Chapter 320: Identity Exposed

"Bro, what’s wrong?" Asher asked, noticing that Ares had been unusually restless.

His eldest brother had shifted positions several times, his attention fixed on the octagonal fighting platform in front of them.

There was something unsettling about the way he watched the masked fighter called Nemesis. His usual composure had given way to a barely concealed tension.

Liam, seated on Ares’s right, had noticed it too.

"Don’t you think Nemesis looks familiar?" he asked quietly.

At once, the three Norse brothers turned toward Ares.

"You noticed that too?" Lucas asked, raising his voice slightly. Seated farther away, he worried that Ares might not hear him over the roar of the crowd.

Asher’s brows knitted together.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, looking from one brother to another. "You three are acting as if you know something I don’t."

"Do you honestly think Nemesis looks familiar?" Asher continued, studying the fighter on the platform. "I don’t know anyone who resembles him. Besides, look at that build. He’s so slender he almost looks like a woman."

He stopped abruptly.

His eyes widened.

"No way."

The words escaped him before he could stop himself.

It couldn’t be her, could it?

He scrutinized Nemesis again, searching for something that might confirm or dispel the ridiculous thought.

The height was similar. So was the slender frame and the way the fighter carried himself.

But Lara?

The Lara he knew had a beautiful, feminine figure, with curves in all the right places. Even in loose clothing, her silhouette was unmistakably that of a woman.

Nemesis, on the other hand, looked almost shapeless beneath the black fighting attire. The tight clothes could not conceal the fighter’s physique. He could tell what lay beneath them.

Asher shook his head.

No. I must be overthinking this.

Yet the thought refused to leave him.

"Speaking of Lara," Liam suddenly said, turning toward Ares, "isn’t she staying at your mansion? Why didn’t you bring her here?"

Logan and Lucas immediately perked up at the mention of their sister.

Ares remained silent for a moment, his gaze returning to the elevated platform. The octagonal structure, which the spectators casually called the cage, stood beneath a blaze of overhead lights. Inside it, Nemesis waited for the next match, motionless despite the deafening excitement around him.

Ares studied the fighter for several seconds before finally answering.

"She hasn’t returned to the mansion for the past three days." His voice was low and controlled, but a trace of displeasure crept into it. "She said she had to shoot several scenes for Amelia’s movie. Apparently, they’re doing a closed-door shoot that could last three to five days."

Liam’s expression grew troubled.

So did Logan’s and Lucas’s.

That was news to them.

Their sister had been active in the family group chat over the past few days. She had even responded to some of their messages, making them believe everything was normal.

Not one of them had known she was supposedly locked away on a movie set.

Logan exchanged a glance with Liam before lowering his voice.

"Liam, that isn’t our sister in the cage, right?"

"I don’t know," Liam murmured.

But the uncertainty in his voice was not reassuring.

Logan quickly opened their family group chat and checked Lara’s profile. The green indicator beside her name showed that she was active.

He immediately typed a message.

Logan:Sis, where are you? Why don’t you come and join us? We’re watching an MMA tournament. You might enjoy it.

Three dots appeared almost immediately.

Lara was typing.

Logan held his breath until her reply appeared.

Lara:Thanks, Bro. I’m busy right now, so I can’t make it.

He released a quiet sigh of relief.

There. She had answered. Surely that meant everything was fine.

Or so he wanted to believe.

Liam, however, was not convinced.

He took out his phone and opened his private conversation with Lara. Unlike Logan, he wasn’t satisfied with a brief response in the family group chat. He wanted to know where she was and, more importantly, whether she could prove that she was really the one answering him.

Liam:Sis, where are you now? Are you nearby? I can come and pick you up. There’s a good show here at The Arena. Come watch with us.

Her reply came almost at once.

Lara:I’m occupied right now, Bro. Maybe next time.

Liam stared at the screen.

Then he opened the family group chat and compared the two messages.

The wording was slightly different, but both replies were brief, polite, and strangely impersonal.

That wasn’t what bothered him most.

It was the speed of the responses.

Lara could be busy, certainly. She could even refuse to tell them where she was. But something about the exchanges felt wrong, as though someone—or something—were answering on her behalf.

His gaze drifted toward Ares.

Since he was seated beside his close friend, he knew Ares had seen the messages on his screen. Ares’s eyesight was exceptionally keen, like that of an eagle, and nothing escaped his notice when he chose to pay attention.

Yet Ares said nothing.

Liam’s uneasiness deepened.

Is it possible that Lara’s AI assistant is replying to us?

His fingers tightened around his phone.

And if that were the case, where was their sister?

His gaze returned to Nemesis.

The fighter stood beneath the harsh white lights, dressed entirely in black, the mask concealing every recognizable feature. There was no visible sign of nervousness, no restless movement, no wasted energy.

Only an unnerving stillness.

Liam’s heart sank as a terrible suspicion took shape in his mind.

Could it be really her?

He silently looked at Ares as if seeking for an answer.

Ares on the other hand knew it wasa her. There was no proof, no unmistakable gesture, no glimpse of a familiar face.

Yet instinct told him that the person inside the cage was Lara.

And if it was indeed her, then a far more disturbing question followed.

What is she doing here?

Does she have some kind of grudge against Rocky?

Why else would she enter an underground MMA tournament, conceal her identity, and fight her way through a competition just to reach a particular opponent?

Ares searched his memories, both the present and the distant past, trying to recall whether Lara had ever mentioned Rocky or revealed anything that might explain her actions.

Nothing came to mind.

He believed he knew Lara well. He knew her temperament, her habits, the little expressions that crossed her face when she was amused or annoyed.

But it looks like some of Lara’s past where still shrouded in mystery. There were gaps, secrets she had never explained, and parts of herself that remained frustratingly out of reach.

Perhaps he had never known her as well as he thought.