Chapter Ten: Resurrected Lies

Jason Walker was alive.

Staring at the timestamped photo made my blood run cold.

Four days ago. Cape Alexandria. Laughing in a crisp button-down, whiskey in hand, like he hadn’t faked his death, like he hadn’t left me to grieve in silence for two years.

“He died in a warehouse fire,” I whispered.

Killian’s voice was even. “There was no body. No DNA. Just the word of two bribed security contractors and a burned-out shell of a building owned by an offshore company Graham controls.”

I couldn’t breathe. “He lied to me.”

“He lied to everyone,” Killian said. “He staged it.”

“To disappear?”

“To start again. With a new identity. New alliances.”

I shook my head, refusing to believe it, and yet…

Jason always had secrets.

The black phone he never let out of sight.

The late-night “trading calls” that sounded like instructions.

The way he never planned further than a week ahead.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Killian turned away. “Because I thought protecting you meant shielding you.”

“That’s not protection,” I snapped. “That’s control.”

He flinched. “You’re right.”

He handed me a file. “But you need to see this.”

Inside were surveillance photos, offshore wire transfers, and decrypted messages signed with the code: JW-7.

“He’s using a shell identity now,” Killian said. “And he’s still tied to the same buyers Oriana worked with. The ones who wanted me destroyed.”

My stomach turned. “So Jason… my ex… tried to kill me?”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“But he knew who I was to you. He watched me. He had a file on me. So don’t pretend it was innocent.”

I paced the penthouse, rage coiling beneath my skin like a second heartbeat.

“I loved him.”

Killian’s voice was quiet. “So did I.”

I stopped. “What?”

“I admired him once,” he said. “He was smart, sharp. We both started at the same firm. We were rivals for a while. Then one day, he vanished. I thought he was dead. Until six months ago, when whispers started coming back.”

He turned to me.

“But I never imagined he’d use you.”

I sat down hard on the velvet sofa, hand to my chest. “So what now?”

Killian’s voice turned ice.

“We bait him. Just like we did Oriana.”

The next day, I made it public: Lennox Global was submitting final merger documents, and I was the signatory.

Within 24 hours, Jason responded.

A package arrived at the penthouse. No return address. Inside, a burner phone and a single handwritten note:

Ava,

If you want answers, come alone. The rooftop of the old Sterling Building. Midnight.

Don’t bring Killian. Or this ends.

It wasn’t signed. But I didn’t need it to be.

Jason was alive.

And he wanted to see me.

I didn’t tell Killian.

Not until two hours before midnight.

He read the note once. Twice. Then handed it back.

“You’re not going alone.”

“Yes, I am,” I said. “You said you trust me. Now prove it.”

“Ava...”

“He wants me. If you come, he vanishes again. Forever. And I need answers.”

He stared at me, muscles clenched.

Then he nodded.

“But wear this,” he said, slipping me a sleek black necklace.

“A tracker?”

“A transmitter,” he corrected. “And if he so much as breathes wrong, I’ll know.”

The rooftop was cold.

Wind sliced through the night like a warning. The city glowed far below, golden towers and moving shadows.

Jason stood there in all black, hands in his pockets, smirking like the past hadn’t happened.

“You look good,” he said.

I didn’t answer.

“You came alone.”

“Not stupid. Just angry.”

He smiled, slow and smug. “Still sharp.”

“I should’ve known you weren’t dead.”

“I should’ve told you. But you’d never have let me go.”

“You’re right.”

I stepped forward, eyes blazing.

“Why me, Jason? Why target me? Why let them think I was a threat?”

“I didn’t,” he said. “That was never part of the plan.”

“But you knew they’d come for me.”

His jaw tightened.

“You were supposed to stay invisible.”

“You don’t get to decide that.”

He looked away. “They promised you’d be protected.”

“And you believed them?” I laughed bitterly. “You used me. Just like Oriana. Just like Graham.”

“No,” he said. “I loved you.”

“Then why did you frame me?”

He froze.

I pressed harder. “I saw the files. My name. My photo. ‘Potential leverage.’ You signed it.”

His mask cracked.

“I never meant for you to get hurt,” he said.

“But you planned for it.”

He didn’t deny it.

That’s when I knew, the Jason I loved was dead.

Only this version remained.

And this version was dangerous.

“So what now?” I asked.

He stepped forward. “Come with me. We can vanish. Start over. I have accounts. Passports. We can disappear before the fallout lands.”

“I’m not running,” I said.

“Then you’ll burn with him.”

His hand twitched toward his coat, and before he could pull the weapon, I stepped back.

“Killian,” I said calmly into the necklace. “Now.”

Within ten seconds, a drone buzzed overhead.

Spotlight.

Sniper lock.

Jason’s hand froze in place as red dots danced across his chest.

Killian’s voice came through a speaker: “Move and you’re dead.”

Jason raised his hands.

“You set me up,” he growled.

“No,” I said, stepping back. “I ended it.”

Fifteen minutes later, Jason was gone, taken by Killian’s private security, handed over to international investigators.

I stood on the rooftop, shaking, alone again in the dark.

Killian appeared beside me like a shadow. He didn’t say anything.

Just pulled me into his arms.

And for once, I didn’t resist.

Two days later, the merger passed.

Oriana was indicted.

Graham Vale fled the country.

And I?

I was offered a seat on the Lennox board.

“I’m not ready,” I told Killian.

“You’re the only one who is,” he said.

I stared at the city.

This wasn’t the end of the story.

It was the beginning.

Because the deeper you go into the world of billionaires and betrayal, the more you learn:

Everyone is owned by something.

Money. Power.

Or love.

And the ones who survive…

Are the ones who learn to own themselves.