<h4>Chapter 96: Professional Heist Game</h4>


    <strong><i>{Rennon}</i></strong>


    ~**^**~


    As the door clicked shut behind Elira with a soft thud, silence pooled into the room like mist.


    "Why did you lie to her?" I asked quietly, my voice calm but firm.


    I leaned back in my chair and let a beat pass, then turned to Zenon. The words came before I could measure them.


    "Why did you lie to her?"


    Zenon didn’t flinch, but the lines at the corners of his mouth tightened. From across the desk, Lennon paused mid-action, a container of creamy pasta dangling from one hand.


    "Wait—what lie?" he asked, eyes darting between us.


    "Elira asked if our father and her mother were more than friends back in ESA," I said, keeping my tone even. "Zenon told her, ’We don’t know.’"


    Lennon blinked once, then slowly turned to Zenon. "Why would you say that?"


    Zenon gave a short exhale through his nose. "Because it’s not a lie. None of us know what really happened between them. Everything we suspect is built on whispers, bodynguage, and spection."


    "Still," I said, sitting forward slightly, "an <i>’I’m not sure’</i> would’ve been better. Telling her <i>’we don’t know’</i>... You made it sound like it was a closed door. You know Elira — she will chase that answer like a scent trail. You just guaranteed she won’t stop until she finds the truth."


    Lennon chuckled dryly and passed a pair of cutlery to each of us. "I mean, she would have done that either way," he said. "Especially if my theory turns out to be true."


    I raised a brow at him. "What theory?"


    He leaned back dramatically in his seat. "That Kathryn — Elira’s mother — and our father were a thing. Probably a whole love story. And then alonges our dear mother, who gets in the middle, and bam—story over."


    I frowned, the muscles in my jaw tightening. "You do remember our mother is father’s mate, right?"


    Lennon shrugged and stabbed a forkful of pasta. "Doesn’t change the fact. People date before they meet their mates. You think all those high school sweethearts were fated? Come on, Ren. Dad probably loved Kathryn. But once he found Mom — boom, fate did what fate always does."


    Zenon’s brow furrowed sharply. "Don’t go saying that to Elira," he warned. "You willplicate things more than they already are."


    Honestly, I agreed. As much as Lennon’s theory made sense — maybe too much sense — it wasn’t our ce to feed Elira guesses.


    Especially not when she was already drowning in questions about her heritage, her powers, and why people here treat her like a storm about to hit.


    "I’m serious," I said to Lennon. "You’re not to tell Elira anything until we know the full story."


    Lennon gave me a sideways look and chewed slowly. Then, after swallowing, he said, "Then why were youining about Zenon lying? If we are not going to tell her the basics, why are we even bringing this up?"


    "She deserves the truth," I murmured. "But not fragments."


    Lennon rolled his eyes. "Fine. Keep your secrets."


    Then he shot me a sharp look. "But why are you riding my back for saying what you wouldn’t? I only chimed in to support you, and now I’m the viin?"


    I blinked. "I didn’t say you were a viin."


    "You implied it." He raised a brow. "You are ungrateful."


    "How am I ungrateful?" I asked, incredulous. "I’m literally saying we all need to be careful."


    "If you two are going to argue in my office," Zenon cut in sharply, "with food on my desk, then take everything and leave."


    That shut us up. Instantly.


    I nced at Lennon. He raised both hands in mock surrender and grabbed his fork. I exhaled and reached for the sd container.


    Silence returned to the office, broken only by the quiet clinking of cutlery.


    Still, as I bit into a soft dumpling, I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Elira’s face when she asked her question — the way her hope dimmed just a bit with Zenon’s answer.


    She’s going to keep digging. And maybe... that’s exactly what needs to happen.


    As the silence stretched and the food slowly disappeared from our tes, Lennon leaned back in his chair, fork twirling between his fingers. His gaze cut to me.


    "So... you seriously haven’t found the sneaky little bastard that stole the yearbook off the archive shelves?"


    I exhaled through my nose, pushing away the now half-eaten sd in front of me. "Not yet. I tried to look into the past by touching the shelf where the yearbooks were ced. Nothing. It was nk."


    Lennon’s brow arched. "nk?"


    "Yeah," I said, frustrated, running a hand through my hair. "Which only happens when someone tampers with the memory trail or cloaks it deliberately."


    "And the CCTV?"


    "Same story. The exact portion of the footage for the time it went missing was deleted. I didn’t have time yesterday to request a full backup and restore—too much admin red tape."


    Lennon let out a low whistle and dropped his fork. "So someone’s out there ying professional heist games. They had the guts to steal the yearbook and erase the records?"


    He leaned forward, voice sharper now. "You think someone’s doing this to keep it out of Elira’s hands?"


    Before I could answer, Zenon cut in with his usual stone-cold logic. "If that’s their aim, they’re idiots. There’s nothing in that yearbook worth hiding."


    I turned my gaze toward him, calm but firm. "That might be true to us. But to Elira, that book means something. It’s her connection to the truth about her mother, maybe even her own past. That makes it important."


    I could feel Zenon weighing my words, his fingers tapping against the armrest of his chair.


    "I don’t think the person who took it knows she already saw part of itst week," I added, more to myself than anyone else. "That’s the real w in their n."


    Zenon’s voice turned brisk. "Then stop wasting time and find out who did it."


    "I’m already on it," I replied.


    Lennon crossed one ankle over his knee and tilted his head. "Hold on a sec. Isn’t the archive room sealed with runes keyed to the ess cards?"