CHAPTER 6
775 Words
Siege didn’t sleep.
He spent the entire night in his office, tearing through archives, old case files, anything with the name Arias. He found almost nothing. Her mother had died when Brielle was seven. Her father, Adrian Arias, disappeared when she was ten. Her medical records were spotless. Too spotless.
At 4:12 AM, Marcus knocked once and entered.
Siege didn’t look up. “What.”
“I found something in the old Valentino estate boxes.”
Marcus set a photograph on the desk.
It was faded, the edges yellow. Two men in their 30s, arms around each other’s shoulders, laughing at something off-camera. One was Siege’s father, Dante Valentino. The other was younger, sharper, with Brielle’s eyes.
Siege’s blood went cold.
“Impossible.”
“That’s Adrian Arias,” Marcus said quietly. “Your father’s associate. Head of security for three years. Disappeared twenty five years ago after the fire.”
Siege nodded once. He couldn’t speak.
Marcus glanced at the other photo on the desk. Brielle’s hospital ID.
“That’s her father.”
Siege didn’t answer.
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Meanwhile, Brielle woke with a gasp.
Sweat on her skin. Her heart pounding.
In the dream there was a golden mask. A burning building. A man screaming her name. And her father’s voice, low and urgent: “Never trust the Valentino family. Never.”
The bedroom door opened. Siege stood there in a black shirt, hair disheveled, eyes red from no sleep.
“You okay?”
She sat up, clutching the blanket. “I remembered something.”
“What?”
“My father.”
Siege froze in the doorway. “What about him?”
“He knew your father.”
Silence.
“How?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Siege came in and sat on the edge of the bed, careful, like she was a patient he didn’t want to startle. “You should tell me everything.”
She looked at him. “You first.”
He smiled bitterly. “Fair.”
He held out the photograph.
Brielle took it. Her hands shook.
“That’s my father.”
“Yes.”
“Why is he with yours?”
“I don’t know.”
Her thumb brushed over the image. And then it hit her. Not a memory, not quite. A flash.
A little girl with scraped knees. A boy with angry eyes, holding her hand. A golden half-mask on the floor between them. A man’s voice in the dark: “Protect her. No matter what.”
Brielle’s eyes widened. “Siege.”
“What?”
“I knew you.”
He froze. “When?”
“When we were children.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You would remember.”
“I don’t. Not clearly. But my father knew yours. We were... together. Once.”
Before he could answer, the mansion alarm screamed. Red lights flashed.
Marcus burst in. “Sir! Lower level breach! East wing!”
Siege was already moving. “Get Brielle out. Now.”
They ran. Down the hidden staircase, through the tunnel. Armed men in black were already inside the house.
Then more gunfire from the front.
“Police! Everyone down!”
Caspian.
Brielle peeked around the corner and saw him, in tactical gear, yelling orders. Behind him, ducking low, was Charmaine in heels and a leather jacket.
Brielle stared. “What are you doing here?”
Charmaine shrugged. “I followed him.”
Caspian shouted without looking back. “Charmaine!”
“What?”
“Stay behind me!”
“I am!”
“You’re standing beside the gunfire!”
“Technically, yes.”
Brielle laughed despite everything. The sound was shaky and real.
Siege glanced at her, still covering her with his body. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because they’re ridiculous.”
It was over in minutes. The attackers were subdued. One was dragged out in cuffs, bleeding from the temple.
Caspian ripped the mask off.
Brielle froze.
It was Mr. Dela Cruz. Senior VP of Valentino International. A man who’d been at every board meeting, every charity event.
Siege stared. “You.”
The man smiled, blood on his teeth. “You’ll never find her.”
“Find who?”
The man’s eyes shifted. To Brielle.
“Your mother.”
The world went quiet.
Brielle’s heart stopped. “My mother is dead.”
The man laughed. “No, Doctor.”
He leaned forward, guards holding him back.
“She isn’t.”
Siege stepped between them instantly.
Brielle couldn’t breathe.
Because if her mother was alive... then everything her father told her was a lie.
And the war waiting for her arrival had already started.
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