The note would not leave her alone.
By the third night, Aria couldn't sleep. She paced her room, replaying Victor's words until they felt less like a warning and more like a dare.
You don't know his truth.
She told herself it was foolish. That Victor was baiting her, trying to wedge her against Darius. Yet the seed had already sprouted, and the vines wound tighter with every quiet hour in the mansion's gilded halls.
So she did what she swore she wouldn't: she went looking.
The estate had wings she'd never entered, corridors that seemed to fold back on themselves like a labyrinth. Most doors were guarded, but not all. Past midnight, when the house finally slept, she slipped barefoot across cold marble and found her way to the west wing — the one Kane always kept locked.
Her heart raced. She told herself she'd only peek, only look for something to quiet the gnawing doubt.
The third door she tried clicked open.
Inside, the room smelled of dust and paper. Rows of cabinets lined the walls. She reached for a folder, her fingers trembling, and pulled out a sheaf of yellowed documents.
Her breath caught.
Birth records. Hospital receipts. The name Darius Kane written across the top — but beneath it, another name scrawled in faded ink. A surname she recognized instantly.
Hale.
Her stomach twisted. She grabbed another folder, then another. Pieces of a history carefully buried — connections between the two men that were more than rivalry, more than business.
Half-brothers.
The revelation slammed into her like a blow. Darius and Victor weren't just enemies; they were blood.
The floor creaked behind her.
She whirled around, clutching the folder to her chest. A shadow filled the doorway.
Darius.
His face was unreadable, carved from the same stone she'd seen him wield against the world. Only his eyes betrayed him — sharp, suspicious, glittering with something darker than anger.
"What," he said quietly, each word clipped, "are you doing here?"
Aria couldn't answer. The folder shook in her hands. Between them, the truth stretched like a blade.