The entire lobby of the Nebula Hotel was drowned in a silence so heavy it felt alive. Conversations froze mid-sentence. Coffee cups trembled slightly in suspended hands. Every gaze in the marble hall fixed on the figure that had just appeared.The hotel manager.Everyone knew — and it was practically legend — that the manager of the Nebula Hotel never descended into the lobby. Business was always conducted in her office, tucked away on the upper floors. To see her here, walking into the lobby unannounced, was like spotting a queen mingling in the marketplace. But that wasn’t what shocked them most.No, the true thunderbolt was the words she had just spoken.It must have been a mishearing, they all told themselves. A collective hallucination, perhaps. Because what they thought they had heard was impossible, ridiculous, absurd.And yet, nothing could erase the echo of it.Oswald, still puffed with false bravado, hurried forward, trying to control the narrative. “Manager Green! I was jus

“Psychic paper? What the hell is that?” Johnny murmured under his breath, squinting slightly at the glowing notification that had just flashed in his mind.“Excuse me?” Sophie turned her head, her brows lifting in polite confusion.Johnny snapped back with a quick, lazy smile. “Oh, nothing. Just mumbling to myself.” He waved it off, his voice casual enough to pass.“Oh okay” She didn’t press further. Instead, she clasped her tablet to her chest and gestured with her other hand. “This way, please, Johnny.”Johnny followed, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.Shoot… how was he supposed to talk to V.I.X.E.N without looking like a madman arguing with himself in public?[Use your inside voice.]The solution came instantly, clear and sharp, almost as if Vixen had been waiting for him to ask.Johnny smirked. [Inside voice? Cute. Alright then. Now tell me—what the hell is a psychic paper?][Check your left pocket.]Johnny paused mid-step. “Huh?” he muttered before catching himself. He h

Johnny released Oswald’s collar and raised his hands in the air, his blood-streaked knuckles catching the glow of the police lights.She stepped forward from the shadows of the flashing sirens. A woman — no, not just a woman, a presence. The kind of presence that filled a space before her heels even clicked against the pavement. She carried herself with a sleek, dangerous grace, like velvet stretched over steel. From the tilt of her jaw to the sharp glint in her eyes, she wasn’t here to be admired, but she was impossible not to admire.Her hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail that only emphasized the clean lines of her face. The curve of her lips suggested they could smirk or sneer with equal precision. And her figure — athletic, commanding — told Johnny she could probably hold her own in a fight.Johnny’s gaze lingered a second too long, not on one feature in particular, but on the aura she exuded. Confident. Untouchable. A woman who could shackle you with her stare long before

“Vixen, this has to be a joke right?” Johnny paced his tiny living room, the cheap floorboard complaining under his weight. The system notification still hung in his skull like a neon sign he couldn’t shut off.…[Hot Assignment Alert]Task: Kiss the Mayor’s DaughterPenalty: Death of the Mayor’s daughterTime left: 71 hours 50 minutes…[Certainly not, Johnny. This is your new Hot Assignment] V.I.X.E.N. replied, crisp and annoyingly smug.Johnny stopped pacing. “No. No. No. No. No.” He said each word like it could push the command back into whatever black void spawned the system. “In case whatever—whoever is in charge of you hasn’t heard: the mayor’s daughter is missing. Possibly kidnapped. Even if she wasn’t, I don’t know her. You’re asking me to kiss a complete stranger — not just any stranger, but the Mayor’s daughter. Are we insane?”V.I.X.E.N. went quiet for a beat. The apartment hummed around him — the fan, the fridge, the distant city noise. It felt like the world held its b

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my daughter’s room?”She stood in the doorway, sharp-eyed, her posture like steel wrapped in a silk robe. Her gaze cut through him, no hesitation, no fear. She was a woman used to being obeyed. And Johnny, standing in her daughter’s chaos, looked every bit the intruder he was.Fuck. Johnny cursed under his breath.He had forgotten to lock the door behind him, and he was already breathing too hard—no longer in stealth mode. He couldn’t even slip back into it now because that would mean disappearing right in front of her. That would raise more alarms than it solved. He needed a way out. Fast.“You know what? I’m calling the cops.”“Wait!” Johnny blurted, his voice sharper than he meant. She froze for half a heartbeat. He lowered his tone, forcing calm. “There will be no need for that.”He was stalling, buying seconds he didn’t have, praying his mind would catch up with his mouth.[Vixen, please, you’ve got to help me. What can I do to get out of t