Trust no One

Trust no One
Sofia's POV

"Isabella works for you?" I kept my gun steady despite the shock. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Chen sat up straighter, ignoring her wounded shoulder. "Who do you think arranged for Isabella to disappear twenty years ago? Who protected her while she built her empire? Who made sure no one got too close to the truth?"
"You're lying."
"Am I? Think about it, Sofia. Your father was investigating Isabella when he died. But who was his partner? Who had access to all his evidence? Who was perfectly positioned to destroy anything that might expose the real power structure?"
My mind raced. Everything Chen said made horrible sense.
"You killed my father."
"No," Chen said firmly. "Isabella killed your father. I just made sure the investigation died with him."
Cassian stepped forward, his face twisted with anger. "You were my mentor. You trained me. Everything I believed about justice came from you."
"And I made you into an excellent agent," Chen replied calmly. "You should be thanking me."
"For what? For turning me into a pawn in your game?"
"For teaching you how to survive in a world where the rules are written by people like me."
I studied Chen's face, using everything Luca had taught me about reading people. Her confidence was real. Her lack of fear was real. But there was something else underneath.
Desperation.
"You're not in control anymore," I said suddenly. "Something changed. That's why you're revealing yourself now."
Chen's smile faltered for just a second. I'd hit a nerve.
"Isabella has gone rogue," Chen admitted. "She was supposed to remain under my control, but she's been making moves without my approval."
"Like kidnapping me?"
"Like creating you. I wanted Isabella's empire dismantled quietly. Instead, she decided to train a replacement. You."
"So you wanted her to fail."
"I wanted her to disappear permanently. But she outsmarted me. She turned her daughter into someone who could inherit everything and potentially expose my entire operation."
I lowered my gun slightly. "What operation?"
Chen laughed, but it sounded bitter. "You really don't understand yet, do you? The criminal organizations, the FBI task force, even the corruption—it's all one system. And I built it."
"That's insane."
"That's business. I control the criminals and the law enforcement that fights them. I decide which organizations grow and which get destroyed. I determine who goes to prison and who walks free."
"Why?" Rafe asked. "What's the point of all this power?"
"Money," Chen said simply. "Billions of dollars flowing through criminal networks, and I take a percentage of everything. I'm the invisible tax collector for the entire underworld."
Luca was shaking his head in disbelief. "How long has this been going on?"
"Thirty years. I started small, protecting one crime boss in exchange for information. But I realized I could build something bigger. An empire where I controlled both sides of the war."
"And my father discovered what you were doing," I said.
"David was too honest for his own good. He started connecting dots that should have stayed separated. So I arranged for him to work closely with Isabella, knowing she'd seduce him and eventually kill him."
The casual way Chen talked about my father's murder made rage boil in my chest.
"You're a monster."
"I'm a realist. Your father died doing what he loved—fighting for justice. Most people don't get such a noble end."
"There's nothing noble about being murdered by the woman he loved."
"Isabella didn't love him. She used him, just like I taught her to do."
Something in that statement made me pause. "You taught Isabella?"
"Who do you think found her after she killed her first husband? Who gave her the resources to build her criminal network? I created Isabella Moretti, and I can destroy her just as easily."
"Then why haven't you?"
"Because she's useful. Or she was, until she decided to play mother and bring you into the game."
I was starting to understand. "You're afraid of me."
"Not afraid. Cautious. You're unpredictable in ways Isabella never was. You have your father's moral compass but your mother's ruthlessness. That combination makes you dangerous."
"Dangerous to you."
"Dangerous to the entire system I've built."
Chen reached behind her back, moving slowly. I should have shot her then. But I was too focused on getting answers.
"So what's your plan?" I asked. "Kill me and hope Isabella falls apart?"
"Actually, I was hoping to recruit you."
The words stunned me. "What?"
"You're smart, capable, and already halfway to becoming a criminal queen. Join me instead of your mother. I can offer you more power than Isabella ever could."
"You want me to work for you?"
"I want you to replace Isabella. She's become a liability, but her organization is valuable. With you in charge, I could maintain control while appearing to support a new, younger generation of leadership."
I almost laughed. "You think I'd betray my mother to work for the person who killed my father?"
"I think you'll do whatever benefits you most. Just like me."
Chen's hand was still behind her back. I realized too late what she was reaching for.
"The thing is, Sofia," Chen continued, "I don't actually need you to agree. I just need you to be useful."
She pulled out a gun—smaller than mine but just as deadly.
In the same motion, she shot Marco in the leg before anyone could react.
Marco went down screaming. His men raised their weapons, but Chen was already pointing her gun at me.
"Nobody moves or Sofia dies," Chen commanded.
Cassian, Rafe, Luca, and Nikos froze. They couldn't shoot Chen without risking hitting me.
"You're wounded and outnumbered," I said, keeping my voice steady. "How do you think this ends?"
"With Isabella learning that I have her precious daughter hostage. She'll do anything to get you back, which means I regain control."
"Unless I shoot you first."
"You won't. Because then you'll never know the full truth."
"What truth?"
Chen smiled, and it was the cruelest expression I'd ever seen.
"The truth about why Isabella really gave you away. The truth about who you really are. The truth about the role I've been grooming you for since the day you were born."
My finger tensed on the trigger, but I didn't shoot.
"Isabella thinks she's been training you to be her replacement," Chen continued. "But I've been training you for something else entirely. Every lesson you learned, every skill you developed, every choice you made—I was behind all of it, shaping you into exactly what I need."
"Which is what?"
"The perfect weapon to destroy not just Isabella, but every criminal organization in North America. You're going to help me consolidate absolute power, Sofia. And you won't even realize you're doing it until it's too late."
Chen's finger moved toward the trigger.
"Unless you shoot me right now, of course. But then you'll never know what I have planned for you. You'll never understand why everything in your life has been leading to this moment. And you'll never learn the real reason Isabella gave you away."
I stared at Chen over the barrel of my gun, my mind racing through impossible choices.
Shoot her and end the threat but lose the truth.
Or let her live and become part of whatever twisted plan she'd spent decades engineering.
"What's it going to be, Sofia?" Chen asked. "Truth or justice? You can't have both."
Behind Chen, I saw movement in the shadows.
Someone else was in the warehouse with us.
Someone Chen hadn't noticed.
The figure stepped into the light, and my blood turned to ice.
It was Isabella, holding a sniper rifle aimed directly at Chen's head.
"Hello, Sarah," Isabella said coldly. "Did you really think I didn't know you were alive?"