A cab rolled to a stop in front of a small neighborhood mechanic shop. The door swung open and a young man stepped out, holding a small travel bag like someone just returning from a long camp. He was tall, broad in the shoulders, with a clean jawline and a handsome face that would make anyone stare twice. His ocean-blue eyes caught the sunlight for a moment before he slung the bag over his back and looked up at the large signboard above the shop.The Salvatores Workshop.“Wow. This place is still in one piece,” Ethan said quietly, almost to himself.“Hey!”The shout cut through his thoughts. Ethan turned to see a slim guy in greasy mechanic overalls walking toward him. The boy looked younger, maybe early twenties, and his eyes darted up and down Ethan’s frame like he was sizing up a gym poster come to life.Damn, look at all those muscles, the boy thought, though the only sign of it on his face was a quick blink and a tiny swallow. He doesn’t look rich. Probably not here to fix a car.

Three days passed, and Ethan still had no clue what to do with the items his uncle gave him. The encrypted flash drive sat on his workbench like it held all the answers in the world, but refused to open its mouth. The pictures were worse. Shots of Liam sitting with men who looked like trouble. The kind of men you do not want to owe money or favors. At the bottom of the envelope was a name written in neat handwriting. Mara.His uncle had said a woman dropped it off. She came in a black Ferrari and told him the envelope would help Ethan find his brother. Ethan already suspected she was the same person tailing him the other day. He just did not know if she was friend or foe. Since she left no phone number or address, there was nothing he could do for now except keep his head down and listen for any whispers about Liam.So he spent his days fixing cars at the workshop, keeping one ear open and both eyes sharp. Kingscity was loud as usual. Engines, metal, and gossip always mixed in the air

Mara slipped out from her hiding spot and moved deeper into the warehouse, keeping low as she ducked behind stacks of dusty boxes. Her breathing was uneven. Her palms were sweating. It was clear someone had entered this place, and the men inside were not planning to let the intruder leave. A voice boomed across the dim warehouse. “Hello, whoever you are. Come out quietly. We will not hurt you. We know you stepped in here by mistake. But if we drag you out ourselves, your death will be very painful.” The mocking tone carried through the metal walls and crawled down Mara’s spine. Her legs felt weak. She knew that if they caught her, there would be no talking her way out. Before she could plan her next move, the heavy entrance door screeched open. The metallic sound echoed loud and sharp, stopping the men in their tracks. They turned as one, rifles raised. Bright light poured into the warehouse. Ethan stepped inside with a faint sigh, almost bored, as his eyes scanned the room. All

The man drove up to the gate with shaking hands. The guards barked at him to stop, and he quickly flashed his ID card to prove he worked there. They scanned his face, still suspicious. Before they could drag him out, a voice from inside the mansion gave the order to let him in. The gate opened slowly.The moment he rolled inside, the sunglasses on his face lit up. They scanned every corner he looked at, and Tony spoke into Ethan’s ear, feeding him constant updates. Ethan was already closing in on the building through the thick trees, moving like a shadow.As soon as the man stepped through the mansion entrance, a group of guards stormed toward him. The head guard, a tall man with a scar across his cheek, stopped him with a smirk.“How are you still alive?” the head guard asked, staring at him with disbelief.The man clenched his jaw. He could feel his anger rising, but he forced himself to stay calm. Everyone around him was on kill-alert. One wrong word and he would be a corpse on the

Ethan sat quietly, listening as the workshop lights hummed softly above them. The smell of engine oil and old metal still hung in the air.“Ethan, my son,” Uncle Mark began, his voice low and heavy, “I won’t go into the full history of how our family got entangled with the Ghost Elites, even before they changed the name. I know the sacrifice your father made to keep your brother Liam out of it. After you finished your training and came back, then left again for another mission, Liam called me. He complained that you had disappeared again, just like when you two were younger. I understood what you were going through, so I never mentioned the organization to him. But something happened.”Ethan tensed the moment those words left his uncle’s mouth. “Something happened?”Uncle Mark nodded slowly. “Your brother came back with his face swollen.”“What?” Ethan leaned forward, anxiety rising in his chest. “Swollen like how?”“Not from a fight,” his uncle said. “More like someone who had been c