CHAPTER TWELVE: BETRAYAL IN THE SHADOWS.
The moon hung low over the Hawaiian jungle, casting silver streaks through the swaying canopy. Crickets chirped. Leaves rustled. And inside the safehouse—nothing was safe anymore.
Zara paced across the creaking floorboards, her voice sharp. "You're telling me my mother—my own mother—ran a double operation behind my back?"
Leo leaned against the wall, his expression unreadable. "She was the handler for both you and Kai."
Zara's world tilted. Kai.
Her first kiss. Her best friend. Her maybe-almost-everything.
He wasn't just part of her past. He had been assigned to her.
"You should sit down," Leo said.
"I swear, if one more person tells me to calm down—"
"I didn't say calm down," Leo said, stepping forward. "I said sit down. There's more."
<<<<<
FLASHBACK — Five Years Ago.
Young Zara. Fresh from training. Over-eager, ambitious, heart blazing. Her mother hugged her at the airport, whispered: "Always trust your heart. Never your eyes."
Back then, Zara thought it was a loving goodbye.
Now she knew it was a warning. She hadn't been alone on that mission.
Kai had been assigned to shadow her. Report on her. Manipulate her.
<<<<>
Present – Jungle Chapel.
"Tell me again why we're doing this on a Sunday?" Leo whispered.
"Because the devil doesn't rest on Sundays," Zara muttered. "And neither do traffickers."
They crouched beneath the cracked stained-glass windows of the jungle chapel. Inside: men in combat boots, girls dressed like porcelain dolls, and a fake priest preaching lies.
Zara's breath caught. Kalea. Drugged. Dressed up. One of the missing girls. Standing near the altar.
But before she could move—A hand gripped her wrist. "What are you doing here?"
Rina. Her handler. Her friend. The woman she trusted with her life. Zara's blood went cold.
"Rina?" she whispered. "What the hell—?"
"You weren't supposed to be here today," Rina said. Her face was pale. Her hands trembled.
Leo's gun was drawn. Zara stepped between them.
"You're working with them," she realized.
"I didn't have a choice," Rina snapped. "You think the agency protects people like us? I did what I had to do to survive."
"You sold out children to survive?" Zara's voice broke.
Before Rina could answer— BOOM. An explosion shattered the back wall. Smoke. Screams. Gunfire. Leo yanked Zara behind a pew. "She's running!"
Zara dashed through the smoke and fire, chasing Rina—but when she burst through the back exit, Rina was gone. Only her necklace remained: a silver double cross.
Later That Night – Safehouse. Kalea was rescued, barely conscious. Leo stood guard. Zara stared at the fire outside, arms trembling. "I trusted her. I let her meet my mother."
Leo placed a hand on her shoulder. The tension between them snapped taut.
"I don't want to feel anything right now," Zara said.
"Then don't think," Leo murmured. "Just feel."
And then—they kissed. It was rough, desperate, trembling with pain and truth. A kiss that screamed: I need you to be real because I can't take another lie.
CRASH! The door slammed open. A figure stumbled in. Kai. Bleeding. Gasping. Collapsing at her feet.
"They know... they're coming…"
Zara froze.
"Kai?" Her heart twisted.
He looked up, bloody and broken. "I stole the files… your mother's black book... it's in the bag…"
Leo raised his gun. "Don't move."
Zara knelt beside Kai. "How long were you lying to me?"
Kai's voice was a whisper. "I stopped lying... when I fell in love with you."
Zara stared down at him, heart splitting wide open—GUNSHOT. Kai jerked. Blood spilled. Zara screamed.
He'd taken the bullet—for her. She turned—Leo lowered the gun slowly. His face unreadable.
"Why?" she choked.
Leo stepped back. "Because love makes you weak, Agent Cruz. And weakness gets people killed."
He disappeared into the jungle night.
Zara's hands were stained with Kai's blood. Her heart was splintered beyond repair.
But one thing was clear: She was no longer the agent who followed orders. She was the woman out for vengeance. And love? Love was a lie.