Selina was sitting in her apartment, staring at the audio monitoring equipment hidden in her closet. The little black device was blinking away; the chip in Maksim’s phone was still on and sending out signals.

She pulled up the recorded chats from the past week, scrolling through the timestamps and transcripts. Alpha and Maksim had gone over their botched raid on HK’s tower. They’d discussed tracking down the mole and had a heated debate about strategies and what to do next.

But nowhere, absolutely nowhere, had they brought up Alexander Kane.

That didn’t add up.

Leo had been all urgent when he called, asking if she knew anything about Alexander Kane. He said Alexander might have been working with Alpha for years.

If that was true, why hadn’t the chip picked up anything?

Either Alexander was so deep in the shadows that Alpha never mentioned him on calls, or there was something else happening.

Selina leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers on her lips.

She had been feeding intel to Zayden for a year. Before that, she’d been with Alpha since she was a kid. She knew his patterns, his contacts, and his operations inside and out.

And yet this Alexander Kane was totally off her radar.

How could that happen?

Her phone buzzed, it was Maksim.

"Yeah?" she said, keeping it chill.

"Tonight. My place. Eight o’clock. Don’t be late."

The call cut off before she could say anything back.

Selina looked at the phone, then back at the monitoring gear.

Something’s off. Something I’m missing.

She made a mental note to ask Leo about it later. If Alpha was hiding Alexander Kane even from the monitored stuff, it meant the whole operation was bigger and more dangerous than any of them had realized.

*****

Alexander pulled into his driveway just after 9 PM, the headlights cutting through the darkness of their quiet suburban street.

Emma was already half-asleep in the passenger seat, totally wiped out from the emotional rollercoaster of the day.

"We’re home, princess," Alexander said softly.

Emma stirred, blinking groggily. "Already?"

"Yeah. Come on, let’s get you inside."

She mumbled something muffled and stumbled out of the car, heading straight for the front door.

Alexander helped her inside and went right to her room, assisting her as she flopped down on the bed.

After about ten minutes, making sure she was asleep, he tucked the blanket around her and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him.

He stepped outside and focused on the trunk of the car.

The package.

He’d been avoiding it all evening, but he couldn’t dodge it any longer.

He popped the trunk open and found a medium-sized box, plain except for a small red sticker in the corner, Alpha’s mark.

Alexander grabbed it, feeling its familiar weight in his hands, and carried it toward the house.

What he didn’t notice was the black SUV parked three houses down, engine off and lights out.

Inside, Kade sat in the driver’s seat with night-vision binoculars, tracking Alexander’s every move.

He’d been following Alexander since he left the hospital, keeping a careful distance so he wouldn’t be spotted.

Now, he watched as Alexander brought the package inside and then pulled out his encrypted phone.

One text to Zayden: "Target’s home. Got the package from the trunk. Alpha’s mark confirmed. Still watching." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The reply came seconds later: "Good. Keep your eyes on him. Let me know if anything weird happens."

Kade settled in for a long night of keeping watch.

*****

Back at the office on the first floor, Zayden was standing by the window, looking out at the city lights, his phone still in his hand.

Aylin was in the office too, surrounded by a bunch of glowing screens, her fingers flying over the keyboards.

"Aylin," Zayden said out of nowhere.

She glanced up. "Yeah?"

"I need you to delete Ayla’s records."

Aylin’s hands froze on the keyboard. "What?"

"Everything. Her university enrollment, class schedules, student ID, and dorm info if she had any. I want her entire digital footprint at that university wiped clean."

"Zayden, that’s—"

"I know what I’m asking for." He turned to face her, his steel-blue eyes serious. "Can you do it?"

Aylin studied his face for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I can handle it. But it’s gonna take time. The university has backups on a bunch of servers—"

"How long?"

"Give me two hours. Maybe three."

"Just do it." Zayden pulled out his phone and called.

Reyes picked up right away. "Zayden."

"I need you to do something for me," Zayden said. "Get to the university. Talk to security, administration, faculty, anyone who might have seen Ayla. Tell them that if anyone asks about her, they should keep quiet. No class schedules, no personal stuff, nothing."

"What reason do I give?"

"Say it’s a safety issue, a family matter. Use your judgment. Just make sure they know it’s serious."

"Got it."

Zayden hung up and turned back to Aylin, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Why?" she asked quietly.

Zayden moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder. "Alexander’s been paying attention to the hospital security. He’s sharp, too sharp. He’s definitely going to want to figure out who his daughter’s new friend really is."

Suddenly, Aylin got it. "And if he finds out the right stuff..."

"Ayla’s in danger," Zayden said. "He won’t care that she’s Emma’s friend. All he’ll think about is that she’s the only witness who can point him out as your mom’s killer."

"Oh God." Aylin covered her mouth. "I didn’t even think about that. He won’t give a damn about his daughter’s feelings."

"Exactly. He’ll be all about protecting himself and staying out of trouble."

"But," Aylin said, turning to face him more directly, "if we just wipe her from the picture, won’t that look fishy? Alexander’s not dumb. If he digs around and finds nothing, that’s a red flag."

"That’s why we’ll give him the right info," Zayden replied. "Kade’s already keeping an eye on him. He’ll fill me in on whatever Alexander’s up to, his searches, anything he tries to dig up."

Aylin nodded slowly, letting it sink in. "So we steer the story. We control what he finds."

"Exactly."

Just then, the office door swung open, and Leo walked in with Reyes, who must have been around already.