The fog thickened, curling around the pier like smoke, muting every sound but the steady beat of Aria's pulse. She stood frozen, the envelope burning like a live coal in her hand.
Darius's eyes locked on it. Locked on her.
"Drop it." His tone wasn't a plea — it was an order, clipped and lethal.
Aria's throat tightened. "Darius—"
"Now."
Victor chuckled low in his chest, stepping half a pace closer, savoring the tension like fine wine. "Always so commanding, Kane. You've forgotten that people aren't soldiers to bark at."
"And you've forgotten to stay out of what isn't yours," Darius snapped, advancing until the space between the three of them shrank to a fragile thread.
The air sparked with the kind of silence before a storm. Aria's gaze darted between them: Darius rigid with rage, Victor coiled and smiling like a predator with endless patience.
"I warned you about him," Darius said, his voice rough, each word hammered out of fury. "He'll twist the truth until you don't know which way is up."
Victor raised his brows. "Truth, lies… does it matter, if the outcome is the same? She'll see you for what you are. For what you've built." He turned his gaze back to Aria, the words silk against iron. "Tell me you haven't wondered why he keeps you so far from the family business. Tell me you don't suspect."
Aria's grip on the envelope tightened until the paper crumpled under her fingers. Her breath trembled in her chest.
"Don't listen to him," Darius growled, taking a step closer, his presence a wall of heat and fury. "He wants you doubting me. That's his only weapon."
"And yours?" Victor's smile sharpened. "Fear? Chains of loyalty?"
Darius lunged before Aria could react. His hand fisted in Victor's lapel, slamming him back against the side of the car. The sound cracked through the night like a gunshot.
"Don't. Say. Her. Name," Darius spat, every word vibrating with barely contained violence.
Victor didn't flinch. His smile didn't even fade. If anything, it grew. "There he is. The real Kane. The one who rules by force because words have never been his strength."
"Darius, stop!" Aria's cry cut through the fog, her hands clutching at his arm. She felt the raw power in him, the fury straining against control.
For a moment, Darius froze — not at Victor's provocation, but at her touch. His gaze snapped to her, wild, desperate.
"Aria… you don't know what he's capable of."
"And you?" Her voice cracked, torn between fear and anger. "What are you capable of?"
The question sliced him deeper than Victor's smirk ever could. For the first time, Darius faltered. His grip loosened. Victor smoothed his suit collar, entirely unruffled, as if violence were just another language between them.
"Think about that," Victor said softly, his eyes never leaving Aria. "Think about the man you trust with your life… and what he's hiding from you."
Aria staggered back, the envelope clutched tight, her world tilting on its axis. Two men. Two truths. And she couldn't tell which was the trap.
Behind her, the foghorn wailed, low and mournful, as if the night itself mourned the choice she would soon have to make.