The door slammed behind her.
Mira stormed into the apartment like a tempest, eyes wild, breath ragged. Jace looked up from the couch, startled. He stood immediately.
"Mira?"
She didn't stop moving until her palms hit his chest, pushing him back—not hard, but enough to make him stumble a step.
"You lied to me."
His confusion lasted only a second. Then it hit. The color drained from his face.
"You saw him," he said. "Eli."
"Don't deflect."
"I'm not."
"Then tell me," she demanded. "Tell me what happened in Indianapolis."
Jace's shoulders stiffened.
Silence.
"Say it," Mira whispered. "Say you were there. Say Eli didn't make that up."
He exhaled slowly and looked away. "I was there."
Mira stepped back like he'd slapped her.
"Were you part of it?" Her voice was shaking now. "The explosion?"
He hesitated—too long.
"I was part of the team," he said. "But we weren't supposed to go in hot. It was surveillance. Data extraction. Minimal footprint. But something went wrong."
"What?"
"A fail-safe. Someone triggered it. Set off the collapse."
Mira's mouth tightened. "And you think I'll believe you weren't the one who pulled the switch?"
Jace looked pained. "I lost people in that blast, Mira."
"Not an answer."
He raked his hands through his hair, pacing now. "I was sent in by an intel branch that doesn't officially exist. The target? A corrupted financial database tied to black market deals—arms, offshore accounts, payoffs to people like Eli's father. I thought I was doing the right thing."
"And?"
"And I was. But someone double-crossed us. Burned the evidence. Covered their tracks. And when the building came down, we were declared ghosts."
Mira stared at him. "You faked your death."
"They gave me no choice. I lived off-grid for two years after. Reemerged under another identity. I was done being a weapon."
"So you came back and just… what, wandered into my life like it was fate?"
He looked at her then—really looked.
"No," he said. "I found you by accident. But I stayed on purpose."
---
She sat down heavily on the armrest, breathing hard. "You should've told me."
"I wanted to. Every day."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because I didn't want you to look at me like you're looking at me right now."
That shut her up.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Then she said softly, "Eli knew everything. About the explosion. The alias. You."
Jace's jaw tightened. "Of course he did. His father's fingerprints were all over the vault we blew up."
"So this is about them," Mira whispered. "This whole time, it wasn't just about me."
"No." Jace sat down across from her, voice low. "But it became about you. The second I realized they weren't just watching me—they were using you."
Her throat tightened. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't want you to think you were just leverage."
---
The next morning, Mira woke up with a migraine and a plan.
Jace was asleep on the couch. They hadn't said much after their talk—just enough to not go to bed angry. But the weight between them hadn't lifted.
She stepped outside, letting the cold hit her lungs, and called Cal.
"I want the full file," she said.
"On Jace?"
"On everything. Jace. Eli. Kelsey. Indianapolis. I don't care how classified it is. I want the truth, and I want it now."
There was a long pause.
Then Cal said, "Meet me in an hour."
---
They met in a shadowy, unmarked building with no windows and an old vending machine that ate her dollar without blinking.
Cal was already inside with a thick, metal briefcase.
"This is off the books," he said. "You didn't see it, you don't quote it, and if anyone asks where you got it, you never heard of me."
He flipped the latches.
Inside were three red folders.
Each one had a name on it.
She opened the first: JACE WYATT – OPERATIVE REPORT
Her eyes scanned.
Alias confirmed. Former field agent. Disappeared after Indianapolis incident. Presumed dead. Reemerged under alternate identity. Clean record. Under observation due to loose ends.
The second folder: ELI DARROW – PROFILE & SURVEILLANCE
Father: Charles Darrow, ex-military, CEO of Shadow Apex Security. Blacklisted in 2014 for untraceable weapons testing and unauthorized surveillance.
Eli's file was redacted in parts—but the theme was clear: He wasn't just entitled. He was a trained manipulator with resources that could make people vanish.
The third folder made her go cold.
MIRA LANE – INTEREST FLAGGED
Her own name.
Dated eighteen months ago.
Target of passive surveillance. Known associate of Eli Darrow. Deemed non-threatening. Later flagged as compromised due to proximity to former agent (Jace Wyatt).
"Why was I flagged?" she whispered.
"Because someone thought you were the weak link," Cal said. "They thought watching you would help them track him."
"But now they're wrong," she murmured. "Now I'm the threat."
---
That night, Mira didn't go home.
She sat in a 24-hour diner with fluorescent lighting and coffee that tasted like regret. She flipped through the files, committing every word to memory.
When Jace finally found her, she didn't look up.
"You read them all?" he asked.
She nodded.
He sat across from her. "Are we okay?"
"I don't know," she said honestly.
"I never lied to hurt you."
"I know."
"But you still feel betrayed."
She looked up then, eyes glassy.
"I'm not angry you kept secrets," she said. "I'm angry you thought I couldn't handle them."
Jace winced.
Mira pushed the files toward him.
"We finish this. Together."
He nodded slowly.
Then she added, "But if you ever lie to me again, I'll be the one who disappears."