Chapter - 26 #2
"I knew your father was refusing to pay."
"And?"
"I thought it was another business dispute."
Sky leaned against the desk.
"I was twenty-one. I cared about money, territory, reputation."
His eyes dropped.
"I didn't care enough about what happened to people standing between those things."
Nani looked at him.
"That's not exactly reassuring."
"I know."
Sky didn't defend himself.
"I was an asshole."
Tee muttered,
"Historically accurate."
Sky slowly looked at him.
Tee cleared his throat.
"I'll shut up."
---
Nani picked up another document.
"This transfer..."
He frowned.
"This money wasn't paid to your company."
Sky looked over.
"Where?"
Nani pointed.
"Here."
Tee checked the record.
His expression changed.
"That's not ours."
Sky took the document.
His eyes narrowed.
"Whose account?"
Tee typed quickly.
Then stopped.
"Shell company."
"Name?"
"It was dissolved six months later."
Nani's stomach tightened.
"Who owned it?"
Tee hesitated.
"There's no official owner."
Sky's gaze became colder.
"Dig deeper."
Tee nodded.
---
Another hour passed.
Then Tee finally spoke.
"Boss."
Sky looked up.
"I found the original debt agreement."
He placed an old folder on the table.
Nani reached for it.
The paper smelled old.
Dust.
Ink.
Time.
He opened it.
The first page was ordinary.
Loan amount.
Interest.
Payment schedule.
Signatures.
Then Nani reached the final page.
His fingers stopped.
There was an additional clause.
Handwritten.
Not typed.
Nani read it once.
Then again.
His face slowly drained.
"Sky..."
Sky took the paper.
His eyes moved across the words.
His expression hardened.
"What the fuck?"
Tee stepped closer.
"What?"
Nani swallowed.
"The debt agreement was changed."
Sky looked at the signature.
"That's not mine."
"I know."
"That's my father's seal."
Tee stared.
"So someone used your organization's seal?"
Sky's eyes darkened.
"Without authorization."
Nani looked at the handwriting.
"Who added this?"
Sky shook his head.
"I don't know."
Nani's voice dropped.
"Then why does it mention me?"
Silence.
Sky looked at the final paragraph.
He read it again.
Then his jaw clenched.
The clause didn't name Nani directly.
It referred to the heir.
And stated that the debt would remain unresolved until a future condition was fulfilled.
Nani looked at him.
"What condition?"
Sky didn't answer immediately.
Because suddenly-
the pieces were shifting.
The debt.
Niran.
The warehouse.
The mysterious man.
The wedding.
Five years.
Sky finally spoke.
"Your father didn't just owe money."
Nani's eyes lifted.
"He owed someone else."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Tee looked at the document.
"But somebody wanted control over the debt."
Nani whispered,
"Why?"
Sky looked at him.
"I think that's what we're missing."
---
Meanwhile...
Niran sat in his study.
A new phone rested against his ear.
"Did they find the document?"
"No."
His expression darkened.
"Then find it."
"We're trying."
"Try harder."
He ended the call.
His eyes shifted toward an old locked cabinet.
He opened it.
Inside sat a single black folder.
He pulled it out.
On the cover was one date.
8 October 2021.
Niran smiled.
"Still digging, little rabbit?"
He opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph.
The same warehouse.
The same night.
But this photograph showed something different.
Nani's father was standing beside Sky's men.
Niran stood behind them.
And in the corner-
the unidentified man with the silver ring.
Niran touched the photograph.
"Everyone thinks the debt was Sky's."
He laughed quietly.
"They never understood."
His fingers moved to the final page.
A handwritten note.
The boy becomes the leverage.
Niran's smile faded.
"And now Sky has become the obstacle."
He closed the folder.
"Fine."
His voice turned cold.
"If I can't control Nani through the family..."
He looked toward the photograph of Sky.
"...I'll destroy the man he chose to trust."
---
Back at the mansion, Nani stood by the window.
Sky walked up behind him.
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then Nani whispered,
"Sky."
"Hm?"
"If you knew the debt was real..."
"I did."
"Would you still have gone there?"
Sky answered immediately.
"Yes."
Nani looked back.
"Even knowing what happened?"
"No."
A pause.
"If I'd known what was waiting inside that warehouse..."
Sky's eyes met his.
"I would've burned the entire deal."
Nani stared at him.
"Even if you lost the money?"
"Money can be earned again."
His voice lowered.
"You can't."
Nani's cheeks warmed.
"Don't say things like that."
"Why?"
"Because I'm still trying to stay mad at you."
Sky smiled faintly.
"You're doing a terrible job."
Nani rolled his eyes.
"Asshole."
"Better."
Then-
Tee rushed into the room.
"Boss."
Sky turned.
"What?"
Tee held up his tablet.
"I traced the shell company."
Sky's expression changed.
"Who owns it?"
Tee looked between them.
Then said quietly,
"Niran."
Silence.
Nani's blood went cold.
Sky's face became unreadable.
Tee continued.
"And there's something else."
"What?"
"The company was created..."
He swallowed.
"...three days before the warehouse incident."
Nani whispered,
"So the debt wasn't the whole reason."
Sky looked at the documents.
"No."
His eyes hardened.
"Someone planned that night before it happened."
And for the first time...
the debt stopped looking like a debt.
It started looking like a trap.