The auction hall was half empty. Most of the seats were occupied by brokers, lawyers, and investigators looking for cheap acquisitions. The atmosphere was casual as people chatted over coffee, occasionally glancing at the assets listed on the screen. But no one paid attention to Sebastian Kane as he sat in the last row. His dark suit had been expensive once, now it was just old. The whispers started the moment he walked in. “That's him.” “The fraud investigator?” “I heard they revoke his licence.” “Good thing too. People like him make enemies everywhere.” Sebastian heard every word but didn't react because over the past three months he had learned something important that defending himself changed nothing. The media had already convicted him yet the court or the evidence had not. But the public opinion was because it was cheaper to buy. His fingers tightened around the bidder’s card as his jaws clenched. His eyes fixed on the card in his hand. Number 117. The only thing lef

The rain hadn't stopped by the time Sebastian reached his apartment building. The building was old and stained. The elevator had been broken for months. The landlord kept promising repairs, but nobody believed him anymore. Sebastian was climbing the stairs slowly, his mind still busy recalling the memory of the woman offering one hundred thousand dollars for a debt file worth three dollars and then the warning that someone knew where he lived.The words refused to leave his mind as reaching his floor he unlocked the door and stepped inside. The apartment was small with one bedroom, one couch and one table. That was all.Three months ago, he had lived in a luxury apartment overlooking downtown, he drove a vehicle allowed by his company to him, people returned his calls. He chuckled realizing how quickly success disappeared.The moment the accusations surfaced, everything collapsed instantly like someone flipping a switch. Sebastian dropped onto the couch, feeling all exhausted.For th

Sebastian stared at the glowing words showing before him. The silver letters reflected faintly in his eyes. His survival probability was seventeen percent. For several seconds, he simply stood there as the warehouse felt colder than before. The distant sound of traffic filtered through broken windows mixing with the soft creaking of rusted metal beams overhead.Sebastian's jaw tightened as the question still lingered in his mind.Who exactly was coming ? And why did the system believe there was an eighty-three percent chance he wouldn't survive ?His pulse quickened as the glowing arrow still pointed toward a section of cracked concrete behind the table Sarah Whitemore had used before.The Hidden Asset. The reason she offered a quarter million dollars. The reason someone was hunting this debt file.Sebastian took a slow breath and crouched beside the marked area. His fingers brushed against the concrete. Nothing looked unusual as it was just cracks and dust there. A faint vibration

For the first two time since Sebastian had met him, Nathan wasn't smiling. He looked terrified.“No.” Nathan’s voice came out as a little more than a whisper as his eyes were glued to the brass key in Sebastian's hand.Sebastian tightened his grip around the cold metal. His ribs still ached from the beating and dried blood clung to the corner of his lips. His breathing remained uneven, but his gaze never left Nathan.“You know this key?”Nathan didn't answer. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. Behind him, six investigators from Blackstone Asset Recovery entered the warehouse, their eyes sweeping across the room. They froze when they noticed the cracked concrete floor.One of them muttered under his breath. “It's already been opened.”Nathan shot him a sharp glare. “Shut up.”The investigator immediately lowered his head and Sebastian noticed every reaction of them. Nathan wasn't acting like a man who had come to arrest someone. He was acting like someone who had arrived too late

The warehouse fell silent again while Sebastian remained where he was for nearly a minute. Whoever had written that torn letter risked everything to leave that warning behind so it deserves more respect than being abandoned in a dusty vault.Only after making sure everything was packed away did he leave Warehouse Seventeen.Outside the city looked exactly the same, as the cold night air struck his face. The cars passed, people laughed outside restaurants, office workers on their way to home yet nobody knew that half a billion dollar’s worth of history had just been unearthed less than two miles away.The walk back from the warehouse felt longer than usual. Sebastian kept one hand pressed against his ribs as he moved through the evening crowd. Every step sent a dull ache through his side. The leather archive was hidden beneath his jacket, heavy against his chest.Sebastian pulled out his phone from his pocket yet the screen remained black as the mobile was already dead so he slipped it