Sin of the Past

Dylan and I grew up with our family in New York. Our father was a firefighter, and our mother worked at the World Trade Center. We had a normal childhood—family vacations, baseball games, loud dinners, small arguments. Life was good. But everything changed during our senior year of high school.

It was September 11th, 2001. We were in class when we saw the first plane hit the tower. Confusion turned into panic within seconds. We ran out of the classroom and headed straight for the towers, praying—begging God—that our mother was in the other building.

That was when we saw our father. He was already there with the other firefighters. Shock washed over his face when he saw us. He yelled, asking what we were doing there. Then his tone changed. He told us to go as far away as we could. He promised us he would come back with Mom.

He never did.

That day, we lost both our parents.

But we gained something else—a purpose. And that purpose became the army. We were determined, physically capable thanks to our father’s training, and fueled by one thing alone: revenge. That anger kept us warm through the coldest nights and pushed us further than anyone else. Far enough to land us in Commander Price’s special forces unit— the same person I work for now at AEGIS.

Back in high school, we had a mutual friend named Alexis.

She was one of the few people who never drifted away. She stayed in touch, checked on us, messaged regularly. Over time, she and I grew close. We talked about everything—our fears, our frustrations, what we loved, what we hated. Sometimes she’d rant about her day or complain about work, and I’d listen.

Somewhere along the way, I thought we were more than just friends. To her, we never were. That misunderstanding led to the biggest regret of my life.

During one mission, Dylan was shot in the leg—the bullet shattered bone. He was sent home to recover. This happened a week before his birthday, so I decided to surprise him. I filed the paperwork and arrived a day early.I went to Alexis’s place to plan something for him. That’s when I saw them. Through the window. Dylan was inside her place, hugging her. Kissing her.

Dylan had always been free-spirited, never the settling type. I wasn’t exactly different—but I was looking for the one. And to me, she was it.

My world collapsed in seconds.

Why her? Why Dylan?

She was the only person I ever looked at that way. Why did she choose him over me?

Rage swallowed everything else. I started screaming and cussing both of them. They rushed outside, and neighbors followed. She lived in one of those neighborhoods where everyone knew everyone, so people poured out to see what was happening.

Dylan tried to calm me down. That only made it worse. 

We ended up fighting in the street. Alexis cried, begging us to stop. Eventually, the neighbors pulled us apart. I left that night and went straight back to the army.

Months later, Dylan was cleared for duty. He returned—but no longer as my brother. We didn’t speak. Not a word. We became strangers to one another.

Then, during a raid, we were paired together.

Our team split, clearing an apartment. We were the second-floor team. As we prepared to breach a room, we heard movement inside. Dylan said he’d take the right. I said I’d take the left.

When the door blew open, I hesitated.

For one second, Dylan wasn’t my blood brother, not even my brother in arms. He was the man who took the only thing I truly cared about. In that moment, he felt no different from the people who took our parents from us.

I snapped out of it instantly, but one second was all it took for Dylan to get shot in the back. I caught him as he fell, held him in my arms, crying, begging him to stay. Years of shared memories—our childhood, our parents, our bond—gone.

I lost the last family I had. After that, I swore I would never look for a relationship ever again. When I was given his belongings, I saw him and Alexis were in a more serious relationship than I thought, he just kept that himself and never told me about it.After reading all the texts and letters, I hired a lawyer and made sure Alexis received Dylan’s account balance and everything he owned. 

I didn't feel like I deserved any of it. The money he was saving for a ring and a ceremony. The house mortgage. All of it except for one thing: his special forces dagger—the same one we both have tattooed on my arm.

After Dylan’s death, I stopped caring for almost everything.

Revenge was what pushed us into the army in the first place. It was the fire that made us grow, climb the ranks, and become the best at what we did. And when the time came, that same fire burned away whatever I had left.

So after twelve years, I decided to leave the military. And for a period of my life, I was empty. I didn’t have it in me anymore. I was alive but not living. On top of that emptiness, the moment I left, the nightmares began. 

The past crept back into my sleep and stole whatever remaining peace I had left. There was a time when I wanted to end it all—the guilt I felt during the day, and the hellish visions that visited me at night.

Then one day, Commander Price knocked on my door. He called me one of his best men. And he said that was exactly what he needed for the bodyguard agency he was starting.

Originally, he wanted to name it ASPIS. I laughed and told him no one would hire bodyguards from “Ass Piss Security.”

We both laughed, and eventually settled on the name it has now. From one shield to another.

“I’m sorry, Aria,” John said quietly. “But I’m just like your dad—if not worse. He did what he did for his wife. I did it for someone who only ever saw me as a friend.”

She stayed silent for a moment, then asked softly, “What happened to her?”

“I asked my lawyer,” John said. “He told me she quit her work and moved to another state.

After that night, she couldn’t stand the neighbors talking behind her back. They all thought she was a cheater. I never even dared to look her in the eye to apologize.”

After a pause, John continued, “I’ll keep your father as a primary suspect. But I won’t tell anyone what he did. Until I'm sure he's behind all this. Then, it needs to be revealed.”

Aria sat up slowly. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered. “I need time to think about it.”

Then her gaze froze on the window.

“John…” she said quietly. “I think there’s someone outside watching us.”John turned sharply toward the window. His sudden movement startled the figure outside, who immediately ran.

John jumped out of bed, grabbed her robe from the floor, and climbed out the window. He spotted fresh footprints in the snow—and the man who made them, running. Barefoot,

John chased him.

The intruder noticed John closing in and began doing something on his phone. When John finally caught him, the man quickly turned the phone off.

“Who are you,” John demanded, holding him by the arm, “and what are you doing here?”

“I’m nobody,” the man said. “I got lost and ended up here.”

At that, Rina ran toward them, holding her phone like a flashlight, in sleepwear. “Oh my

God, John—why are you like this—” she started, staring at John, but he cut her off. “Do you know him?”

“I think he’s a paparazzi,” Rina said. “I’ve seen him outside the house a few times. How did you get in?” she asked the man.

“The door was open,” he replied. “I just came to take a peek.”

“Call the cops,” John said.

“Already doing it,” Rina replied, turning away.

John looked back at the man. “What were you doing on your phone before I caught you?”

“I was texting my wife,” he said. “Telling her not to wait up for me tonight.”

“You’d better have texted a lawyer too,” John replied coldly. “You’ll need one. Turn the phone on and show it to me.”

“It ran out of charge.”

“Then find a way to turn it on before I run out of patience,” John said.

John glanced around and noticed a dim light coming from a small cabin near the gate—the one that belonged to Al.

That does look like a storage cabin. Did he open the door for someone to come in? Did Samuel Kingsley order him to? I’ll question him tomorrow.

Back in the bedroom, Aria lay curled up, caught between John’s past and the man who had been watching them.The next morning, they were woken by the sound of their phones ringing and vibrating.

John checked his screen.

One message. From AEGIS.

“Contract terminated.”