Aylin chimed in, her voice tense. "When Alpha had us trapped in that warehouse, he never mentioned our dad at all. He didn’t use him as a threat or anything. It was like Marcus didn’t even matter to him."

"That’s actually weird when you think about it," Selina said, looking thoughtful. "If he knew who your dad was, he definitely would have tried to use that against you. Alpha was all about messing with your head; he’d have enjoyed taunting you with it."

Reyes leaned in. "So either Alpha had no clue who Marcus Alston was, or—"

"Or he deliberately chose not to mention him," Leo added. "But why?"

Zayden waved away the line of thought. "We’ll come back to that later. Selina, I’ve got a different question: How many times did Alpha go under the knife? You know, for facial changes and all that?"

Selina didn’t think twice. "Four times. His last surgery was about a year ago."

"Four times," Zayden repeated. "And who did the surgeries?"

Selina’s expression turned slightly mischievous. "You’re gonna be surprised."

"Hit me with it," Zayden said flatly.

"Elias King."

The name landed like a bomb in the room.

Aylin’s head shot up, her eyes wide. "Oh God." She grabbed her phone, fingers flying over the screen.

Zayden watched her, his entire body tensing. "Aylin?"

Aylin didn’t respond right away; she was too busy pulling up files and swiping through images.

Suddenly, she stood up, her chair rolling back behind her, and crossed over to Zayden’s desk in just a few quick steps.

She shoved her phone at him, the screen showing photos of Alexander that Kade had taken.

Leo and Reyes leaned in, curious to see what was making her so worked up.

"Alexander is Elias King," Aylin said, her voice unsteady with the realization. "How did I not catch this? His full name is Elias King Kane. Ugh, I feel so stupid!"

Zayden grabbed the phone and looked closely at the pictures. "You found this while doing your research?"

"Yeah, but I didn’t put it together!" Aylin ran her hands through her hair, messing up her bun.

"When I searched for Alexander Kane, I just found stuff about his lab work. There were records showing he had done some minor surgeries, nothing serious, just a few tweaks to his face here and there. I thought it was weird for a man with a daughter to be doing that much cosmetic work..., but I didn’t dig any deeper."

Leo chimed in thoughtfully, "Maybe he didn’t want to confuse his daughter. If Emma knows him as Alexander Kane, her dad, he wouldn’t go by Elias King around her."

Selina narrowed her eyes. "Wait a second. Elias doesn’t have a daughter. He’s single. He’s never been married."

Aylin spun around to her. "We know he’s not married."

"Then where did Emma come from?" Selina pressed.

"Emma’s just a cover," Aylin explained, her words spilling out quickly. "She doesn’t know Alexander isn’t her real dad. He made up this whole story, telling her and everyone he meets that her mother died giving birth to her."

Selina actually laughed at that, a sharp sound of disbelief. "Seriously? That’s his cover story?"

Aylin nodded grimly. "But the truth is, he adopted her from an orphanage."

Selina’s laugh disappeared immediately, her expression turning intense and almost predatory. "Which orphanage?"

Everyone in the room went still at the sudden change in her demeanor.

Aylin checked her phone. "Havenbrook Home Orphanage. Why? What is it?"

Selina stood up from the desk, her casual vibe completely gone. "No way."

Leo straightened up. "What? What’s going on, Selina?"

Zayden’s voice cut through the tension in the room like a knife. "Selina, we don’t have time for all this drama. Just tell us what’s happening!"

Selina turned to face everyone, looking more shaken than before. "Emma is the daughter of one of our team members."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

"What?" Reyes finally broke the quiet.

"One of Alpha’s team members," Selina clarified, pacing back and forth. "They died. Well, not exactly died, Alpha killed them."

Aylin felt her stomach drop. "Why?"

"Because they left the team after their daughter was born," Selina explained, her words coming out faster now. "They didn’t want their kid involved in all this chaos. They wanted out, wanted a normal life for her."

"And Alpha doesn’t let people leave," Leo said grimly.

"Exactly," Selina confirmed. "But that’s not even the worst part. Before Alpha killed them, they gave information to someone, a government agent."

Zayden leaned in, intrigued. "Who? What agent?"

"I don’t know her name," Selina admitted. "I just know it was a woman, some kind of federal agent. They shared intel on Alpha’s operations. This was years ago, back when he was just getting started. I was young then, barely involved in the serious stuff."

"How young?" Reyes asked.

"Young enough that Alpha didn’t fill me in on everything," Selina replied. "This was around the time Alpha kicked off his drug business, his real operations. Before the trafficking, before he became what he is now."

Aylin was typing away on her laptop. "So Emma’s parents spilled the beans on Alpha to a federal agent, and then Alpha killed them. What happened to Emma?"

"I put her in an orphanage," Selina said quietly. "Havenbrook Home. She was just a baby, about a month old. I couldn’t... I couldn’t let Alpha harm a kid. So I told him I’d take care of the ’loose end,’ and I took her there instead."

Leo’s expression softened a bit. "That’s why you remember the orphanage’s name."

"I visit once in a while," Selina admitted, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "Anonymously. Donations, that kind of thing. I wanted to make sure she was okay."

Zayden’s mind was racing, connections coming together quickly. "Okay, so Emma’s parents were killed by Alpha. Selina put her in an orphanage. Then Alexander, Elias King, adopted her a month later."

He looked up sharply. "That makes sense. Alpha must have asked Alexander to adopt that kid."

"What?" Aylin asked. "Why would he do something like that?"