The alarm's shrill tone pierced the silence. Shoppers froze mid-step, and the boutique staff instinctively ducked behind counters. The steel shutters covering the mall’s exits had slammed down with mechanical finality. Lights flickered red. The giant LED screen above the central atrium flashed a warning in all caps:INTERNAL BREACH DETECTED – SYSTEM LOCKDOWN ACTIVE – ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE REQUIREDJavier’s gaze remained steady, but Valeria felt the subtle shift in his posture. Alert. Calculating. Not surprised—but ready.Simon Farrow, still inside the boutique, paled. “What the hell is this? A drill?”“No,” Javier said without emotion, his eyes scanning the screen. “This is targeted.”“Targeted?” Simon laughed nervously. “Please, who would target a... mall?”Javier didn’t answer.A voice suddenly echoed across the mall speakers—digitally distorted and grainy.“You never were good at staying hidden, Everhart.”The lights dimmed further. Valeria instinctively stepped closer to her husb

The heels came to a halt beside Javier.Silence thickened. Even the clinking of cutlery stopped. The maître d’, suddenly pale, straightened his posture.It was Valeria Everhart.She stood tall, composed, and radiant in a navy silk dress that fell perfectly against her frame. Her hair was swept back, her heels red-bottomed, her aura unmistakably commanding. The air around her shifted the mood in the room before she even spoke.“Thank you for waiting,” she said, her voice calm and low, directed at Javier.He nodded once, as if they’d merely been shopping. “Not at all.”Then her eyes moved—slowly, deliberately—to the maître d’.“I believe my husband was told to leave.”The man cleared his throat, already sweating. “M-Mrs. Everhart, I didn’t realize…”“You didn’t realize what?” she asked coolly. “That you insulted my husband repeatedly while pretending to guard the dignity of a restaurant built on pretense and overpriced wine?”The maître d’s smile collapsed. “There must’ve been a misunde

The elevator doors slid shut behind them with a soft hiss, but none of them breathed.Javier pressed the button for the parking level. No words. No movement.The silence inside the mirrored lift felt too still, too watched.Malcolm paced once, then stopped himself. “They never show their symbol publicly. That… that screen was a message.”Valeria stood beside Javier, unreadable. But her hand hadn’t left his.“A message to whom?” she asked.Javier’s voice was calm. “Not to us. To everyone watching us.”The elevator chimed and opened into the underground garage—quiet, dim, near empty.Javier stepped out first.Malcolm flinched when he heard a car door slam in the distance. But it was only an elderly valet retrieving keys.“Which vehicle?” Valeria asked softly.Javier tapped his phone. “No car. I don’t want predictable movement. We’re leaving through the service route. It connects to the boutique plaza across the street. Easier to disappear.”Malcolm nodded. “Smart.”But as they reached t

The screen should have been showing a quirky rom-com. Popcorn scent still lingered in the air. A couple in the front row laughed, unaware. But for Javier, Valeria, and Malcolm, everything else vanished when that symbol appeared.The serpent curled around a key glowed faintly in the upper right corner of the screen—just for a moment. Then it disappeared.But it had been there. Real. Intentional.Javier didn’t move. Didn’t blink. His eyes locked on the black screen as the movie cut to black entirely.The theater darkened.“Did anyone else see that?” Malcolm asked, his voice dry, quiet.“They’re watching us,” Valeria whispered, her throat tightening. “Here. Inside this room.”Javier’s mind raced—calculating, recalling angles, positions of hidden projectors, how a closed system like this could be hijacked. Someone had access. Not just surveillance—but live override access.That was bold.That was personal.And it meant one thing: there was a traitor inside his circle.Without turning his

Malcolm blinked. “Your brother? I didn’t even know you had one.”“That was the idea,” Javier replied.He didn’t elaborate. The silence inside the car grew dense, thick with unspoken questions. Javier’s hands were steady on the steering wheel, his gaze locked forward as if focused on something miles ahead.Valeria, seated beside him, watched his profile. “You never told me,” she said softly. “About him.”“I told no one,” Javier answered. “Because the fewer people knew he existed, the longer he would stay alive.”Malcolm leaned forward from the backseat. “So, let me get this straight. Your hidden blacksite vault, which holds the blueprint to destroy half the global underworld, was only ever vulnerable to two people: you… and a brother no one knew about?”Javier nodded once.“And now that same vault has been breached,” Malcolm added. “Which means…”“He was compromised,” Javier finished. “Or he betrayed me.”Valeria’s fingers tensed in her lap. “What’s his name?”“Dorian.”Javier’s voice