Valmont Series - Inheritance Code

Chapter 9.5 - The Ghost Tier

Cassian didn't just understand what Avalon was.

He understood what it was becoming.

And Aiden couldn't tell if that made him dangerous... or the only one worth trusting.

He didn't offer answers.

He offered arrival—always a beat late, just enough to remind you he'd already been there.

And whatever he was...

He wasn't reacting to Avalon.

He was shaping it.

And still—he never acknowledged Aiden. Not even once.

The silence wasn't apathy.

It was engineered.

Aiden told himself it didn't matter. That whatever Cassian saw in Aria was incidental—a flicker the system calibrated for effect.

But the thought lingered.

Why her?

Why not him?

He'd followed every thread. Anticipated every move. Positioned himself exactly where Cassian would be.

The pattern should've broken. The signal should've flickered. Even resistance would've made sense.

But there was nothing.

Not denial. Not error.

Just absence.

Like he wasn't even worth the glitch.

And that—that was the first time Aiden's mind stuttered.

Not in panic.

In disbelief.

If he couldn't map this...

If the logic didn't work here...

Then maybe the rules weren't broken.

Maybe he was.

By the time the final strike echoed across the arena floor, Aiden had already left the gallery—silent, unseen, slipping into the Maglev Capsule back toward the Echelon Suites. The ride blurred beneath him, neon strata bending across the glass as the city reassembled itself behind tinted walls.

The moment he entered his suite, the lights recalibrated. Dim, ambient. The skyline flickered below like circuitry pulsing with a heartbeat not his own.

"Vox," he said quietly, without looking up. "Tomorrow's schedule. Filter for Patron rank or higher. Public-facing only."

A pause. Then Vox replied, smooth and measured.

"Confirmed, Young Master. Displaying prestige-coded events, sovereign to meridien tier. Shall I flag those with confirmed Spectra tracking?"

"No," Aiden said. "Just show all."

The interface unfolded midair. He scanned the list—not for content, not even for strategy. Just for possibility.

He wasn't chasing Cassian out of obsession. He knew that. This wasn't about status, or spectacle, or proximity to mystery. It was about something deeper—something he couldn't name yet.

But he felt it.

Cassian Dantes was tethered.

Not to a person, or a rank—but to something deeper.

Something Avalon itself hadn't yet decided whether to hide... or reveal.

And somehow, Aria had been part of that signal. However briefly.

Aiden stared at the interface, jaw locked.

He could ask Aria. Just once. To introduce them.

But the thought collapsed under its own weight.

She wouldn't say yes—and if she did, it would distort everything. Shift the frame from signal to sentiment.

That wasn't how this worked.

He wasn't chasing a connection.

Besides, even if he asked, what would he say?

That he was guessing at a shadow?

That he needed validation from someone who moved like a closed loop?

Cassian wouldn't confirm anything.

And being denied was manageable.

But being dismissed—unworthy of even a lie—that was worse.

So instead, he marked three events—quietly, precisely. Logged their times. Committed their sequences to memory.

Tomorrow, he wouldn't chase.

He'd position. Watch. Decipher.

Cassian wouldn't vanish forever.

And when he surfaced again, Aiden wouldn't reach out.

He'd intercept.

Next: Sublevel Zero – This wasn't an invitation. It was a test of alignment.