'I Do' For Revenge
Chapter 191: Fooled Again
CHAPTER 191: FOOLED AGAIN
LAYLA’S POV
"No," I whisper ed, the word scraping against my throat. "No, Tye. That doesn’ t make sense."
I stared at the red letters on the scre en, HELENA PORTER, but my mind re fused to process it. It was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
It won’t fit well!
"I don’t want to believe it eit her, but the log doesn’t lie, Layl a," Tye sai d, though his voice lacked its usual conviction. "That’s her biometric ID. She pu t her thumb on the scanner and authorised that pa ckage."
"B ut she was crying," I argued, pacing the small room. "She ripped her ow n clothes to bind his wounds. She sat by that door for f ive hours, holding a cup of water she was too terrified to drink. Tye, if she wanted him dead, why did she scream f or the medic?"
Tye ran a hand over his face, looking conflicted. "Maybe she didn’t know it was a bomb?"
"Maybe..." I stopped, thinking back to the chaotic mornings at the office. "Maybe she was just be ing efficient. A courie r arrives with a ’Personal Exe cutive’ package. She sees it, assumes it’s urgen t, overrides the scan to save time, and drops it on his d esk. She does that ten times a week with contracts."
"That is a hell of a coincidence, Layla," Tye said grimly, cl osing the laptop wit h a snap. "She overrides security on the one box that blows up the building? This is exactly why I don’t trust completely. Ever."
I stopped pacing and looked at him. His face was tight, and his eyes was guarded in a way I hadn’t seen in weeks.
"Of all people, I thought you would be the f irst to give her the benefit of the doubt. I thought you li ked her," I said softly.
Tye stiffened. "That ’s irrelevan t."
"Is it?" I walked over to the small row of plastic cha irs against the wall and sat do wn, patting the seat next to me. " Sit, Tye. Please. Just for a m inute."
He hesitated, looking at th e door as if expecting an attack, but finally sat down he avily bes ide me. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at his clasped hands.
"I’ve seen the way you look at her," I said gently. " In the hallway. At her apartme nt. Your interactions and all. You and Helena... you were building something."
"W e weren’t building anything," T ye mu ttered. "I was doing my job. Assessing a potential asset."
"You’re a terrible liar, Tye," I said. "I know you . And I know yo u’re scared."
Tye let out a harsh breath, a sound that w aslike a ha lf-laugh, half-scoff. He pulled the collar of his shirt down slightly, revealing the jagged top of a scar that disappeared beneath h is tactical vest.
"You see this?" he asked quietly.
I nodded. "A bullet wound."
"Thr ee years ago," Tye said in a distant voice. "I was working p rotection for a client. I met a girl. S mart, funny, looked at me like I was the only guy in the room. We were together for six months. I thought... I actually thought she was the one."
H e traced the scar through his shirt.
"She sold me out to the Volkov f amily for fifty gra nd," he said in a flat, cold voice. "She gave them my route, my schedule, a nd the keys to the safe house. I took a bullet to the chest that missed my heart by two centimetres. The only re ason I’m alive is because the shooter had a jamming issue on th e second round."
I stared at him, my heart aching. "Tye... I didn’t know."
"This city," h e g estured vaguely to the window , "i t reminds me of her. Every shadow looks like a s etup. The hole in my chest is enough of a reminder of her betrayal. I don’t need another one."
He turned to look at me, his eyes intense.
"So when I see a biometric log that says Helena Porter signed for a bomb," he said, "I don’t see a scared girl who made a mistake. I see a pattern. I see a honey trap. And I see you and Axel getting ki lled because I let my guard down again."
I reached out and placed my hand over hi s clenched fist.
"I understan d," I said. "I do. And you hav e every right to be suspicious. But Tye... look at me."
He met my gaze.
"Helena isn’t that girl from back then," I said firmly. "You have instincts, Tye. Good ones. If she was truly evi l, if she wa s truly playing us, your gut would have told you b efore you ever looked at a scanner log. You liked her because you saw so mething real. Don’t let a ghost from your past blind you to what’s in front of you."
Tye looked at me for a long moment, the tension in his shoulders slowly releasing.
"I didn’t tr ust you too, you know?"
"Really?"
"I told Axwl you were just like everyone e lse out there."
"Thanks f or the vote of confidence," I saw with a chuck le I co uldn’t hold back.
"I guess I was wrong, t hough. "
I simply nodded, trying to find my words.
"Maybe she’s guilty," I conceded. "Maybe she did it knowingly. But maybe she’s just an assistant who s aw a package for her boss and tried to be helpful. We owe it to her, and to ourselves, to find out the truth before we condemn h er."
Tye sighed heavily, running a hand over his face. "You’re too go od f or this business, Layla."
"I’m learning," I said with a small, tired smile.
He was quiet for a moment, staring at the floor. When he spoke again, his voice was raw. "What if you’re wrong? What i f she f ooled all of us ?"
"Then we deal with it," I said. "But we deal with facts, not fear. Not ghosts. Not old wounds that have nothing to do with her."
"She has Henry’s blood," Tye said quietly. "Sa me family. Same ge nes. What if ma nipulation runs in the family?"
"She als o has the evidence that could destroy Henry," I reminded him. "She found it. She took pictures of everythi ng . If she was working with him, why would s he d o that?"
Tye’s jaw worked as he processed that. "Unless it’s a s etup. Unless the evidence is fake, meant to lead us down a dead end."
"Or unless she’s exactly what she appears to be," I countered. "A young woman caught between loyalty to her family and doing the right thing. Sound familiar? Isn ’t that the same impossible choice we put her i n?"
The silence between us was heavy with uncertainty.
Finall y, Tye let out a long breath. "I hate this. I hate not knowing."
"So do I," I a dmit ted. "But hating it doesn’t give us the right to destroy an innocent person. If Helena is guilty, we’ll find o ut. But if she’s innocent and w e treat her li ke a crimin al, we lose her. A nd righ t now, she might be the only person who can help us bring down Hen ry."
Tye looked at me , s omething shifting in his eyes. The hardness was still there, but beneath it, I saw the trace of something else. Hope, maybe. Or just the desperate wish that he hadn’t be en fooled again.
"Alright," Tye said, straightening up. "So, what’s the call?"