Aylin kept going, her voice getting stronger as her hurt turned to anger. "And our dad...he died five years ago. They said it was a car accident. Natural causes. For five years, I believed that."

She looked up at Selina. "But now, finding out my parents were operatives, discovering my mom was murdered, and realizing how Alexander is connected to all of this, I’m not so sure anymore."

"You think Alexander killed your dad, too?" Selina said, making it sound like a fact.

"I don’t really know," Aylin admitted. "I don’t have proof. No witnesses. All I’ve got are questions that just keep piling up."

Selina stayed quiet for a while, clearly processing everything. Then her eyes widened a bit.

"Wait. What year did your mom die?"

"Fourteen years ago," Aylin replied. "2012."

"And your dad?"

"Five years ago. 2021."

Selina suddenly stood up and started pacing. "Oh my god. This adds up now."

"What adds up?" Zayden asked, sounding demanding.

Selina faced them. "If I’m right, the year your mom died, that’s when the government started looking into Alpha. It was pretty early in his operations, but someone tipped off federal agents about his drug trade."

Aylin’s breath caught in her throat. "You think my dad was part of that investigation?"

"Not necessarily your dad directly, but his team," Selina explained quickly. "What if your parents were digging into Alpha? What if they uncovered something? And then your mom was taken out for it?"

Reyes leaned forward. "That would make sense for why Alexander was involved. If Alpha figured out that government operatives were sniffing around him, he’d want them gone."

"And he had Alexander on the inside," Zayden added grimly. "Someone the team trusted, someone who could get close enough to make it look like an accident."

"Exactly!" Selina pointed at him. "And the year your dad died, 2021, Alpha was under investigation by the government again. It was a much bigger deal, but it went nowhere. Files magically disappeared, witnesses changed their stories, and evidence vanished."

Aylin felt sick. "So you think Alexander killed my dad, too? Because he was still looking into Alpha?"

"It might be possible," Selina said carefully. "If your dad kept digging after your mom died and had a hunch about what was going on, Alpha could’ve seen him as a threat."

Leo jumped in, his protective side kicking in. "But that raises another question. When Alpha kidnapped Aylin and Ayla two years ago, why didn’t he recognize their names? Why didn’t he connect them to Marcus and Sibel?"

Selina stopped pacing and frowned. "You’re right. That’s odd."

"More than odd," Aylin said, clearly frustrated. "You said Alpha gets really involved when someone looks into his operations. He came after me personally when I exposed his trafficking network, but my parents were just gathering info, just trying to investigate. Did he really have them killed without even knowing who they were?"

"That doesn’t fit his usual style," Reyes agreed. "Alpha likes to be in control. He’d want to know exactly who was threatening him."

Selina bit her lip, deep in thought. "You’re totally right. When someone digs into Alpha’s business, he becomes obsessed. He learns everything about them, their routines, their families, their weaknesses. With you, Aylin, he watched you for weeks before making a move. He knew your routine, knew about Ayla, and knew exactly how to get to you."

"But what about my parents?" Aylin pressed.

"About your parents... I’m not sure," Selina admitted. "If they were investigating him, he should have known their names and faces, everything about them. But two years ago, when we had you and Ayla, he never mentioned Marcus or Sibel. He didn’t use them as leverage. It was like they didn’t exist to him."

"That doesn’t make sense," Zayden said, going back to the whiteboard and jotting down more notes. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Leo asked.

Zayden turned to them, a theory forming. "Unless Alpha just doesn’t remember them. What if something happened that messed with his memory?"

The room went quiet as everyone took this in.

"Memory loss?" Aylin said slowly. "Do you really think Alpha has memory loss?"

"Think about it," Zayden said, getting into the idea. "How many surgeries has he had, Selina?"

"Four major facial reconstruction surgeries," Selina replied. "Including the one from a year ago."

"That’s a lot of anesthesia," Zayden pointed out. "A lot of time under, a lot of drugs in his system. There’s a chance he could have experienced memory loss or something similar during one of those surgeries. Or maybe he doesn’t recognize faces or names clearly anymore."

Leo straightened up, his medical knowledge kicking in. "Exactly! I’ve read about this in medical journals. Usually, when someone goes through multiple surgeries, especially extensive ones like facial reconstruction, prolonged exposure to anesthesia can affect memory and thinking. It’s not always permanent, but it can cause gaps, confusion, and issues with recognizing faces or recalling names."

Selina looked completely taken aback by what she’d just heard. "If that really happened, I would definitely know about it. But it didn’t go down like that. He’s totally fine. His memory’s good."

Leo chuckled softly, his eyes shining with amusement. "Come on, Selina. He keeps a lot from you. You can’t be so sure."

Selina narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a warning look. "Leo..."

Leo just winked and blew her a kiss from across the room, not fazed at all by her glare. "Just being real, beautiful."

"This isn’t the time for this, Leo," Selina replied, though she had a faint blush on her cheeks.

"There’s always time for the truth," Leo shot back with a grin. "Especially when it comes to you."

Reyes smiled at their back-and-forth, feeling the tension in the room lighten a bit.

He glanced at Aylin and noticed how she kept sneaking looks at Zayden when she thought no one was paying attention. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The way her face lit up when Zayden talked, how she leaned in closer to him, and the whole vibe shift around him were pretty obvious signs.

He recognized that look; he had been there before.

Reyes slightly shook his head, a bittersweet smile creeping onto his lips. Loving someone doesn’t guarantee they love you back, he thought. Some of us are just meant to watch from the sidelines.