Chapter 4 Shadows of the Past
Aria stared at the old photograph, the edges curled and faded, her father's eyes staring back at her with a mixture of pride and secrets. She had always thought she knew him her gentle, ordinary father but the folder told another story entirely.
Hidden among ledgers and contracts were names she didn't recognize, signatures she couldn't decipher, and locations that hinted at a world she had never been allowed to enter. A world ruled by power, fear, and blood.
The name Kael Virelli appeared again. Repeatedly. On every page. Her pulse quickened as she pieced together the connection: her father, Kael's father, and a contract sealed long before she was born. A legacy that bound her to a man she had only met in the shadows.
Questions clawed at her mind. Why had her father kept this a secret? Why was Kael waiting? And most terrifying of all what did he intend to do now that the time had come?
The city hummed outside her window, indifferent to her fear. Aria realized that the past was no longer something she could leave behind. It was alive, and it was hunting her.