Jay’s smile, that dark, devastating mix of regret and challenge, tore Amara's breath away. The weight of the Manila folder pressed against her stomach, no longer a hidden weapon, but a brand of betrayal.
"You came all this way to find Julian Da Silva, Counselor," he repeated, his voice dangerously low. "Well, you found him."
The revelation felt like an instant erasure of their history. The pilot who saved her, the father who charmed her—all a lie.
"You lied to me," Amara whispered, her voice thick with shock. "From the moment we met. You let me call you Mr. Edwards. You let me believe you were Mr. Edwards."
"I took the job from Mr. Edwards," Julian corrected, his tone shifting back to the controlled, business-like authority Amara knew from the jungle. "He flies charters, but he was boo
