"I was in hiding—"

"Hiding from what? From whom?" Liam’s chest felt tight as he gasped for air.

"Why did you make us think you were dead? What the hell were you thinking? I had no one, Dad. Just you. You were all I had. And you," his voice broke again, "you left me."

His dad moved to a chair and slumped into it, suddenly looking much older. "Sit down, son. I need to explain."

Liam wanted to refuse, to keep yelling, but something in his dad’s voice compelled him to sit. He grabbed a chair, his jaw clenched.

"I wasn’t always the dad you thought I was," his dad began quietly. "The guy you knew, the IT consultant who went to work every day, who came home for dinner, who helped you with your homework, that was real, but it wasn’t the whole story."

"What’s the other part?" Liam asked.

His dad looked at him, pain evident on his face. "I was a government agent, Liam. Special ops. Deep cover gigs. I did things, necessary things, to keep this country safe."

Liam felt like the ground was shifting beneath him. "You’re lying."

"I wish it were a lie," his dad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "For fifteen years, I served my country. I was good at my job. I had a team, five of us. We were like brothers. We had each other’s backs."

He hesitated, swallowing hard.

"There was Marcus Alston, an incredible strategist and the best hacker around. His wife, Sibel, was a tactical whiz who could plan an operation in her sleep."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Then there was Alexander Kane, my best friend, or so I thought. Lastly, there was Mehmet Demir, a weapons expert. He left the team years ago for another mission, and we lost touch with him."

"What happened?" Liam asked quietly.

"Fourteen years ago, we ran an operation against a major crime organization. It was risky and intense, and we actually pulled it off, maybe too well. We took down some key players and seized millions in illegal goods."

His dad’s mood darkened. "But someone didn’t like that we succeeded."

"Who?"

"I’m not sure. What I do know is that someone framed me, making it look like I was working with the criminals we were trying to take down. Evidence surfaced, emails, money transactions, meeting notes, all pointing at me as if I were the traitor."

Liam’s eyes widened. "But you really weren’t."

"Of course not!" His dad’s voice shook. "But the evidence was too convincing. It had to be someone who knew our procedures and operations, an insider, who set me up."

He stood up and began pacing.

"The government arrested me. I was facing the death penalty for treason. But before they could carry out the sentence, I managed to escape."

"How?"

His dad’s laugh was bitter. "Alexander, my best friend, came to me in the dead of night and helped me get out. He told me—" his voice hardened, "that it was Marcus. Marcus Alston, who betrayed me and framed me with the criminals."

Liam leaned in, intrigued. "Did you trust him?"

"I had no reason to doubt him. Alexander showed me proof, encrypted files, and messages exchanged between Marcus and the people we were pursuing. Everything pointed to Marcus being the one who set me up."

"And what did Marcus say?"

"I never got the chance to confront him. Alexander helped me vanish. I went underground and kept a low profile. Then, three years later, while I was in hiding, I found out Marcus had died..., a heart attack, they said. Natural causes."

His dad’s hands turned into fists.

"I thought I had been betrayed by one of my closest friends. I believed Marcus Alston was a traitor. And then he died before I could get any answers."

"But you’re not so sure anymore," Liam said slowly. "Are you?"

His dad shook his head. "No, because I started asking questions. I began digging, and nothing about Marcus’s supposed betrayal makes sense."

He pulled up a screen displaying files and photos.

"Marcus’s daughter, Aylin Lunel, has become one of the top hackers out there. If her dad was really mixed up with criminals, why would she spend her life trying to expose them?"

He shook his head, "She took down Alpha Dark’s entire network. Why would she sabotage the very group her dad was supposed to be working for?"

Liam stared at the screen, looking at pictures of Aylin, confident, fierce, and sharp.

"She doesn’t have a clue, does she?" he whispered. "About her dad being an agent?"

"Nope. Marcus and Sibel kept their real jobs hidden from their daughters. Aylin thinks her dad was a journalist. Her sister, Ayla, thinks the same. They have no idea their parents were actually government operatives."

"What happened to Sibel, Aylin’s mom?"

"She died fourteen years ago, around the time I got framed. They called it an accident." His dad’s voice turned serious. "But I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. Not after everything."

Liam’s mind raced. "And Marcus? Five years ago?"

"Heart attack. Natural causes. But still—"

"You don’t buy that."

"I can’t prove anything," his dad admitted. "But I’ve learned to trust my instincts. And my gut tells me Marcus and Sibel were silenced because they knew the real story behind who betrayed us."

"Alexander," Liam muttered.

His dad nodded slowly. "I think so. But I don’t have any proof. I just recently found out that there might be someone else who knows what really happened."

"Who?"

"Mehmet Demir. The fifth member of our team. He left years ago for another mission, as I mentioned earlier. But he was there when it all went down. If anyone knows the truth, it’s him."

Liam stood up, running his hands through his hair. "This is crazy. You’re telling me you’ve spent twelve years believing Marcus sold you out when it could have been Alexander all along?"

"I know how it sounds—"

"Do you?" Liam spun around, his anger flaring up again.