Virgin At 25-Chapter 106: BURIED LIES…BREATHING TRUTH…

Silence crashed into the office like a bomb.

Aec stared at the black screen of his phone, his reflection shaking over the glass... breath uneven... pulse hammering in his ears.

Then something inside him snapped.

Slowly... too slowly, he lifted his head toward Diana.

She was still frozen in the doorway, hand gripping the frame, her eyes wide with something he had never seen on her face before... Fear.

Aec moved. Not fast. Not loud.

Just with that terrifying, controlled rage that looked like it came from the deepest part of a man pushed past his limits.

He reached her in three long steps and grabbed her not roughly, not violently, but with a cold, steady firmness that made her spine lock up instantly.

His fingers dug into her jaw, tilting her face up.

His eyes were dead.

No emotion left.

Just a void.

"What do you know about Sharon?" he asked, voice low... dangerous... hollow.

Aec held her jaw firmly, his fingers tightening just enough to warn her but Diana didn’t flinch.

Not even once.

She lifted her chin slightly, meeting his dead, furious eyes with a cold, steady stare.

"Bold of you," she murmured. "Grabbing me like that... in your office... with half the company outside."

Her voice wasn’t shaky.

It wasn’t scared.

It was... irritatingly confident.

Aec’s grip tightened.

"Where is she?" he asked again, voice low, strained. "Where is my mother?"

His jaw twitched.

"And what do you know about Sharon?"

Diana’s lips curled into the smallest, sharpest smile.

"I know enough."

Aec’s heart slammed against his ribs.

"Talk," he ordered.

Diana slowly lifted her hand and wrapped her fingers around his wrist not to push him away, but to show she wasn’t intimidated.

"Aec," she whispered, "you asking me questions you already know the answers to."

His brows pulled together.

"Stop speaking in circles."

"I’m not," she replied simply.

"You... just don’t want to understand."

Aec’s hand trembled.

Diana leaned in, her voice brushing his ear.

"You think your father makes decisions alone?"

Aec froze.

Her eyes glinted.

"You think Sharon disappeared because of only him or because of me alone... You dragged the poor girl into all this mess, so don’t blame anyone?"

She tilted her head.

"Aec... wake up"

His grip faltered.

Then she delivered the blow, quiet, soft, devastating.

"Atleast your mother screamed your name...

...but Sharon?"

A dark smirk.

"She didn’t scream at all."

Aec’s entire body went still.

Something inside him snapped again, completely but not with rage.

With hurt. With something that made his fingers weaken.

And that was the moment Diana used.

She slapped his hand off her jaw not hard, but sharp, intentional.

He stumbled back one step.

She fixed her blouse calmly, smoothing the fabric like nothing had happened.

Then she walked toward the door and pulled it open.

Two employees standing outside, carrying files froze instantly, eyes wide, clearly having heard enough to know trouble was brewing.

Diana stepped into the hallway with her head high.

"Mr. Langley is... emotional today," she said coolly, loud enough for them to hear. "Please don’t disturb him."

She didn’t look back at Aec.

Not once.

She walked away confidently, leaving him alone in the office surrounded by silence, breathing like a man who had just been cracked open from the inside.

Diana’s heels clicked away down the hallway.

Aec stood there, fists clenched, chest heaving, trying to make sense of everything she’d just said.

Trying and failing to stay sane.

Then...

Rrrrring.

Rrrrring.

Another unknown number. His heart almost stopped.

Without thinking, he snatched the phone up.

"Sharon?" he breathed, voice breaking.

A low exhale came through the speaker... then a familiar voice.

"No, it’s me."

Aec’s eyebrows pulled together.

"Zion?"

"Yeah," Zion said quickly, voice hushed like he was speaking from a hidden corner. "Don’t end the call. Just listen."

Aec moved away from the door, pacing fast.

"Zion... if you’re calling to talk nonsense, I swear..."

"I’m calling," Zion cut in, "because I got something. Something real."

Aec stopped.

His grip on the phone tightened.

"What did you find?"

Zion’s tone dipped lower.

"I can’t say everything on the phone. But I dug into some surveillance records your father’s men failed to wipe while I was locked up with them "

Aec felt adrenaline slam through him.

"Tell me everything you know. Now "

"No," Zion replied sharply. "Not like this. If you show up directly, Victor will know. And if he knows, Sharon and your mom are dead. Instantly."

Aec dragged a hand through his hair, eyes burning.

"If Sharon is still alive then I don’t have time for caution, Zion."

"And I don’t have time for your hero nonsense," Zion fired back. "You want to save them or not?"

There was total silence...

Aec’s jaw locked.

"Talk," he finally said, voice rough.

Zion exhaled, organizing his thoughts fast.

"I’m helping you. But from the back scene. Victor can’t know I’m involved..."

Aec closed his eyes.

"You’re still helping me... after everything...?"

Zion scoffed.

"You think I’m doing it for you? Sharon is my friend too, idiot."

Aec swallowed hard.

"What location did you find?"

"I’ll tell you in person," Zion replied. "Meet me in thirty minutes."

"Where?"

"The old underpass on Fifth where you and Maxie used to hide bikes from the school security guard."

Aec blinked.

"How do you even know that place ?"

"I know everything or rather i know a lot now ," Zion said simply. "Especially the places your father’s men don’t monitor."

Aec grabbed his keys and moved with speed.

"I’m leaving now."

"Good," Zion said. "And Aec..."

Aec stopped halfway through the door.

"What?"

Zion’s voice softened... not weak, not emotional... but honest.

"Don’t come acting like you’re okay. I heard your breathing over the phone. You’re rattled."

Aec clenched his jaw.

"I’m fine."

"Liar," Zion muttered. "Just get here fast. Before someone else calls you with another threat."

Aec’s blood ran cold. He didn’t waste a second.

He strode out of the office, leaving the building without looking back, past employees and all the whisper.

He wasn’t their boss at that moment. He was a man running out of time.

The drive to the hotel felt like a blur. Aec didn’t remember traffic, didn’t remember lights, didn’t remember breathing.

He only remembered the voice on the phone

"You’re running out of time."

He pushed that thought away as he stepped into the hotel lobby.

Room 908.

Zion had sent the location while they were on call.

Aec took the elevator with a clenched jaw, his pulse thundering in his ears.

By the time he reached the door, he didn’t knock. He just turned the handle and It was unlocked.

He pushed it open.

Zion was inside. Not sitting or relaxed or calm...

He was pacing.

The moment he saw Aec, he stopped like he’d been punched in the lungs.

"You came fast," Zion breathed.

"What did you find?" Aec demanded instantly. "Zion... talk."

Zion swallowed.

"Aec... Sharon is alive and I know where she is."

The world stopped.

Aec’s breath caught. His vision blurred.

For a moment he actually leaned back like the air had punched him.

"Yes?" he whispered, voice breaking despite him trying to hold it steady.

"Zion don’t play with me. Don’t you dare"

"I’m not playing," Zion said firmly. "She’s alive. And she’s safe."

Aec’s knees almost buckled.

"Where is she?"

Zion shook his head.

"I can’t tell you that part. Not yet. But you need the full story, Aec. All of it."

Aec stepped closer.

"Then tell me."

Zion exhaled, bracing himself.

"You remember when the car went off the cliff?"

Aec’s eyes darkened.

"Say it."

"I heard the plan before it happened."

Aec stiffened, muscles locking.

"Heard it from who?"

Zion hesitated... then finally said

"My parents."

Aec blinked. "Your... what?"

Zion nodded slowly.

"My father works with Diana’s uncle. My mother works with her aunt."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"They didn’t know I had an insider feeding me more details. All I needed was the confirmation."

Aec’s breathing grew heavier.

"What confirmation?"

Zion’s face hardened.

"That Diana’s aunt and uncle ordered Sharon to be sent off the cliff and that the driver was instructed to ’finish the job’ if she survived the fall."

Aec’s eyes flashed pure murder. "I thought Diana was the one who?"

Zion continued.

"The moment I confirmed it was real, I sent my own people down to the river bed. I told them to wait for the crash, to track the car the moment it started going off the hills... and to pull Sharon out alive. I knew it would not be possible to get to her before the fall"

Aec swallowed, voice raw.

"You... you saved her?"

Zion shook his head.

"I didn’t save her. My team did. I only sent them."

He took a shaky breath.

"She was breathing when they found her. Barely. But breathing. They got her out before Diana’s people or your father’s people arrived. That’s why Diana has been panicking secretly ever since."

Aec’s chest rose and fell in violent waves.

"What condition is she in? Is she hurt? Is she awake? Where is...

Zion lifted his palm.

"Aec. Listen."

Aec forced himself still.

"Your father... Diana... her family... they all think Sharon is dead.. "

Zion’s voice softened.

"But she’s not in the river. She’s not even in this city."

Aec’s eyes widened.

"You moved her?"

"I hid her," Zion corrected. "Somewhere Victor can’t reach. Somewhere even you don’t know. Because right now? You’re the most watched man in the entire country. You slip once... Sharon dies."

Aec exhaled shakily, overwhelmed.

But then another thought hit him.

A dark, cold, terrifying thought.

Aec looked up sharply.

"Zion," he whispered. "If Sharon was saved... then what about the body they found by the river? The one they claimed was hers?"

Zion froze.

Aec stepped forward.

"Tell me you planned something. Tell me you switched the bodies. Tell me..."

"Aec," Zion said slowly, voice low.

"I don’t know anything about that body."

Aec stilled.

"What?"

Zion’s expression changed, confusion, fear, realization.

"Aec... I never sent anyone to replace anything. I never staged a body. I never left anything at the river."

The room suddenly felt colder.

Aec’s stomach dropped.

"Zion... if you didn’t put a body there..."

Zion looked at him, eyes wide.

"...then someone else did."

Aec’s heartbeat hammered painfully against his ribs.

He whispered "So whose body did they find?"