Her eyes stopped shining with rage, and her smile turned into a straight line.

How can he say such a horrendous lie?

"How dare you disgrace my father!" She was panting, and she hugged the gun tighter with both of her hands.

"It's the truth. I'm your father."

"Stop saying that! Stop lying!"

"Bunny, I know it's hard to accept it-"

She turned her gun to Axel. "You think I can listen to anything you have to say? Your father was a Neva. You are a Neva. And you?" She looked at Rob. "After knowing that, how could you bring him here, if you are not a traitor yourself?"

"I'm not my father!" Axel said the words through gritted teeth. "He's a sick bastard who got what he deserved. I have nothing to do with those people."

Alba pursed her lips, unable to answer back.

"Put the gun down. We can't have a proper conversation like that," Rob said.

Let them tell you the truth. You have plenty of time to kill them later.

"Fine." She lowered her hands and left the gun on the desk, centimeters away from her right hand.

"Your father, the man who raised you, was my best friend. The one I lost, the one I hadn't talked with in years. Your mother was an excellent woman, and I had to trust her with your upbringing."

"If you say the truth, then why did you give me to them?"

"Your mother, your biological mother, was the only woman I loved. I didn't know that she was pregnant with you because I was a new agent at that time, and I was gone for a few months on an undercover mission. When I returned, she was seven months pregnant with you."

"She was an agent?" Alba said more like an affirmation than a question.

Rob nodded. "We didn't want to raise a child in here. We didn't want you to live a life full of grey and black. That's why we left. When the time came..." He sighed and closed his eyes. "The doctor didn't come immediately, and there were complications. She died a few hours later during the sunrise. That's why I named you Alba. I was devastated. I didn't know how to raise a child. All I knew was how to be an agent."

Alba shallowed and smiled bitterly. "So you decided to give up on me."

"I wanted the best for you. I knew that my best friend was struggling to have a child and when they met you..." His eyes became watery. "Your mother's eyes brightened up and that's when I knew what I had to do. They promised to love you and protect you, and I left. I was checking on you from time to time, but I never dared to meet you."

"What was my mother's name?"

"Estelle." He smiled and his eyes looked younger.

Star. Her name means star.

"The necklace..." she whispered.

Mom said it was a gift for my birth.

"You gave it to me after Bratislava. I can return it if you want. Now, it means more to you," Axel explained.

"Did you kill my parents?" The question was simple, yet her voice was full of sorrow.

"I could never do that!" Rob made a few steps toward the desk.

"Then why did you go to Chicago?"

"I thought you were in the plane with them. I had to check. You have no idea how relieved I was when I learned you were alive, and how devastated I was when I realized that your parents were dead."

He looks genuine. Oh my God! Why can't I have a simple life?

"Let's say you are saying the truth-"

"I am!"

Alba raised her hand and stopped him. "Why did you lie about my accident? Why didn't you mention it? You keep tabs on everyone."

"I told you that he doesn't know!" Axel answered.

Rob turned to Axel. "What accident? You said something about amnesia."

Alba laughed. "You are a true PROTEA agent." She clapped.

"Three months ago, Alba had a car accident. She almost died, and the damage in her brain caused amnesia. She can't remember the last six years. She didn't know she was an agent. She didn't remember me." He almost choked in the last word, as he explained the situation to Rob.

The Chief shook his head and went to a drawer. He searched through some files until he found the one with Alba's agent name on it. He started searching through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

"Look! That's the info I have for the last three months. No accident, no amnesia."

Alba took the file and read the last paragraphs.

What if it's a trap? Everything looks too clean.

"This doesn't prove that you didn't know it. Or that you didn't cause my accident." She raised her eyebrow.

"Why would I kill my daughter?" He shouted and raised his hands in the air.

"Agent 37-T."

"Who?" Alba shook her head, trying to put a face to the name.

"The one who brought you here," Axel said as if it was an obvious answer.

"Oh, the tall man. What about him?"

Rob and Axel were looking at each other.

"When Alba told me about it, I wondered why you didn't inform me. That's when I started suspecting that something was wrong. He's the one who is keeping track of the new agents. If someone knew about Alba's accident-"

"It would be Agent 37-T," the two men said in unison.

"You are my father!" Alba exclaimed as her brain was processing all the new information. "You went to Chicago to check on me. My parents-" She fell on the chair and brought her hands on her face as the memories came fast like a tsunami.

My parents died. I don't have my parents. I don't have them.

She started crying hard, loud, the tears were streaming like a dangerous river, and her lips were trembling like a ship during a thunderstorm.

The memories from the plane crash news came first, and then her travel to Chicago. The confirmation of the news and the funeral. But the last memory was the most devastating: Entering the empty house, alone, because she had denied Kayla's help. Remembering the hollow walls and the living room that would never again be full of laughter and happy voices.

"It hurts so much!" She couldn't stop crying.

Axel ran to her, fall on his knees in front of the chair and held her hands.

"Where does it hurt?"

She shook her head unable to speak.

"I'm here, bunny." He tried to wipe her tears, but they continued running.

"Here." She pointed to her heart and looked at him. "It hurts here." And she continued sobbing.

Axel hugged her tightly as her body spasmed with despair. She was feeling everything about her parent's death as if she was learning it for the first time.

The Chief was on his knees, on the hard ground, trying to figure out everything he had learned about the accident and his daughter's accusations.

"Make it stop, please." Her voice broke, and her hands gripped Axel like a python.

He buried his head in her shoulder, slowly putting aside her hair. He noticed the small scars on her collarbone and closed his eyes.

"I wish I could," he said.

Inhale, exhale. Focus.

Slowly her breathing returned to normal, and her eyes could see clearly.

Axel put his hands on the sides of her face, and their foreheads touched.

"What didn't you tell me about your father?"

"I was ashamed. No one knows my father's last name. It's the only thing I couldn't tell you. I was afraid," he added.

She looked at his hazel eyes but turned her head away before her vision could blur again.

Standing up, she saw that man.

My father... That's insane. But yet... he knew so much about me. He looked worried when I had to hack the satellite.

"I still have doubts about you."

"I'm here to answer all your questions." He tried to smile. "You have your mother's eyes."

She rubbed her neck and tried to stop her tears. "I found files with transfers of great amounts of money. They were linked with you. Also, you traveled to Helsinki during the same period that Erik Neva was there. In the place where his labs are supposed to be. Can you explain that?"

"I went to Helsinki for work. PROTEA's work." He looked at Axel before continuing. "I had to deal with some issues with Axel's father."

"I thought he was dead. That's the impression I had from what you told me." She turned around to her friend.

"He is. He had a friend, a partner who worked with Azarov and Neva. No one else knows about the existence of that friend. The Chief and I are looking for him. Even if he isn't working with them anymore, he might know something."

"I don't know about those files you talked about. I have to see them. We also need to call Agent 37-T for an explanation." His look became cold as he said the last phrase.

"I'll bring you the files. I-" She shook her head. "Agent 23 kept records of everything she discovered. I'll go get them."

"Alba, I want to talk about this other thing."

"Not now."

He nodded and walked to his desk. Alba went to the door while Axel followed her. She glanced to her friend, hopeful that she was closer to the truth.

She saw his lips moving, but a thundering noise muffled his words. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the corridor to find the source of the sound when everything turned into black and grey dust. The only thing she felt was someone grabbing and pulling her before silence fell like a dark wave.