Cole (POV)
I wanted to kill him.
I really did.
The sting from the slap still burned across my face. I could taste blood in my mouth, and it took everything in me not to lose control.
Because if something happened to Kiefer...
Jay would break.
And that was the only thing stopping me.
The only thing.
I looked around the room.
Jay wasn't there.
Thank God.
At least she didn't have to see this.
"Kiefer, open your damn mouth and say something!"
Clyden's voice exploded through the room as he stormed toward him.
At that moment, Percy came rushing downstairs.
His eyes immediately landed on Kiefer, who was clutching his arm, blood seeping between his fingers.
"What the hell is happening here?" Percy demanded.
Nobody answered him.
Because before anyone could, Clyden grabbed Kiefer by the collar.
"Kiefer!" he shouted. "I'm asking you—did you let him into this house?"
Silence.
Kiefer didn't deny it.
Didn't defend himself.
Didn't even look up.
And that silence was enough.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" Clyden roared.
His grip tightened.
"You knew exactly what he's capable of! You knew what that bastard could do! Jay could have died!"
Still nothing.
Not a single word.
I stepped forward.
My anger had finally reached its limit.
"Why did you hide it from us?"
My voice came out cold.
Dangerously cold.
"You lied to all of us."
Kiefer finally looked up.
I wished he hadn't.
Because all I saw was guilt.
And that made me even angrier.
The room fell silent.
"I should have never believed you when you said you collapsed after getting shot."
My jaw clenched.
"I should've remembered who you really are."
The words tasted bitter.
"You're a monster."
Kiefer flinched.
But I wasn't finished.
"Can somebody explain what the hell is happening here?!" Jare shouted.
His voice echoed through the room.
He looked from me to Clyden, then to Kiefer, completely lost.
I laughed bitterly.
"You remember what happened when Jay left for London?"
Everyone went silent.
"The attack on Kiefer."
Jare's face paled.
And that was all the confirmation I needed.
"From the very beginning, Kiefer knew there was a threat."
I pointed at him.
"Because he was the one who opened the door."
The room froze.
"What?" Jare whispered.
Clyden's grip on Kiefer's collar tightened.
"What else, Kiefer?" Clyden asked coldly.
His voice was much quieter now.
Much more dangerous.
"What else didn't you tell us?"
Kiefer remained silent.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Clyden demanded.
"I trusted you."
Still nothing.
I stepped forward.
"Why are you acting innocent now?"
My voice was sharp.
"I trusted you with Jay's safety too."
I looked directly at him.
"Who could have predicted that Jay would be kidnapped in London while the rest of us knew nothing?"
For the first time, Kiefer looked genuinely shaken.
Then he frowned.
"How do you know that?"
The room went silent.
Clyden's head snapped toward me.
Kiefer stared at me.
Even Percy looked up.
"How do you know about London?" Kiefer repeated.
Before I could answer, Percy spoke.
"Kuya..."
The guilt in his voice was unmistakable.
I slowly turned toward him.
My stomach dropped.
"Don't."
Percy looked away.
"Percy..."
"Kuya..."
My jaw tightened.
"You knew too?"
He couldn't meet my eyes.
That was answer enough.
Anger exploded inside me.
"You've been hiding this from me too?"
Percy stayed silent.
I took a step toward him.
"You should have told me."
Another step.
"You were there."
Another.
"You knew what happened to Jay."
My voice cracked.
"And you said nothing."
"I have been patient until now, Kiefer."
My voice was cold.
Dangerously cold.
"Just because I became soft, you forgot who I was?"
The entire room froze.
"I am a Mariano."
I took one step forward.
"The head of FORTIS Group."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
"You gave me your life in exchange for my alliance with you. Your life was mine."
Kiefer remained silent.
"Just because you married Jay doesn't mean I can't take it back."
My jaw tightened.
"Otherwise, you would have been dead long ago."
Silence.
Heavy.
Terrifying.
Then Jay's words echoed in my head.
I can't live without him kuya
The anger exploded.
"What the fuck happened two years ago?!"
Before anyone could react—
Punch!
My first connected with Kiefer's face.
He staggered backward.
Blood immediately dripped from his lip.
"Kuya!"
Jare rushed forward.
"He is bleeding!"
I didn't care.
Not anymore.
I grabbed Kiefer by his collar.
"Talk, you fucking bastard."
His head snapped up.
"You think I don't know you've been contacting my sister even after she lost her memories?"
The room went silent.
Everyone looked at Kiefer.
Everyone.
My hand tightened around his collar.
"Tell me."
I pulled out my gun.
The metallic click echoed through the room.
Several people gasped.
I pressed the barrel against his forehead.
"Or I'll shoot you right here."
"Cole!"
Angelo immediately stepped between us.
"What happened?!"
"Move."
"Cole—"
"I said move!"
My voice thundered through the house.
Even Angelo froze.
I pointed at Kiefer.
"I should have never allowed you into FORTIS Group."
Kiefer's eyes darkened.
"I should have never trusted Watson."
I laughed bitterly.
"Knowing how greedy they are."
The accusation hung heavily in the air.
Nobody dared speak.
Nobody dared move.
Then—
Footsteps.
Several footsteps.
Everyone turned toward the staircase.
The people from the second floor were coming down.
One after another.
Aries.
Cassia.
Mia.
The rest of Section E.
Their faces immediately changed when they saw the gun.
Saw Kiefer bleeding.
Saw me standing there ready to kill someone.
Aries frowned.
"What the hell is going on?"
A dark smile appeared on my face.
I looked toward the staircase.
Then at Kiefer.
Then at everyone else.
"Perfect timing."
The smile never reached my eyes.
"Here comes the JW Group."
The atmosphere turned deadly.
"You mean JW? The one who hacked the FORTIS Group?" Angelo asked.
The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere turned deadly.
I let out a humorless laugh.
"This asshole."
My fingers tightened around the Kiefer collar.
"He wanted power, but he built everything himself using those fifteen numbers."
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody dared.
I looked around the room before my gaze settled on Section-E.
"You know what I've been wondering?"
Angelo frowned.
"Why none of you questioned the plans. Why none of you wondered why Section E never showed up. Why they stayed hidden from the start."
Silence.
"Because this war started two years ago."
I could see the confusion on their faces.
"It started with the project "The Muse of Section E" to protect Jay from Enemys "
The room remained quiet.
Then I looked directly at Angelo.
"And Angelo..."
My jaw tightened.
" Kiefer manipulated you"
"What?" Angelo immediately snapped.
I laughed.
"You never found it strange how Kiefer knew you were in Manila?"
His expression changed.
"You never told anyone you were coming back."
Nobody said a word.
I took a step forward.
"The dead bodies."
Another step.
"The cleanup."
Another.
"Everything."
My eyes landed on Kiefer.
"It wasn't them."
The room froze.
"It was Section E."
For the first time, I saw genuine shock on several faces.
"And do you know who contacted them?"
I didn't wait for an answer.
"Kiefer."
The silence became suffocating.
"He was the one who released the information to Enemy so he could kill them"
My voice grew colder.
"From the very beginning, this fucking asshole has been hiding things from all of us."
Kiefer didn't move.
Didn't deny it.
That only made me angrier.
"And that's not all."
I walked to the table and grabbed the stack of files.
My chest burned with rage.
Because everything I'd uncovered over the last few days was sitting inside those pages.
Everything.
I threw the files onto the floor.
The sound echoed through the room.
"I found something else too."
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Every pair of eyes dropped to the files scattered across the floor.
Good.
Let them see it.
Let them finally understand just how much Kiefer had been hiding.
I pointed at the files.
"Jay received treatment from a psychiatric program, right, David?"
I watched his face carefully.
The room went silent.
"You've been lying to everyone."
My voice hardened.
"All these years, you've been telling people you're just running schools."
I pointed at the files scattered across the floor.
"But you hold a psychiatric degree."
Nobody spoke.
Nobody even moved.
Then I turned toward Kiefer.
"And Kiefer used that him to seal Jay's memories."
The words hit the room like a bomb.
My jaw clenched.
"You treated her without telling her the truth."
I took a step forward.
"You manipulated her trust."
Another step.
"And then you buried parts of her past where she could never find them."
I looked directly at Kiefer.
"Tell me I'm wrong."
Silence.
The silence told me everything.
The room froze.
"And they did it without even knowing to her."
My voice grew colder.
"They gained her trust."
I swallowed the anger rising in my throat.
"And when she started getting close to the truth...when she tried to wake them up..."
I slammed my hand against the table.
"They burned her past."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Percy looked between me and Kiefer.
"Kiefer..."
His voice was low.
"What the hell is he talking about?"
Kiefer remained silent.
I laughed bitterly.
"What?"
I looked at Percy.
"So he didn't even tell his own partner?"
Nobody answered.
I took a step toward Kiefer.
"How dare you."
My voice shook with rage.
"How dare you think you had the right to manipulate my sister?"
The room felt like it was closing in.
"You just couldn't stop, could you?"
Kiefer's jaw tightened.
I pointed directly at him.
"You lie."
Another step.
"You hide things."
Another.
"And you keep deciding what's best for Jay without giving them a choice."
The anger I'd been holding back for days finally broke.
"If Jay finds out what you've done..."
My voice dropped into something deadly.
"She will never forgive you."
Nobody dared interrupt.
"You've already used every bit of luck you had, Kiefer."
I stared straight into his eyes.
"And if I uncover everything before she does..."
The threat hung heavily in the room.
"Then someday, when Jay learns the truth..."
I took another step forward.
"I'll be the one digging your grave myself."
The room fell silent.
"Kuya... what are you talking about?" Aries asked.
I laughed bitterly.
"What am I talking about?"
I pointed at Kiefer.
"This fucking bastard knew who the enemy was from the start."
Everyone froze.
"He manipulated everything."
My hands shook with anger.
"Everything I had. Everything I trusted that's why everything we find is dead end."
My voice cracked.
"Because he made me trust him."
The silence was suffocating.
Then I looked directly at Kiefer.
"Tell me something."
My eyes burned into his.
"Why did you erase her memories?"
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Kiefer finally broke.
"You think I wanted to?"
His voice echoed through the room.
For the first time, there was no mask.
No control.
Only pain.
"I loved her."
His jaw tightened.
"My whole fucking life was miserable."
He laughed bitterly.
"And she was the only thing that ever made me feel alive."
Nobody spoke.
"I would've done anything for her."
His eyes were red.
"Anything."
The room remained silent.
"I erased myself from her life."
A painful smile crossed his face.
"Twice."
My anger faltered for a second.
"You think that was easy for me?"
His voice shook.
"You think becoming a stranger to the woman you love is easy?"
He looked down.
"But I did it."
His fists clenched.
"I left."
"I ran away."
"I stayed away so she could live for one fucking year."
Then he laughed again.
A broken, hopeless sound.
"But she followed me."
His eyes closed briefly.
"How was I supposed to stop loving her?"
His voice cracked.
"She kept coming back."
The room felt frozen.
"She kept telling me she loved me."
His breathing became uneven.
"I tried to push her away."
"I tried."
"But I couldn't."
His eyes lifted.
"That's why when she wanted to marry me..."
For the first time, fear appeared on his face.
"I wanted to stop her."
Everyone stared.
"Because the moment she walked back into my life, I was terrified."
His voice dropped.
"Terrified that one day she'd remember everything."
The room was silent.
"But I married her anyway."
His eyes were wet now.
"And then I spent every day trying to bury the past again."
His breathing shook.
"Trying to protect her."
His face darkened.
"And the bastard who hurt her..."
The room grew cold.
"I will kill him."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Then Amy's voice broke the silence.
Her face was pale.
"You..."
She stared at him in disbelief.
"You erased her memories?"
Amy's voice was barely a whisper.
Kiefer closed his eyes.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then he laughed bitterly.
"She remembered me."
His voice was rough.
"Two years ago, she remembered me and she loved me."
The room froze.
"If that incident hadn't happened..."
His jaw tightened.
"We would've been together."
Nobody knew what to say.
Nobody knew how to react.
I stared at him.
The anger that had been burning inside me only grew stronger.
"Kiefer..."
His eyes met mine.
"Don't."
My voice was cold.
"Don't hide behind half-truths anymore."
The room fell silent again.
"What the fuck are you hiding?"
He didn't answer.
I took a step forward.
"Why can't I find Jay's records?"
Another step.
"Why is there nothing?"
My voice rose.
"I searched for two years reports of London hospitals."
I threw one of the files onto the table.
"And somehow you erased everything."
The sound echoed through the room.
I shook my head.
Honestly, part of me was impressed.
"I'll give you that."
My laugh held no humor.
"The cover-up was perfect."
My eyes locked onto his.
"You hid it from me for two fucking years."
The room felt suffocating.
"Tell me the truth."
I pointed at him.
"Why were you so desperate to bury her memories?"
"Why were you so afraid of what she'd remember?"
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Everyone waited for Kiefer's answer.
********************** END *********************************