chapter 2:Ghost in the blood

The warehouse felt like a prison.

Selene sat on the cold concrete floor, her back pressed to the rusted wall, Kai's jacket draped over her shoulders like a shield she hadn't asked for. The silence between them stretched thin, strung tight with things unsaid.

Derrick's blood was still drying outside.

She'd washed her hands twice. Scrubbed until her skin turned red. But it still clung to her—the weight of betrayal, of nearly dying at the hands of someone who once brought her cocoa and tucked her into bed when her father forgot.

Kai hadn't said much since pulling the trigger. Just cleaned his gun, scanned the perimeter, and checked the exits like a man whose soul didn't creak under the burden of death.

But Selene knew better.

"You knew," she finally said.

Kai didn't look up. "Knew what?"

"About Derrick."

"I suspected."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"You wouldn't have believed me."

"Try me," she snapped.

He stood, calm and cold. "You still wanted to believe someone gave a damn about you."

The words sliced sharper than a bullet. She stood too, shoving the jacket off her shoulders. "I don't need your psychoanalysis."

"No," Kai said, stepping closer, voice low, dangerous. "You need reality."

They stood inches apart, the heat between them no longer just anger—it was something darker, magnetic.

"You think you're the only one who's lost something?" she whispered.

"I think you're not ready to face what your father really was."

"Then tell me!" she shouted. "Stop circling me like I'm a bomb that's already gone off!"

His jaw tightened.

Then he handed her a file.

She hesitated, eyes flicking from the man to the folder. The label read: HART - REDACTED - 07.13.19.

She opened it.

Inside were photos. Grainy surveillance shots. A girl. Mila.

And her father.

In a black SUV. In a hotel lobby. In a room that looked like it had seen more violence than sleep.

"You said she was your sister," Selene murmured.

"She was more than that. She was the only person I had left."

Her stomach turned as she flipped the page—autopsy photos. Internal bleeding. Blunt force trauma.

The last photo was of a small black key, found in her boot heel.

"What was she involved in?"

"Your father's network wasn't just media," Kai said. "It was a front. For laundering. Transport. High-value targets. And secrets people would kill for."

Selene gripped the folder tighter. "And Mila?"

"Collateral. She got close to someone who promised her safety. Sound familiar?"

She winced.

"You want to know why I'm here?" Kai continued. "Because the same people who silenced her are watching you. And I'm not burying another girl because of Sebastian Hart's rot."

For a long time, Selene didn't speak.

Then: "Why me?"

"Because you're the final piece. The daughter he never trained. The one loose thread. And someone's betting that what's locked in your head is the key to everything."

She laughed bitterly. "And what if I'm just… nothing? Just broken?"

Kai's gaze never wavered. "Then I die trying to protect a ghost. But I won't walk away."

Something cracked in her at that. Something soft. Fragile.

"Why do you even care?" she asked.

He stepped closer. Their breaths mingled. The space between them burned.

"I don't," he whispered. "But I made a promise. And I don't break promises."

His voice was sandpaper and thunder.

And suddenly, Selene didn't want space between them anymore.

She moved first.

Their lips crashed like a storm. Angry. Raw. Needing.

His hands were rough on her waist, her fingers tangled in his shirt. For a moment, they weren't protector and mark, or vengeance and guilt. They were just two people desperate for something real.

But he pulled back, breath ragged.

"This is a mistake," he growled.

"Then make it again," she whispered.

But he stepped away. "Not until you're safe. Not until I know you're not just another name I'll have to etch in my memory."

She watched him go, her heart hammering like war drums in her chest.

She didn't sleep that night.

Not because of fear—but because for the first time, she wanted something she might not survive to keep.

The morning came too quickly.

Selene rubbed her eyes, still tasting the remnants of adrenaline in her veins. She couldn't remember falling asleep, but the cold sting of reality was enough to drag her from the haze of exhaustion. The warehouse was silent except for the soft hum of a fluorescent light flickering overhead, casting long shadows on the walls.

Kai was gone. No surprise there.

She stood, stretching her stiff limbs, and her gaze flicked to the file still lying on the floor. Mila's death. Her father's secret empire. The key.

Everything in her wanted to shove it all out of her mind, to go back to pretending like her life had meaning beyond the ghosts that stalked her family. But the truth was impossible to ignore. And there was only one way out—find the answers.

She dressed quickly, her fingers moving almost mechanically as she pulled on her boots and jacket. Each motion was deliberate, as if she could control the chaos brewing inside her by locking it away in a neat, boxed-up version of herself.

As she stepped outside, the early morning air bit at her skin, sharp and unforgiving. The streets were still relatively empty—early enough that she could move unnoticed. The sun hadn't risen yet, but she didn't need the light. Her mind was already sharp, focused on the next steps.

Finding her father's hidden truths wasn't going to be easy. But Kai's words echoed in her mind—"You're the final piece."

No. She was more than that. But that was something she could only discover if she let go of the illusion of safety.

She slid into the driver's seat of a nondescript car she had stolen months ago—another one of her father's empty promises to the world. He had surrounded her with wealth, with luxury, but never with love, never with protection. Not when it mattered. She had been nothing more than a pawn to him, a tool he'd forgotten how to use.

The car roared to life beneath her fingers, the engine's hum sending a pulse of urgency through her. She didn't know where to start. But the key was still in her mind—the one she had seen in the photo of Mila's boot. If it had any connection to her, it could be the thread that unraveled her father's entire empire.

Kai was already gone by the time she arrived at the dilapidated safe house he had stashed them in, but she wasn't alone. A shadowy figure sat on the worn couch, a pair of dark eyes watching her with a sharp, calculating gaze.

A woman.

Her name was Isobel, and she was the one thing Selene had learned to trust in this mess of shifting alliances. Isobel had been part of her father's network too, but unlike the others, she had never bowed to Sebastian Hart's will. She had walked away from it all when it became too much.

"You look like hell," Isobel remarked, taking a drag from her cigarette.

Selene ignored the comment. "Do you know where this key came from?"

Isobel raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask questions. Instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small box, handing it over.

"Then you should take a look at what you're really dealing with." She paused before adding, "Your father wasn't just a businessman, Selene. He was connected. Connected to things you can't even begin to understand."

Selene's fingers shook as she opened the box. Inside was the key, a small piece of black metal that seemed far too ordinary for the weight it carried.

"What's this?"

"A key to something bigger than you think," Isobel replied. "And that's not all." She slid a piece of paper across the table. "A name. You won't find it in any database or court record. But I know the person you're looking for."

Selene didn't recognize the name, but something about it made her stomach twist. "Who is this?"

"The only one who can get to the core of your father's network. The one who disappeared when your father's empire crumbled."

The name was one she didn't expect. She had heard rumors, whispers in the underworld about someone called The Broker. A shadow figure, only known to those who dealt in the dirtiest transactions. A man or woman, no one knew, who could erase someone's existence for the right price.

But there was one thing Selene did know for certain. The Broker had a reputation for making things disappear, but there was a price—one no one had ever lived to pay.

And now, it seemed, the Broker was her only option.

Selene felt a cold realization creep over her: the closer she got to the truth, the more she was being drawn into a web she would never escape.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a message from Kai.

"We need to talk. Meet me at the docks at 3."

She glanced at Isobel. "Looks like I've got an appointment with someone who might not want me alive. You in?"

Isobel exhaled slowly, studying Selene for a long moment before nodding. "I'm always in."

The docks smelled of saltwater and rust, the air thick with the tang of fish and oil. Selene's steps echoed against the cracked concrete as she moved through the labyrinth of crates and abandoned ships. Kai was waiting at the far end, his figure silhouetted against the fog rising off the water.

He didn't speak at first, but the tension between them was palpable. He was a man of few words, but his eyes told her everything she needed to know. He was angry. And yet, there was something else. A glimmer of something that almost resembled… concern?

"What do you want, Kai?" Selene asked, her voice sharp.

He studied her for a moment before answering, his tone colder than usual. "You're playing a dangerous game, Selene. The Broker is not someone you just stroll up to and ask for answers."

"Neither are you, but here we are."

Kai stepped forward, his expression tightening. "I'm trying to help you. But you need to realize that you're not just dealing with your father's mess anymore. You're dealing with people who will do anything to keep you quiet."

"I'm not afraid," she said, even though the truth was, she was terrified.

Kai's gaze softened for a split second. "Then don't say I didn't warn you when things get worse. Because they will."

She swallowed, her mind racing with thoughts of the key, the Broker, and the web she was slowly falling into.

"Where do we start?" she asked.

Kai's eyes flickered to the misty horizon. "We start by going in deeper than either of us are ready for."

And for the first time, Selene wasn't sure if she was ready either

The docks were deserted, but the air felt thick with secrets. Selene's boots echoed off the cracked concrete, a constant reminder that there was no going back. Her heart raced—not from fear, but from the pull of the unknown. Kai was right; she was diving into something she couldn't control. But that was exactly what made her feel alive.

She reached him at the end of the pier, a dark figure silhouetted against the gray fog rolling off the water. Kai had always been hard to read, but tonight, there was something different about him. He was tense, like a coiled spring ready to snap.

"What is it this time?" Selene asked, her voice cutting through the fog.

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned, leading her toward a shadowed corner where an old, rusted cargo ship loomed like a ghost. The smell of oil and decay hung heavy in the air.

Selene's hand instinctively went to her side, where a hidden blade rested beneath her jacket. She wasn't going in unarmed, not when everything felt like a trap.

"You're making a mistake," Kai muttered, glancing over his shoulder. His voice held more weight than usual. "The Broker isn't someone you play with."

She shot him a sharp look. "I didn't come this far to back down."

He exhaled, a low sound like a warning. "Then understand what you're about to walk into. The Broker doesn't just deal in information. He deals in lives."

Selene didn't flinch. "Good. Because I'm done being a pawn."

She pushed past him, walking toward the ship. The heavy thud of her boots against the metal deck seemed to echo louder with each step.

"You don't know what you're asking for," Kai said again, this time with a hint of desperation in his voice. "The Broker doesn't give second chances. He doesn't care who you are."

Selene didn't stop. The closer she got to the entrance, the more she felt it—an invisible pull, like the dark energy of a storm ready to break. She didn't need Kai's warnings. She needed answers.

The door to the ship creaked open, revealing a dark hallway lit by a flickering light. The air inside was thick with the scent of metal, saltwater, and something far more dangerous.

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "I see you've come, Selene."

She froze. The voice was smooth, controlled—too controlled. It echoed in the narrow hallway, making her skin prickle.

A figure stepped into view, his face shrouded in shadows. The Broker.

He was just a man—or so it seemed. Tall, unassuming, but there was a coldness to him that made the room feel smaller. The tension in the air snapped like a live wire.

"You're brave, coming here," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "But I don't know if you're smart enough to survive what you're about to learn."

Selene's pulse quickened. "I didn't come for a lecture. I came for the truth."

The Broker's eyes glinted, like a predator sizing up his prey. "Ah, the truth. It's always about the truth, isn't it? The thing is, Selene… the truth comes at a cost. And you, my dear, are about to find out just how high that price can be."

Selene didn't flinch. "I'm not afraid to pay it."

The Broker smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "That's what they all say. Until they can't afford the toll anymore."

He stepped aside, gesturing toward the darkened room behind him. "Come in. Let's see if you're ready to play the game."

Selene's heart raced, but she stepped forward, her mind made up. This was it. No turning back.

Kai was wrong. She wasn't walking into a trap. She was walking into her destiny.

And she was ready to take the first step