Digging Secrets

The doors hissed open.

Ava Lyn strode in first—sharp, fluid, every movement laced with tension. A laptop clutched in her hand, her grip tight, her knuckles white. The glow of the screen flickered against her sharp cheekbones, casting a cold light over her narrowed eyes.

Behind her, James followed.

The controller of Phoenix Tower. The man who kept Kael's empire in motion. Unlike Ava, his steps were slower, measured—but the weight of his presence pressed into the room like an incoming storm.

His dark suit was crisp, his expression unreadable.

Ava barely looked at them.

Her focus locked onto Leah—bruised, bloodied, standing but barely.

Her entire stance shifted. The smirk she'd carried walking in—gone. Her eyes, always sharp, went dangerous.

"Shit." Her voice, edged with barely-contained fury. "You look like hell."

Leah exhaled, wincing as she rolled her shoulder. "I feel worse."

Ava's jaw flexed.

Then, her eyes snapped to Kael. Cold. Sharper than a blade.

"So." Her voice was clipped, biting. "Was all this necessary, or do you just like breaking people for fun?"

Kael didn't blink.

Didn't shift.

Didn't flinch.

His silver gaze was pure iron.

"It was very necessary."

Ava's smile returned—thin, sharp, made of glass. "Uh-huh."

Her gaze raked over him. Calculating. Not impressed.

Then, with all the casual ruthlessness of someone who didn't give a damn who he was—

"So, Mr. Billionaire-General—" her voice quickened, all sharp angles and cutting wit, "What's the play? You gonna scowl us to Mars, or do you actually have a plan?"

Kael's voice was absolute. Cold.

"That depends entirely on you."

Ava's brows lifted. "Me?"

His silver gaze didn't flicker.

"What can you do?"

Ava grinned.

Fast. Sharp. Unapologetic.

"What can I do?" she echoed, voice turning sly.

Her fingers cracked.

And then—

Her hand shot out, slamming her laptop onto the nearest console.

The lights dimmed.

The main screen flickered.

The security feeds scrambled into static with a sharp, electronic whine.

The air pulsed.

A sudden shift in the room's balance.

Ava didn't even look at Kael.

Her fingers flew across the holographic interface, her voice smooth and ruthless:

"Tracking? I erase it. Surveillance? I own it. Communications? Compromised."

The security alarms? Silent.

The system locks? Bypassed.

The room was hers.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

His voice—low. Measured. Cutting.

"Cute."

Ava flashed a grin, still focused on the screen.

"If anyone so much as blinks at this network—" she flicked her fingers, and a cascade of false data flooded the system— "They'll be chasing ghosts for weeks."

The console hummed.

An entire security grid folded beneath her will.

Ava's fingers stilled.

She turned, her eyes bright and deadly.

"So. That's what I can do."

The silence stretched.

Kael's voice, low and calculating:

"Efficient."

Ava's smile turned wicked.

"Fast, too."

His silver gaze, cold and dissecting:

"But can you keep up under pressure?"

Ava's grin widened.

And her voice—edged, electric—

"Sweetheart, pressure makes diamonds."

Kael's gaze flickered.

Something coldly satisfied.

"Good," he murmured. "Because we don't have time for anything less."

Ava's arms crossed.

Her stance, easy. But her eyes? Razor-sharp.

"So, General." Her voice curled with bite. "Tell me what you need."

Kael's jaw set.

His voice, clipped, absolute.

"I need you to break into the Ark 0 auction feed."

His eyes burned.

"I want every bidder, every backer, and every leak in their system. I need to know who we're up against before they even see us coming."

Ava's lips curled into something feral.

"Stealing from the military?" Her voice dropped into something sly, dangerous.

"My favorite game."

But Kael's voice—cold, cutting—came next.

Sharp. Loaded.

"And while you're at it—"

His silver eyes pinned her, cold and razor-sharp—

"Dig into Leah's DNA profile."

Leah's breath hitched.

Her spine snapped straight.

"What?"

Her voice cracked with raw edge, heat flashing in her eyes.

"Why the hell—"

Kael's voice—low, cutting through her protest:

"Because I don't buy coincidences."

His gaze was cold fire.

"Not a 91% match. Not your little trick surviving the break. Someone—somewhere—buried the truth about your bloodline."

Ava's eyes narrowed.

Her fingers flicked through the interface, windows cascading with encrypted records.

"You think her profile's been scrubbed?"

Kael's jaw tightened.

"I think someone's been lying."

His voice, soft and lethal:

"I want to know who."

Ava's fingers flew.

Code breaking under her touch.

Firewalls folding like paper.

"Well," she muttered, eyes burning through the streams, "Let's see what they tried to bury."

The feed hit a wall.

Military-grade. Encrypted. Red warning flaring.

Ava's eyes sparked.

Her grin—razor-sharp.

"Cute."

She cracked her knuckles.

"But you don't get to lock me out."

She hit hard—algorithms crashing into the block.

The system groaned, codes folding—

And then—

A breach.

The screen shifted.

The file unfolded.

SUBJECT 021: L. MÓU – GENETIC LINEAGE ANALYSIS

Ava's eyes flicked.

Reading—then—

Froze.

Her voice, tight. Sharpened.

"Oh."

Leah's chest clenched.

"What—"

Kael's gaze sliced to Ava.

His voice—low, cold, sharp as a blade.

"Talk."

Ava's voice—low and thin:

"They didn't just scrub her profile."

A pause.

Then—her voice dropped:

"They sealed it."

Leah's breath caught.

Ava's eyes burned.

And then—

The name flashed on the screen.

PARENTAL GENETIC CONTRIBUTOR 001: K. REI MÓU

—CLASSIFIED ALPHA EXPERIMENT 01A—

Leah's body went still.

The world tilted.

Her voice—barely a breath.

"Rei…?"

Kael's voice—low. Cold.

"Who. Is Rei Móu?"

Leah's throat tightened.

Her voice—hoarse, shattered.

"My… mother."

The silence was like a blade.

Voss didn't move.

Didn't blink.

Didn't breathe.

But Leah felt it—the shift. The split-second tightening in his frame, the flicker of something raw behind his silver gaze.

Not surprise.

Not confusion.

Recognition.

And that?

That was worse.

Ava's fingers blurred over the console, but her focus had fractured.

She wasn't just hacking anymore—she was digging.

Unraveling something ugly, something buried.

The screen was a mess of cascading files, redacted documents, and half-broken encryption. Fragments of data bled across the interface.

Each line a bullet.

Each discovery a wound that should have long been healed.