Alan's POV
The moment Julia walked out of my office, clutching the folder of truths that should've never been hidden, something inside me snapped.
Not in anger.Not in jealousy.In protectiveness so sharp it felt like a blade pressed to my ribs.
Kai had crossed lines—too many lines.Threats. Lies. Manipulation.A past soaked in secrets he'd let fester like poison.
And now Julia was trembling because of him.
No.I wasn't letting this continue.
I found him in the executive lounge, standing in front of the window like he owned every inch of the skyline. Calm. Controlled. Hands behind his back.
Pretending.
"Kai," I said, voice cold enough to freeze steel.
He didn't turn around.
"Busy?" he asked softly. "Or did you just come to accuse me of something again?"
Accuse him?He had no idea yet.
I stepped closer, jaw tight.
"You were sending Julia those anonymous notes."
His shoulders stiffened—barely a fraction, but enough.Enough to confirm what I already knew.
Finally, he turned.
Eyes unreadable.Expression wiped clean.Mask on.
"What proof do you have, Alan?"
I held up the handwriting comparison. His handwriting beside the threats.
"Enough," I said.
Silence.
Not guilt.Not panic.
Something worse.Resignation.
Like he'd been waiting for this moment.
Kai's POV
So he finally figured it out.
The golden CEO with his cold eyes and hero complex.
I stared at the papers he held—my handwriting next to those warnings.
Warnings that Julia was walking into a world she didn't understand.Warnings no one listened to.
He thought he'd cornered me.
He didn't know the half of it.
"You think this is about jealousy?" I asked quietly. "About her choosing you over me?"
Alan's eyes hardened."Isn't it?"
I laughed—empty, humorless.
"You really know nothing. Absolutely nothing."
I walked past him, pacing slowly, making him turn to follow.
"My family fell apart because of her mother. My mother died because of the Bennetts' lies."My voice cracked—not with weakness, but with something long buried."She was thirteen. She didn't stand a chance against their world, their power, their games."
Alan didn't move.
"And Julia?" he asked. "She was a child too."
That hit me. Harder than I expected.
"She lived."It came out harsher than intended."She survived. My mother didn't."
Alan's POV
There it was.
The break.The fracture in Kai's mask.
"You blamed a child," I said quietly.
His head snapped toward me.
"You don't understand what it's like to watch everything burn down and be told to smile through the ashes."
"Julia didn't light the match."
He didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Because deep down, he knew.
"She didn't ruin your family," I continued. "But you've been trying to ruin hers."
Kai's fingers curled tightly, knuckles pale.
"That's your theory," he said. "But the truth is, I'm the only one who knows what that world really does to people. And I'm the only one who ever tried to keep her away from it."
"By threatening her?"
He didn't deny it.He didn't even flinch.
"You're dangerous, Kai," I said. "And I'm done letting you near her."
He let out a soft, chilling laugh.
"You think you can protect her from everything? From me? From the Bennetts? From the past?"
His voice dipped to a whisper.
"You don't know what's coming."
The room felt colder.Darker.Like something old and rotten had just been stirred from beneath the surface.
Kai stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"Julia doesn't need a hero," he said. "She needs the truth. And you're too afraid to give it to her."
I stared him down.
"I'll give her every truth. Except yours."
A muscle in his jaw ticked.
I'd crossed a line.
He knew it.I knew it.
"This conversation isn't over," Kai said, walking past me.
I grabbed his arm.
"It is," I said, "when it comes to Julia."
For the first time since I'd known him, Kai's composure shattered—briefly, violently.
His eyes burned, not with hatred…
…but with something broken. Something he'd been carrying far too long.
"You're already too late," he whispered. "Everything set in motion started years ago."
He pulled his arm free and walked out without looking back.
Leaving me alone with the truth:
Kai wasn't just an enemy.
He was a ticking bomb.
And Julia—Julia was standing right on the edge of the blast zone.