---- Chapter 10 No.10 Aria POV: "| don't trust you to do it alone," | said, my voice cold and hard. My heart was a block of ice in my chest. "Father, bring in Marcus and Leo from the tech division. They can work with him | want objective witnesses." Kaelen flinched as if I'd physically struck him again. His eyes, which had held a spark of desperate hope, clouded over with a profound hurt. "You... you don't believe me?" he whispered, the question hanging between us, heavy and broken. "No," | replied, meeting his gaze without wavering. "| don't. You haven't earned my belief. You are not worthy of my trust." A muscle in his jaw twitched. He clenched his fists at his sides, then slowly uncurled them, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "Then | will earn it back," he vowed, his voice low but firm. "| will prove my innocence to you." A workstation was wheeled onto the dais. Kaelen sat down, his fingers flying across the keyboard with a speed and precision that was mesmerizing. Marcus and Leo, two of our best technicians, stood behind him, their faces pale as they struggled to keep up with the flurry of code flashing across ---- the screen. He was in a different league entirely. He worked in silence, his focus absolute. The ballroom was hushed, the guests watching the strange, digital manhunt unfold. Kaelen was a predator on the hunt, stalking a ghost in the machine. Minutes stretched into an eternity. Finally, a triumphant, savage grin touched his lips. "Found it," he announced, his voice ringing with grim satisfaction. "A single, masked signal bouncing through a dozen proxies. But Ihave it." Everyone surged forward, crowding around the monitor. All | could see was a cascade of complex, meaningless code. "Who was it, Kaelen?" my father demanded, his voice like rolling thunder. Kaelen's triumphant expression froze. His eyes locked onto the final line of code on the screen, and all the color drained from his face. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost. His entire body went rigid, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the edge of the desk. 5 Before Marcus or Leo could get a clear look, he slammed the laptop shut with a violent crack. "There's no need to look," he said, his voice strained and hollow. "| know who it is." He moved with lightning speed, grabbing the laptops from the other two technicians and, with a few keystrokes, wiped their ---- hard drives clean, destroying any evidence. Then he turned to me. He took my hand, his grip surprisingly gentle. His gaze flickered for a split second toward the crowd, to a spot where Lyra was trying to make herself invisible. When his eyes returned to mine, they were filled with an ocean of apology, regret, and a pain so deep it stole my breath. He took a deep breath, and the lie he told was the one that would destroy everything. "The person behind it... it was me," he confessed, his voice barely a whisper, yet it echoed through the silent hall like a death knell. "I did it all." n