Andrew didn’t realize how tight his grip on the steering wheel had been until his phone buzzed again.The sound cut through the silence of the car.He exhaled and loosened his fingers slightly before reaching for it at the next red light.Olivia.Her name sat on the screen like something fragile.Like something he wasn’t sure how to hold anymore.He hesitated for a second.Then he unlocked it.Message after message.Long ones.Not the short, sharp texts he had gotten used to over the past few days.These were different.Careful.Desperate.Andrew, please just read this.His jaw tightened slightly as his eyes moved across the screen.It’s not what it looks like. The pictures they were staged.Another message.Evans approached me for a deal. I didn’t tell you because I thought I could handle it myself.Andrew frowned slightly.The car behind him honked.The light had turned green.He dropped the phone back onto the passenger seat and pressed the accelerator, his mind no longer fully on

Becca didn’t knock before entering.She pushed the door open and stepped into her mother’s sitting room, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.Blossom didn’t look up immediately.She was seated comfortably, a glass of wine in her hand, flipping through a magazine as if nothing in the world required urgency.“Mom.”That was enough.Blossom glanced up slowly, her eyes taking in her daughter’s expression in a single sweep.Tension.Frustration.Something close to disbelief.“Well,” Blossom said calmly, setting the magazine aside, “that didn’t take long.”Becca exhaled sharply, dropping her bag onto the nearest chair.“It didn’t work.”Blossom raised a brow.“I assumed as much.”Becca stopped pacing and turned to her.“No, you don’t understand,” she said, her voice tight. “I tried everything. I set the atmosphere, I gave him an opening he didn’t even hesitate. He just… shut it down.”Blossom took a slow sip of her wine.“Of course he did.”Becca frowned.“That’s your reacti

The room had gone quieter.Not silent.Just… restrained.Like even the men standing around understood that whatever came next wasn’t for them.Andrew’s head was slightly lowered, his breathing heavier than before, but controlled.Always controlled.Footsteps echoed from the far end of the room.Not hurried.Not uncertain.Measured.Deliberate.Authority.Andrew didn’t look up immediately.He didn’t need to.He already knew.The scent of expensive perfume reached him before the voice did.“Leave us.”Blossom.The men didn’t argue.Chairs scraped lightly.Boots shuffled.One by one, they stepped out, the heavy door closing behind them with a dull thud that sealed the space.Silence stretched for a moment.Then A slow clap.Mocking.“Oh, Andrew,” Blossom said, her tone smooth, almost amused. “I must say… I expected you to last, but not quite like this.”Andrew lifted his head.Slowly.His eyes met hers.And despite everything There was no fear in them.Just recognition.And something c

The corridor was too quiet.Andrew moved through it without sound, his steps measured, his breathing controlled to a steady rhythm that matched the faint hum of the building’s ventilation system. The mission brief had been simple routine, even.High-value asset.Secure.Extract.No complications.That alone had been enough to make him cautious.Nothing truly important was ever routine.He paused at the corner, his shoulder brushing lightly against the wall as he angled his body just enough to check the blind spot ahead. Clear.Two guards down already.Clean.Efficient.No alarms.Yet.Andrew advanced.The deeper he went, the more the silence pressed in not peaceful, but wrong. Facilities like this never slept. There should have been movement. Background chatter. Something.Instead, it felt… abandoned.His grip on his weapon tightened slightly.“Stay sharp,” he muttered under his breath.The target room was at the end of the hall.Reinforced door.Electronic lock.Standard.Andrew knel

Andrew felt it before he heard it.A shift.Subtle.But wrong.He paused mid-step, the burner phone still in his hand, his gaze drifting toward the far wall as if he could see through it.The air hadn’t changed.The room hadn’t changed.But the pattern had.“They found us,” he said quietly.The asset stiffened. “How?”Andrew was already moving.“Biometrics,” he said. “Residual heat, movement signature, respiration pattern… they’re not guessing.”His eyes sharpened.“They’re tracking me.”A faint sound reached them then.Distant.Muted by walls and floors.But unmistakable.Boots.Multiple.Coordinated.Closing in.The asset’s voice dropped. “How many?”Andrew didn’t answer immediately.He stepped toward the window again, pulling the curtain just enough to glance down.Black vehicles.Unmarked.Parked too cleanly.Too deliberately.His jaw tightened.“Aegis Hunters.”The name alone carried weight.Not field agents.Not operatives.These were specialists.The kind you sent when failure