Evan drove without rushing, the address he headed toward didn’t stand out on maps or memory. It wasn’t a warehouse, a club, or anything that screamed money or power. It was a bakery. A small one, wedged between a closed tailor shop and a convenience store that stayed open too late.He parked a block away and walked the rest of the distance, hands in his pockets, shoulders relaxed. Anyone watching would have seen nothing more than a tired man heading in for something sweet before closing time.The bell above the door chimed softly when he stepped inside.The smell hit him first. Warm bread, sugar, butter. The place was modest, clean, with a glass display filled with pastries that looked almost too ordinary. A teenage boy stood behind the counter scrolling on his phone, barely looking up until Evan stopped in front of him.“Where’s Emmanuel?” Evan asked quietly.The boy blinked, glanced up at him properly this time, then hesitated. His eyes flicked toward the back before he nodded.“Uh…

It was 3 AM when Adrian finally made it back to the apartment. The air in the hallway was still, and the only sound was the faint hum of the building's ventilation system as he unlocked the main door.He did not turn on any lights, moving through the darkness without hesitation until he reached his room. He collapsed onto the bed without even changing his clothes, his mind drifting toward sleep before his head even hit the pillow.When he woke up, the clock on his bedside table read 9 AM. He stared at it for a few minutes, feeling the lingering weight of the previous night in his limbs."I should probably be in class right now," he thought as he looked at the ceiling.He knew he had lectures, but the idea of sitting through business fundamentals felt pointless. He decided to skip college for the day, figuring a few hours of extra rest was more valuable than perfect attendance.After a long shower that helped clear his head, he walked out into the living room. Letty was already there,

Kenny leaned back in his chair, the heavy silence of the factory settling around him as he processed the sheer absurdity of the situation. He felt a headache beginning to form at the base of his skull."Someone is playing a very dangerous game," he thought. "First the beach, and now this. Someone is going through a lot of effort to make me and Evan tear each other apart."He looked at the footage of the car strike again, then compared it to the report from the five men at the hospital. Those men were adamant that a kid named Adrian Wolfe was the one who beat them half to death, yet the beach cameras clearly showed Evan Sterling in a Monkey King mask fleeing the scene."The five attackers say it was Adrian. The cameras say it was Evan. And now, the cameras say my cousin tried to murder Evan’s guy, while she swears she was miles away in a warehouse," Kenny reasoned.He rubbed his eyes, trying to find a single thread of logic in the mess. If Liana was being framed the same way Evan was b

He moved silently, circling the perimeter of the mansion while using the thick trees as cover. He kept his movements slow and deliberate, ensuring he stayed out of the reach of the security lights. Once he reached the far side of the estate, he opened his system screen to check the feed from the camera following Evan.The sight on the screen made him pause. Kenny was tied tightly to a wooden chair in the center of a cold, concrete room. He had been beaten badly. Dark bruises covered his face and his shirt was torn, revealing more purple welts across his chest and arms. He looked exhausted, his head hanging low as he struggled with the pain.Adrian made the camera screen disappear and quickly opened the system shop. He began to scroll through the long list of available skills and items, looking for something specific."I need something that makes me invisible," he thought as he swiped through the options.He found several stealth related skills, but none of them reached the level of tr

Adrian stood at the base of the final staircase. He looked at Kenny and tilted his head toward the exit. "Go outside and just wait for me. Use that shotgun if anyone tries to get close, but stay out of the house," he said. His voice was calm, which seemed to bother Kenny even more than the violence, but he nodded and started moving toward the backyard.Once Kenny was out, Adrian turned his attention to the stairs. He walked up the first flight casually. He knew from his system screens that the middle floor was empty. Evan had pulled every warm body he had to the topmost floor to create a human shield. As Adrian reached the landing, his posture changed. He became a ghost, his weight shifting so perfectly that the floorboards didn't even creak.He reached the bend in the stairs and slowed down. He kept his gaze angled up, scanning the railing. He was right to be cautious. A guard was standing at the very top of the steps, clutching a handgun with white knuckles. The man was sweating, hi