaded a pistol. "We fight?"
She looked up. Her eyes were sharp now. Different.
"No. We vanish."