sealed with a lie

The boat rocked hard as it reached the rocky inlet. The mist was thick, but not enough to hide the towering black gate ahead. Aria stood at the bow, the wind slapping her face. Behind her, Damon tightened his grip on the rope.

"This is it," Luca muttered. "The place the Council started everything."

Aria's voice was cold. "Then it's where we'll finish it."

---

The island was a fortress. Ancient stone walls, military-grade turrets hidden in ivy, and silence that screamed of secrets. They hiked through thick woods until they reached the rear tunnel, marked with the ♛ symbol.

Luca plugged in a portable decryptor. "Give me sixty seconds."

Aria drew her gun. "You have thirty."

The lock clicked.

They entered.

---

Inside, the corridor was lined with portraits—old kings, ancient warlords, faces blurred by time. Aria's footsteps echoed as they moved deeper underground.

"This place is a damn crypt," Damon whispered.

"No," Aria replied. "It's a throne room."

They reached a control chamber. Screens flickered to life, showing Council operations across the globe.

"Look at this," Luca gasped. "These are all surveillance files—politicians, royals, military leaders. They've been controlling the world from here."

"And now we expose it," Damon said.

But then a voice echoed from the shadows:

"You're trespassing in a temple of kings."

They turned.

Constantine Vale.

Alive.

Unshaken.

And standing behind him—Leo Vale.

Alive. And smiling.

---

Aria raised her gun. "You should be dead."

Leo shrugged. "People keep saying that."

Constantine stepped forward. "We've allowed this charade long enough. The game ends tonight."

Aria's eyes narrowed. "No. It begins now."

Gunfire exploded.

Luca dived. Damon tackled Aria as bullets flew. The room erupted in chaos.

Damon and Leo fought hand-to-hand, rage in every punch. Luca uploaded data to a secure cloud server. Aria cornered Constantine.

"You don't know what you're doing," Constantine growled.

"I know I'm burning your legacy to the ground."

She shot the control board.

Alarms blared.

Sirens howled across the island.

Backup would be here in minutes.

---

They escaped through the emergency tunnel, leaving fire and fury behind.

On the shore, a helicopter waited.

Aria looked back once—at the crumbli

ng kingdom of shadows.

Then she climbed aboard.

And they flew toward the rising sun.

💨Episode 16: Scars of Smoke and Secrets💨

The helicopter sliced through the morning sky, the wreckage of the island growing smaller behind them. Aria clutched Damon's hand, knuckles white.

They'd survived. But survival had a cost.

Luca bled from his shoulder, but waved off help. "We got the data," he muttered. "That's all that matters."

"No," Aria said. "Now comes the reckoning."

---

Hours later, in a hidden bunker in northern Scotland, the trio reviewed what they'd stolen.

"Look at this," Luca said, pulling up a hologram of international bank accounts. "The Council has ties to royal families, corporations—even humanitarian aid organizations."

Damon narrowed his eyes. "They're parasites in plain sight."

"Not anymore," Aria said. "We're burning their masks."

---

But as they planned their next strike, Aria's vision blurred. Her knees buckled.

Damon caught her. "Aria!"

She passed out.

When she woke, she was in a sterile white room. Monitors beeped. Damon sat at her side, worry etched into every line of his face.

"The Council didn't just watch you," he said softly. "They experimented on you. We found it in the files."

Aria's breath caught. "What?"

"Drug trials. Memory suppression. Your mother knew."

"No..." Her voice broke. "She protected me."

"She tried," Damon said. "But they got to you first."

---

In a separate scene, Leo limped through a cathedral deep underground, kneeling before a glass tomb.

Inside: Constantine Vale. Preserved. Breathing faintly.

A voice echoed through the halls.

"You failed, Leo."

He looked up. "Give me another chance."

A figure stepped from the shadows.

"You've had enough."

And then—a gunshot.

Leo fell.

---

The next morning, Aria and Damon stood at the edge of a frozen cliff, staring into the sea.

"I thought the lie was the contract," she whispered.

"But the lie was deeper," Damon said. "It was your whole life."

She turned to him. "Then let's write something real."

He pulled her into his arms. "Together."

Above them, storm clouds gathered.

Below, waves crashed like war drums.

Because truth had a price.

And they were ready to pay it.

[To Be Continued...]