There was no air, No time, No sense of direction, Just the scream, shrill, familiar, and laced with betrayal, that tore through the very bones of the apartment.Juno turned toward the sound, only to find the walls folding in like warped origami. A thousand fragments of Evelyn’s face shimmered in the air like mirrors, each expression twisted in pain, shock, or rage. But none were real. None were hers.And the girl in the paper dress just sat there, legs swinging, head tilted, smiling like this was all a game. "Where is she?" Juno growled.The girl shrugged. "Where all broken promises go."The floor gave out beneath him, He fell. Past memories, regrets, and debt slips that cut at his skin like razors. Each one etched a whisper into his ears: “You never kept your word.”“You forgot me.”“You lied.”Faster. Harder. His lungs burned from the weight of truths too long ignored. Then, Impact.He landed in the middle of a massive boardroom, black glass, chrome chairs, and twenty figures seated

Red lasers dotted Evelyn’s chest.Twelve Enforcers in matte-black armor descended from the breach above, surrounding her like a kill circle. Each one moved with inhuman precision, machines fed by ancient debt and modern bloodlust.At their center stood the Executioner: a towering figure carved from gold bonds and foreclosure notices, its eyes glowing with the red heat of automated justice.Juno stepped in front of her. “Move,” said the Executioner, voice like shredded metal.“Clause or not, she doesn’t deserve this,” Juno growled.“Objection denied. Clause 19-C: 'A signature is a soul.' She bears the mark.”Juno looked at Evelyn, Her lips trembled, but her eyes were dry. Defiant. “I didn’t sign anything,” she said.“Yes,” the Executioner agreed. “It was signed for you.”Above, the Chairman watched via drone-feed, sipping a glass of dark whiskey, Camilla stood beside him in a red dress, arms crossed.“I still don’t understand why you’re so obsessed with her,” she said, her voice brittl

The whisper slithered into Evelyn’s ears like smoke, curling deep into her mind."Eliminate the heir before the seventh night, or you will forfeit your life."It was her voice, unmistakable but the tone was something else entirely. Darker. Colder.She staggered back from the table, knocking over a crystal vase. The shattering glass barely registered. All she could see was the faintly pulsing contract, its glow timed like a slow, deliberate heartbeat.Her assistant, pale and trembling, edged closer. “Ma’am… what was that?”“Shut the blinds,” Evelyn snapped, forcing steadiness into her voice. “Now.”He obeyed, fumbling with the controls, but before the mechanical shutters could seal the window, another explosion rattled the tower, closer this time. The floor vibrated beneath their feet.Evelyn’s eyes darted to the glass fracture where Jace had slammed the guard’s head earlier. Rain seeped through the hairline cracks, hissing against the warm marble, The intercom on her desk crackled to

The instant the floor collapsed, Jace’s stomach lurched into his throat.Dust and splintered concrete swallowed him, the roar of crumbling steel drowning out every thought. Gravity yanked him down through darkness, the only light the faint, unnatural glow leaking from the bullet hole in the briefcase.Something heavy slammed into his shoulder mid-fall. A chunk of rebar, jagged and rusted, scraped across his arm, tearing fabric and skin. He gritted his teeth, twisting in the air, trying to avoid the rain of debris chasing him into the abyss. Then, impact.He hit hard, the air punched from his lungs. The briefcase clanged against the floor beside him. Pain rippled up his spine, but his survival instincts snapped him upright before he could even groan. The room around him wasn’t what he expected.It wasn’t rubble-filled or buried under tons of collapsed building. It was… intact. The walls were reinforced steel, the floor smooth, and the air unnaturally still, as though sealed from the ch

The vault floor fractured like thin ice under a heavy boot. Sections of reinforced steel tilted and slid into the dark, yawning pit below. Molten cables spat sparks, lighting the fog in violent flashes.Jace barely managed to leap onto a still-solid platform, his breath ragged. His hand clamped tighter on the briefcase, it felt heavier now, not from weight but from the screaming awareness that every faction in this room wanted it.The other Jace moved like a predator, fluid and precise, leaping over collapsing panels with impossible balance. Each step he took seemed intentional, like he could read the vault’s death throes before they happened.The exo-suit, still limping from the earlier blow, tried to stabilize itself. Its clawed legs punctured through steel panels, anchoring it in place. “TARGET LOCKED,” it rasped through broken speakers, but before it could act, the other Jace ripped up one of the steel plates and hurled it like a discus. The slab smashed into the exo-suit’s torso,