Chapter 60 CONFESSION

Chapter 60 CONFESSION


Adeline's POV

"I need to call Belle right now."

Kayden was already moving. "Do it. Put it on speaker."

My hands shook as I dialed. It rang once, twice, then three times.

"Pick up, pick up—"

"Hello?" Belle's voice, groggy with sleep."Addy? It's like midnight. What's wrong?"

Relief flooded through me. "Belle. Are you okay? Are you safe?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm in bed. Why?"

"Is anyone there with you?"

"Just Grey. He came over after hearing about another attack and wanted to make sure I was okay." She paused.

"Addy, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

Grey was there. Of course he was.

"Put Grey on the phone."

"Why—"

"Belle, please."

I heard rustling sounds, then Grey's voice. "Adeline? What's wrong?"

"How long have you been at Belle's apartment?"

"About an hour. I heard about the attack, got worried." His voice was concerned, genuine.

"Is everything okay?"

"Everyone's fine. I just needed to check on Belle."

"She's safe. I promise. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere tonight."

The words should have been comforting. But something about them made my skin crawl.

"Adeline?" Belle was back. "What's really going on?"

"Nothing. Just worried about the attacks, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, Grey's here. Can I go back to sleep now? We have the venue walkthrough in the morning."

"Yeah. Of course. I love you."

"Love you too. Stop worrying so much."

She hung up.

I looked at Kayden. "She's with Grey."

"I heard." He turned to Marco.

"Send a protection detail to Annabelle's apartment, discreet but thorough. Eyes on her building, everyone who comes and goes."

"You think Grey is involved?" Marco asked.

"I don't know. But if someone is targeting Annabelle, I want her protected. Now."

The Council was watching this exchange.

"So," Russio said slowly. "Not only is my daughter-in-law a legendary hacker, but someone is targeting her sister. And we have no idea who or why."

"To control me," I said. "If they have Belle, they have leverage."

"Then we protect the sister and figure out who's behind this," one of the Council members said.

"This person is exceptional," Dr. Chen said, studying the message. "They've been watching Adeline for years."

"Someone from your past?" Kayden asked, looking at me for the first time with something other than betrayal.

"Maybe. There was one person years ago. A hacker I met in an underground forum. We collaborated on jobs. But that was six, seven years ago. They died, or I thought they did."

"Name?" Russio demanded.

"They went by 'Sienna.' I never knew their real name."

"What happened?"

"They took a high-risk job. A government target, then disappeared. I assumed they'd been caught or killed."

Dr. Chen typed rapidly. "I'll search for that handle."

"You won't find anything," I said. "If Sienna is alive, they won't be sloppy."

One of the older Council members stood. "What do we do with her? She's admitted to being a criminal. Are we just going to let her walk free?"

"What would you suggest?" Kayden asked, his voice dangerous.

"She's the only one who can help us catch whoever's doing this."

"Or she's lying….playing us."

"The attack happened while she was in this room," Dr. Chen pointed out.

The room devolved into arguments.

Finally, Russio stood. "Enough. Adeline will work with our tech team to identify and stop whoever is doing this. She'll get full access to our systems."

"You're trusting her?"

"I'm using her. There's a difference." Russio looked at me.

"Prove you're innocent. Find this person and stop them. But if you betray us, there won't be anywhere you can hide. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Dr. Chen, you'll supervise. Monitor everything." Russio gestured to the door.

"The rest of you are dismissed."

People filed out. Soon, only Kayden, Russio, Marco, Dr. Chen, and I remained.

"I want to understand something," Kayden said carefully.

"How did you become both things? Assassin and hacker?"

I sat down, exhausted. "You want the whole story?"

"I think I deserve that."

"I was sixteen when our parents left. One day they were there, the next they were gone. They just vanished, left a note saying they couldn't do it anymore, couldn't handle the responsibility."

Kayden's expression softened.

"Belle was six. She cried every night for months. I lied and said they were on a trip, then working overseas. Eventually, I said they died in a plane crash. It seemed kinder than the truth."

"Adeline—"

"I had to support us. I was good with computers, always had been. So I started hacking. It was small jobs at first, then bigger, more money. I built the Midnight Cerulean reputation over years."

"But it wasn't enough," Kayden said.

"The jobs were inconsistent. Belle needed stability. So I became an assassin too. I was nineteen when I took my first kill contract." I took a breath.

"I told myself it was justice. That I only took contracts on people who deserved it. But not always. Sometimes I needed money fast."

The room was silent.

"Two identities," Russio said. "That takes discipline."

"It takes desperation, fear that I'd fail Belle. That she'd end up like me."

"So you did terrible things to keep her from having to," Kayden said quietly.

"Yes."

"I understand that. I've done terrible things for family too."

It was the first hint of softening.

"But you still lied to me," he continued.

"Let me hunt for Midnight Cerulean, sat in meetings discussing finding this person."

"Would you have believed me if I'd told you?"

"I don't know. But I deserved the chance to decide."

"I'm sorry for all of it. But Kayden, I never lied about us, about how I feel. That was always real."

His jaw tightened. "I don't know what's real anymore."

"We need to work," Dr. Chen said gently. "Two weeks to stop them."

"Two weeks until the wedding," I said. "That's when they'll strike."

Dr. Chen and I worked through the night, analyzing patterns, tracing footprints.

Around 3 AM, I found something.

"Dr. Chen. Look."

She stood behind me. "What am I looking at?"

"The systems they're accessing. These are all systems I've designed or worked on before."

"So they have access to your previous jobs."

"Not just access, intimate knowledge. They watched me work and studied my methods in real-time. They were my partner."

"Sienna?"

"Maybe." I pulled up more data.

"Look at the timeline. The attacks aren't random. First the port, entry point. Then warehouse, storage. Then processing center, where everything gets recorded."

"They're mapping the entire operation," Dr. Chen said.

"Not just mapping. Taking control. Piece by piece. And in two weeks—"

"They'll have complete control of the Gravano empire."

"The wedding," I said. "It's about timing. All key players in one place, distracted. That's when they'll make their move."

"We need to tell Russio and Kayden."

"Wait." I cross-referenced more data.

"They're targeting financial records. Family connections, blackmail material."

"They're not just taking over the empire. They're destroying the family."

"Completely."

My screen flashed. New message appearing directly on my terminal.

"Very good, Adeline. You're figuring it out but you're too late. The pieces are already in place. In two weeks, the Gravano empire falls. And your sister? She's going to help us do it. She just doesn't know it yet. See you at the wedding. - S"

The message deleted itself.

But not before I saw something else. Hidden in the code.

A timestamp.

From Belle's apartment building.

From her laptop.

The message had been sent from Belle's computer.

Someone had been in her apartment. On her device, right now. While Grey was supposedly protecting her.

I grabbed my phone, called the protection detail.

"Status report on Belle's apartment, now."

"All clear, ma'am. No movement in or out in the last two hours. Subject is asleep. Male visitor still inside."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. We have eyes on all exits."

I hung up and looked at Dr. Chen.

"Someone was just on Belle's c
omputer. While she's supposedly safely asleep with protection outside and Grey inside."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. But whoever is doing this, they're already closer to Belle than we thought. And we have no idea how deep this goes."