"I will send you those records within the hour," Alexander said. "Everything proving I was not in the country when Marcus died. And—" He hesitated. "And I am sorry. For your mother. For my part in all of this. I know it does not change anything. I know it does not fix what I broke. But I am sorry."
Aylin said nothing.
There was nothing to say.
Zayden ended the call.
They sat in silence for a long moment.
Processing.
Finally, Aylin spoke. "He might not even remember them. My parents. The people whose lives he destroyed."
"Maybe not," Zayden said quietly.
"And someone else killed my father. Someone I do not know. Someone who is still out there."
"Yes."
Aylin looked at him. "What do we do?"
Zayden pulled her close. "We finish the mission. We take down Alpha and Maksim. We save those fifteen girls. We dismantle the trafficking networks. And then—" He paused. "Then we find out who killed your father. We do not stop until we know the truth."
