THE TEMPTRESS

||Unveiled||

•KADEN•

I burst into Ben's office with a sense of urgency, making him jump when he saw me. Ben's office was in a different part of the house where he spends a lot of his time, surrounded by computers for hacking and tracking down information.

Lucy and Natalie were already there when I arrived, but I didn't waste any time acknowledging them. There was something more important on my mind.

"Did you do what I asked?" I questioned Ben, and he nodded while turning in his seat.

"Found a lot of things actually, but before we dive in, you might want to take a seat and chill for a bit."

Despite feeling angry and irritated, I did as he suggested. Lucy closed the door behind me, and I settled into the rolling chair next to Ben, facing his computers.

"Okay, so we all know Red is a woman, and we've established that already," Ben began, typing furiously.

"I've confirmed that she's been targeting you and your father after taking out your father's men a few months ago. It means she's out for revenge, but the real motive behind all this is still unknown."

I nodded slowly, absorbing the information displayed on the screens.

"That is, until I found this guy." Ben clicked his keyboard, revealing a picture of a man in black standing in a crowd. He looked to be in his late forties, and I didn't recognize him.

"Who's that?" AJ asked.

"That's Steven Grey. This picture was taken from your father's safehouse just a few hours ago before the cops arrived. I was surveilling the area until he caught my eye. He seemed familiar, so I ran facial rec, and he popped up in the system."

Ben swiveled his chair toward me, giving me a serious look.

"Steven Grey is a hitman who used to work for the Dellamonica family as their consigliere. He's been off the grid for years until he showed up at your father's place, and I can confirm that he's connected to your father's disappearance."

A chill ran down my spine as I stared at the picture. He was a threat, one that had been lurking in the shadows for too long, and I hadn't even noticed.

Why? Coz I got sidetracked. There was this irresistible distraction, a real charmer, and I ended up falling for her without realizing it'd lead to this mess.

 "How's he connected to Red?" Lucy, at the back, throws the question.

"They're working together." Ben answered. "Remember when I told you all about the little girl in the Dellamonica family that managed to escape the shooting that happened in her family?"

Silence blankets the room as we all slowly catch on before Ben spills more.

"Well, I was right. She's alive and the mastermind behind all this. She's Red."

I get up from my seat, running my hands down my face as the puzzle pieces start clicking. It all adds up, but there's still a missing piece.

The part where we confirm if Stephanie is in or out of this revenge plot.

I yank Stephanie's necklace from my pocket, slapping it on the table in front of Ben.

"Stephanie's necklace. I found it at the safehouse."

All eyes lock onto me when I finish.

"Wait, are you saying-"

"No," I interrupt Ben. "But I want you to find out if it's true or not. Right now."

 "That sneaky bitch." Natalie mutters from the back. But I keep my eyes on Ben, watching as he picks up the necklace and studies it.

I can tell his brain's working overtime. He shifts to his computers, tapping keys like a madman.

"Believe me when I say that I knew something was off about her when we first met her. Her background check was not adding up and I even dug deeper to find if she even had a past, but there was nothing."

Stephanie's info pops on the screen, and Ben leans back, throwing his hands up.

"Look at this. Clean record. Not even a parking ticket. No family, no school, no credit cards. You know what that means?"

We were all ears, waiting for Ben to continue.

"She's a fake. This whole background is a setup to hide who she really is."

His words twist something in my gut, and the room feels like it's closing in. The information overload makes it tough to swallow, but everything Ben says is the harsh truth.

He didn't need to lie to me. Everything I thought I knew about Stephanie was just a bunch of lies. I fell for someone who's been living a fake life this whole time.

"She's been playing us all along. Turns out, she doesn't even have a brother who went missing, and I'm pretty sure Stephanie Grey isn't her real name."

"Prove it." Everyone gave me a confused look all of a sudden.

I walked up to Ben and pointed at his computers.

"Run an age detector on that little girl from the Dellamonica family and see how she should look now."

Ben didn't waste a second, eager to prove himself right. I knew he was onto something, but a part of me still hoped we were wrong about Stephanie's involvement.

"Okay, running face analysis now," Ben informed us before leaning back from the computer.

He chose a photo of the little girl from a family picture in the Dellamonica family background check. She looked around ten—round face, button nose, and blond hair.

Nothing that matched Stephanie's features. But this was the moment of truth, and I wasn't getting my hopes up.

The pictures started popping up one by one, forming a profile of the girl, with her age displayed at the bottom. I held my breath as the images progressed from fifteen to twenty and finally stopped at twenty-five.

Each picture developed, showing how the girl would age over the years. All of a sudden, they started looking strangely familiar. When the last picture loaded, my heart sank.

There, staring back at me, was a clear photo of Stephanie. Same eyes, same nose, same lips. The only difference was that she was blonde.

"Holy shit," Ben exclaimed, finally breaking the silence in the room.

He clicked something on the keyboard, and a recent picture of the Stephanie I knew appeared beside the analyzed one. It felt like I was looking at two completely different people, yet somehow, it was still the same person.

"It's really her," Ben confirmed, turning around to face me.

"She's Stephanie Dellamonica."