Chapter 48 – VALENTINA
Forty-Eight
VALENTINA
It’s a little crazy to think that Balterra’s death would be the thing to bring Maksim and my dad to some sort of truce. Two men who’d sooner put a bullet through each other than share the same air are now working together to unravel the mystery behind the Architect.
Despite everything, a small smile tugs at my mouth as I watch them interact. They’re not the best of friends. Hell, they may never be but seeing the two men I love most not at each other’s throats is progress.
As their discussion drifts to another corner of the room, I catch Aunt Leni leaning back in her chair, with a drink in hand. She’s unusually quiet, pensive. Her gaze isn’t on them. It’s somewhere far away, as if buried in time.
“Something on your mind?”
Her eyes slide to mine, and she smiles, but the gesture doesn’t quite reach her eyes. I know her too well for that. She’s been like a second mom my whole life—and I love her just as fiercely—but her demeanor, her body language, all scream there’s something she’s not saying.
“What’s on my mind?” she repeats softly, swirling the drink in her hand. “Everything. Mainly keeping you safe, Vali.”
“Don’t lie to me. You never have before.”
Aunt Leni peers at me from the rim of her glass, then finally takes a slow sip. When she sets it down, she stands and extends her hand.
“Let’s go for a walk.”
I nod and take it, letting her lead me into the hallway. I can feel Maksim and Papi’s eyes on us as we pass, but neither says a word.
“I’ve shared a lot of my life with you through the years.
And like you said, you know me, know who I am.
No sugar-coated truths.” She pauses, eyes on the hallway floor, before meeting mine again.
“I’ve done a lot of bad shit, Vali. Seen worse.
Come across monsters, the worst this world has to offer… and maybe, I’m one of them.”
I let her words sink in. I don’t refute them because she’s right. But I’m not sure how all this relates to the issue at hand.
“You know I don’t care about any of that,” I say, hooking her elbow and leaning my head on her shoulder.
“I know.”
I stop just outside Uncle Silas’s office, but she doesn’t hesitate and keeps walking. I follow her inside. Intrigued. She moves with purpose, rounding his massive desk and crouching beside it.
Before I can ask what she’s doing, there’s a faint beep, and the heavy piece of furniture shudders, shifting to the side. A hidden seam splits open near the floor, revealing a trap door like something out of a movie.
Eight-year-old me would’ve killed to know about this little secret hiding spot.
Then again, I should’ve guessed. My parents have their own version of this. I only found out about it years later.
The air grows cool as the trap door slides open. Without waiting for her to ask, I’m already on the steps, my hand smoothing along a concrete wall as I descend. Lights flicker to life one by one with each step, guiding us down a narrow corridor that ends at a thick metal door.
“Go ahead,” she says, nodding toward the panel.
“Me?”
Her chuckle is soft. "It’s just you and me here, sweetheart.”
I press my palm against the smooth black plate, and a thin green light sweeps across it, chiming a breath later.
“How could I open this thing? I’ve never—”
She tugs me forward and pushes the door open. “You’ve been leaving little handprints in my home since before you could walk, Vali. And you’re one of the few people I trust to have access to this place.”
Then she turns, a wall of weapons as her backdrop, stretching from floor to ceiling, and all the way around.
Aunt Leni’s eyes glint with something between fragile and fierce. A look so uniquely hers.
“And the only person I’ll ever want as the keeper of my son’s heart.”
I rush forward, throwing my arms around her and letting my tears fall freely.
My biggest worry was always how my father would deal with Maksim and me as a couple.
But Aunt Leni—if there was anyone whose blessing I truly wanted, it was hers.
I’ve admired her my whole life and spent nearly as much time in this house as I did in my own.
She already gave me her approval that night, but standing here now, in this room, hearing her tell me how much she loves and trusts me, it undoes me completely.
“Thank you,” I murmur. “That means everything.”
She smiles, blinking back tears. “I didn’t bring you down here to cry.”
“I’m sorry,” I say with a shaky laugh, and look up at her. “I love him, Aunt Leni. I think…I think I was always meant to. Is that crazy?”
With a watery smile, she cups my face and shakes her head, her thumbs brushing away what’s left of my tears.
“Absolutely not. This world is dark and ugly, but even in the chaos, we all find a light that’s meant to be ours.”
“I haven’t told him yet. I’m afraid.”
“I know you have your reasons,” she says softly. “You’ll say those words when the time’s right. Just as he will.”
She presses a kiss to my forehead and crosses the room to a shelf in the corner. Two fingers rest on a hidden plate, and a faint hiss follows when a slim panel slides open.
“I always believed I was meant to find Maksim,” she murmurs, her back still to me. “Meant to be in his life and be his mother. The night I found him, I wasn’t even supposed to be on that side of town. Silas and I had taken a detour after a very long and life-changing trip.”
“The scavenger hunt."
She pauses and chuckles. “I did tell you about that, didn’t I?”
“One of my favorite bedtime stories,” I joke.
Not every kid grows up hearing about their aunt and uncle traveling the world, hunting names on blood contracts that included their own, and somehow living to tell the tale.
Brutally, beautifully broken.
That’s our family.
“Well, I learned things on that trip. Things that could change everything for all of us. So I took precautions.”
She turns and holds out her hand, and resting in her palm is a small black drive.
My stomach drops. I already know.
“The Ledger,” I breathe.
Aunt Leni nods slowly. “No one knows I have it. Only Silas…and now you.”
I take a cautious step forward. “What is it? What does it all mean?”
“Insurance.” She looks up at me, her eyes hardening. “For Protocol Severed Legacy.”
An unexpected shudder rolls through me. I’ve never heard of it before, but the name alone screams danger.
“Why is this so important that you’ve kept it locked up and a secret from everyone, even from my dad? And why does the Architect want it?”
“It’s not what you think,” she says, shaking her head. “This isn’t about trust. It’s about protection. Plausible deniability.” She closes her hand around the drive and steps closer. “I’m only telling you now because you need to know what you’re up against—and you need to be ready.”
I rub my temples, exhaling hard. I’m more confused now than I was upstairs. Aunt Leni must see it because she keeps talking.
“The Ledger is an encrypted digital record, Valentina, containing names and code numbers, contracts, payment routes tied to assassinations, smuggling, and covert political work spanning multiple continents. It goes back decades. Every footprint, every connected dot, including me, Silas, Derek, Kai, Athena…all of us.”
My stomach knots. “Is it... the only one in existence?”
“Of course not. But even one in the wrong hands can start a domino effect. Whoever controls it can expose, blackmail, or destroy anyone tied to The Six.”
I nod slowly. It makes sense, and it terrifies me. I’ve always thought of my family as a force, untouchable and unstoppable. But in this moment, I feel small and vulnerable to something much bigger than us. Bigger than the fierce woman in front of me.
“So what the hell is Protocol Severed Legacy?”
Aunt Leni walks back to the drawer and slides the drive inside, watching it until the metal door seals shut. “It’s how they control us,” she says, a bite to her tone. “How they erase us when the time comes to cleanse the world of those who know too much.”
“Like a contingency plan,” I say, following her back up the steps toward Uncle Silas’s office.
“Exactly. A safeguard built in from the beginning. If any member or faction becomes compromised, if we go rogue, or threaten exposure, the protocol activates.”
My pulse quickens. “Activates how?”
“Erasure.” Her tone is cold. “Physically, financially, digitally. Every trace of existence wiped clean. So we’re not just killed, we’re deleted.”
My eyes widen. “And you think The Architect…”
“No,” she says, sealing the trap door behind us. “If my guess is correct, he or she is just one moving piece.”
“One piece of what?”
She exhales. “The orders come from higher, Valentina. From the ones who built this system in the first place.”
I catch her elbow before she crosses the threshold. “Aunt Leni, is the protocol active? Are we in danger?”
Her expression loosens, and she squeezes my arm. “According to my connections, no. Not yet.”
Not yet. But probably soon. Those are the words that are left hanging between us. I hear them loud and clear.