Chapter 31: Emily's Betrayal

The universe Aidan knew seemed to be falling apart. He stared at the screen, the truth of Emily's betrayal blazing into his head, and the quiet in the safehouse was disturbing. Though every instinct urged him to reject what the facts revealed, to ignore it. He knew better. Emily had been giving Victor information for months, maybe longer; her digital track was evident. She had known it everything and passed it on his enemy; everything he had told her, every strategy they had developed, every action he had taken.

As he closed the laptop, reality sank him and his hands shook. Betrayal weighed at his chest, a terrible force that made breathing difficult. He had dependable her trust. She had been his anchor in a world full of adversaries. And now, that trust was broken, just questions and uncertainties remained.

"Aaid??" Claire's voice cracked the stillness and pulled him back from the brink. "What is happening??"

He raised his head, his face hardened with a mixture of anger and suffering. "That's Emily." She has been collaborating with Victor. She has been spoon-feeding him everything.

Claire's eyes grew wide, incredulity lighting over her face. Are you clear-cut?

Aidan had a flat, under control voice. "I'm certain." I went to her access point. She was directly forwarding material to Victor's networks. She knows about all we have done.

Dominic came into the room after keeping an eye on the periphery. "What's going on?," asks

Aidan steely reiterated, " Emily's a mole." She has been lying to us.

Dominic's demeanor grew grim. "That helps to clarify a lot." How else would Victor have known our movements before to their actual commencement? The ambushes, the financial assaults—they all line up.

Claire crossed her arms, her face marked with resentment. "What should we do next??"

Aidan inhaled deeply and his mind flew. "We must lock down anything she comes into touch with. Sort our communications, stop any channels she has access to, and clean our systems. Everything she has been engaged with is unreliable.

Dominique nodded. "I'll pick on it."

Aidan looked far off as he thought about his choices. And I have to talk to her. I have to hear it from her personally; she is going to try and twist this.

Claire had a worried expression. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" She will merely try to control you once more if she has been lying all this time.

Aidan's eyes blazed with a mixture of agony and will. I have to find out why. I have to find out if any of it was factual.

He turned aside to pick his phone. Emily's connection was still active, so he stopped momentarily to feel the agony of betrayal once more. He then started to call.

Emily caught up tensely almost right away. "Aidan, I can clarify.," said

Though every muscle in his body felt tight with rage, he made himself calm. "Explain? Victor has been fed information by you. You haven't known about everything, albeit you have.

There was a stop, and Emily's voice when she spoke once again sounded like regret. "Aidan, please; it's not what you think."

He snapped, "Exactly what I think." "You betrayed me; I trusted you. You helped him using all I advised—all we prepared. You have been working for him for how long?

Her quiet was deafening. Aidan tightened his hold on the phone.

" Since the beginning?," he insisted. "Or did you just change sides when it became handy?"

Emily said no more than a whisper. "That's not like that." There was no decision for me.

Aidan laughed bitterly, a sound bursting with hurt and resentment. "You are always free to decide. Though you could have, you did not tell me the truth. You gave me performance.

She stopped once again, and Aidan sensed his own irritation growing. Her silence every second served as still additional evidence of her treachery.

"Aiden, I was blackmailed," she confessed at last. Victor threatened my family as well. I had to comply without option. But everything else, that was real—that between us.

He felt he should believe her. Deeply ingrained in him, the portion that had loved her yearned to embrace her justification. But the portion that had battled and survived betrayals before knew better; his logical side knew better.

You expect me to believe that? His voice laced with incredulity, he said. "You have been acting on both sides all through this. Giving him information while acting to be on my side.

Her voice shaking, she added, "I was trying to protect you." "I handed Victor just enough to keep him off my rear. I never told him anything that would have you dead.

Aidan's eyes gleamed with wrath. Still, you did tell him enough to destroy me. You made sure he knew just where to strike, the ambushes, the attacks on my assets.

"Only because I had to," she said. "He would have came after you tougher if I hadn't given him anything. I was working to keep you safe.

"Keep me safe," asked Aidan's voice surged over the space. "You let me down, Emily." You mislead me. Given what you say now, how am I meant to believe anything?

She stopped once more, and Aidan sensed the silence enveloping them, laden with whispered facts and unresolved questions.

Her voice hardly audible, she murmured at last, "I cared about you, Aidan." More than you could possibly know.

Fighting the feelings that threatened to overtake him, he tightened his jaw. "You cared about me?" Why then did you let Victor demolish what I had created? Why then did you guide me into traps?

She insisted, attempting to limit the harm. "None of this is what I wanted. Victor put my hand under pressure.

Then why did you not tell me? He sought. "Why didn't you tell me before it got this far?"

"Because he controls me, Aidan," she said softly. "My family: he owns them. Had I disobeyed him, he would have killed them.

Aidan stopped breathing. Her words had weight, her voice sincere, and for a time his determination wavers. He had known Victor's merciless nature and the extent he would go to eliminate his adversaries. Emily had been caught in a trap of her own if what she was saying was accurate.

Still, the fire of wrath persisted. And so you misled me instead. You risked my mother and myself.

"I saw no other way," she said. Still, Aidan, I never wanted to hurt you. I swear.

He exhaled deep, the agony and uncertainty raging inside him. "You did damage Emily, dear. You won me to trust you. You gave me hope we belonged on the same side. And now, "

His voice dropped off; the betrayal too great to express.

"Aidan, if you give me a chance, I can fix this," she begged. "I still could be of use to you."