2026-06-07 20:16:48The basement felt colder after the assassin’s warning.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Rain rattled faintly through the pipes overhead while the flickering ceiling light buzzed like an insect trapped inside the concrete room.
Sophia looked at Ethan.
He hadn’t moved.
Not outwardly.
But something in him had pulled inward after those words.
She’ll kill what softened him.
The assassin leaned weakly against the steel chair, blood soaking through his clothes while a crooked grin stretched across his swollen face.
“You know I’m right.”
Ethan walked toward him slowly.
The guards near the doorway straightened automatically.
The prisoner laughed under his breath. “There he is.”
Ethan stopped inches away.
“What does Scarlett want?”
The assassin tilted his head slightly. “You.”
“No games.”
“She crossed half the world for you.” The man coughed wetly into his shoulder. “What do you think she wants?”
Sophia watched Ethan’s face carefully.
Still unreadable.
But she was beginning to notice the fractures underneath the control. Tiny things. The slight pause before he answered questions about Scarlett. The way his shoulders locked whenever her name came up.
Not fear.
History.
Ugly history.
Augustus stepped forward. “Where is she?”
The prisoner smiled faintly. “Closer than you think.”
One of the guards struck him again.
This time the chair tipped sideways onto the concrete.
Metal clanged loudly through the room.
The assassin groaned but started laughing again before the guards even dragged the chair upright.
Sophia suddenly got sick of the sound.
“You keep talking like she owns him,” she said sharply.
The room shifted slightly after that.
Even Ethan looked toward her.
The assassin wiped blood from his mouth with his shoulder and grinned.
“She used to.”
Sophia folded her arms tighter.
“No.” Her voice hardened. “You’re trying too hard to make her sound terrifying.”
The prisoner stared at her for a moment.
Then he laughed softer.
“Oh, poor wife.”
Ex-wife.
Again the correction almost came out automatically.
But Sophia stopped herself this time.
Because suddenly the label felt stupid compared to everything else happening here.
“You think this is about jealousy?” the assassin asked. “Scarlett Mercer doesn’t care about romance. She cares about ownership.”
A small muscle shifted once in Ethan’s jaw.
There.
Another crack.
Sophia caught it immediately.
The assassin noticed too.
“That’s the face,” he whispered happily. “That exact face.”
Ethan grabbed the front of the man’s shirt and hauled him forward hard enough to choke off the laughter.
“Careful,” the prisoner rasped. “She always hated when people touched her things.”
The room went still again.
Not because of the threat.
Because Ethan released him.
Immediately.
Sophia felt cold spread slowly through her stomach.
Not from the words.
From Ethan’s reaction to them.
The assassin slumped back into the chair coughing blood onto his chin. “You know what the funny part is?”
Nobody answered.
“She never cared that Ethan disappeared.” His grin widened weakly. “But the second she heard he loved somebody…” He looked directly at Sophia. “That’s when the bodies started dropping.”
Sophia’s throat tightened slightly.
Augustus’ expression hardened into stone. “Enough.”
“No,” Sophia said quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
Even she sounded different now.
Less frightened.
More angry.
Three years.
Three years treating Ethan like a burden while never understanding what was actually standing beside her.
And worse—
Three years being used without knowing it.
“You don’t get to talk around me like I’m furniture anymore,” she said coldly.
The assassin blinked once.
Interesting.
Sophia stepped closer now.
“If Scarlett wants Ethan,” she continued, “then why send amateurs through the estate walls instead of coming herself?”
The prisoner smiled again, but slower this time.
“There she is.”
Sophia ignored him.
“She knows Ethan’s alive already. She knows where he lives. So why the games?” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Unless this isn’t about killing him.”
Ethan watched her carefully now.
Not as background noise.
Actually watching.
The assassin’s grin faded by a fraction.
Sophia saw it.
Good.
“She’s testing the estate,” Sophia continued. “Testing the security. Testing reactions. She wanted him emotional.”
Nobody interrupted her.
The prisoner finally chuckled quietly. “You really did get attached.”
Sophia’s eyes stayed on his.
“No,” she replied. “I just lived with him long enough to know when something’s wrong.”
The room stayed silent after that.
Then Ethan spoke.
“What do you think she’s planning?”
Sophia looked toward him.
Funny.
A few hours ago he barely acknowledged her existence.
Now he was asking for her read on the situation.
“She’s isolating you,” Sophia said quietly. “Whoever Scarlett is… she understands you personally.” She paused. “And she knows you won’t think clearly if she turns this emotional.”
The assassin’s breathing slowed.
Not laughing now.
Sophia noticed.
Another crack.
“She probably expected you to explode tonight,” Sophia continued. “But you didn’t. So now she’ll go after the next thing she can destabilize.”
Augustus narrowed his eyes. “Meaning?”
Sophia looked directly at Ethan.
“Me.”
The word settled heavily into the basement.
The assassin smiled again after a few seconds.
Small.
Crooked.
“See?” he whispered toward Ethan. “She understands you better than the old man does.”
Augustus’ face darkened immediately.
But Ethan stayed focused on Sophia.
Not because she was afraid.
Because she was right.
Sophia suddenly remembered something.
A small memory.
So ordinary she almost dismissed it.
But now—
“When Ethan sleeps,” she said slowly, “he wakes up swinging if someone grabs his left shoulder.”
The room turned toward her again.
Sophia kept thinking aloud now.
“He checks exits automatically whenever he enters restaurants. He hates mirrors behind him. Loud alarms don’t bother him…” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “But music boxes do.”
Ethan’s expression shifted slightly.
Tiny.
Enough.
Sophia saw it.
The assassin saw it too.
And for the first time since entering the basement—
The prisoner stopped smiling completely.
Because Sophia finally understood what Scarlett actually was.
Not just a lover.
Not just an enemy.
A person built beside Ethan from the beginning.
Someone who knew exactly where the damage lived.
Then a sharp buzz crackled through the guard’s earpiece near the doorway.
The guard stiffened instantly.
“Report,” Augustus barked.
The man pressed a hand against the earpiece, listening.
His face drained slowly.
“What is it?”
The guard looked toward Ethan.
“Front gate cameras just came back online.”
Nobody spoke.
Then the guard swallowed hard.
“There’s a woman standing outside the estate.”
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CHAPTER 158: The Envelope She Collected
Patricia Shaw arrived at nine fifteen the following morning.Helen saw her through the glass partition before the receptionist announced her. Patricia paused beside the reception desk to check her phone, then slipped it into her handbag and followed the receptionist down the corridor.Lucas stood as she entered.“Ms. Shaw. Thank you for coming.”Patricia acknowledged him with a nod. Her eyes moved to Helen, then to the Legal Director seated near the end of the table.“I was told this concerns the Deputy Director's old office.”“It does,” Lucas said. “And a restricted document identified as ER/77-D.”Patricia set her handbag beside her chair. “I remember the reference.”Lucas opened his notebook. “You remember the document itself?”“I remember collecting an envelope with that number on it. I couldn't tell you what was inside.”The Legal Director opened her notebook. “Let's establish your responsibilities during the office clearance first.”Patricia folded her hands. “I was the Deputy D
CHAPTER 157: The Requesting Account
The records liaison arrived twelve minutes before the scheduled interview.Lucas watched her enter the conference room with a slim laptop tucked under one arm. She introduced herself as Claire Bennett, a Corporate Administration records officer responsible for maintaining departmental indexes and processing routine custody updates.Helen sat opposite Lucas, with the Legal representative beside her. A copy of the electronic register amendment lay on the table.“Ms. Bennett, we're reviewing a change made to the restricted custody record for ER/77-D,” Lucas began. “Your account appears in the submission history.”Claire placed her laptop down.“I was told this concerned an old administrative adjustment.”“It does. The item was originally recorded under Executive Coordination. Three weeks after the Deputy Director left, the custodian field changed to Corporate Administration.”“I remember processing a custody adjustment around that period.”“Do you remember this particular one?”“Not clea
CHAPTER 156: The Missing Custody Receipt
Lucas read the amendment again before leaving the conference room.The electronic restricted register showed that ER/77-D had remained under Executive Coordination's custody until three weeks after the Deputy Director's departure. Then the custodian field had been changed to Corporate Administration without a signed transfer receipt.The amendment carried a timestamp, an administrative account reference and a blank approving officer field.Someone had changed the record. The system couldn't establish who requested the change or who authorized it.Helen stood beside his chair, reading the printed copy.“Corporate Administration didn't have responsibility for restricted succession instructions.”“Not under the original custody procedure.”“Then why would the register have been changed?”“That's what we need to establish.”Lucas handed the document to Legal.“Preserve the amendment and its audit history. The new custodian field doesn't prove Corporate Administration physically received t
CHAPTER 155: The Officer's Account
The former restricted correspondence officer arrived at 10:20 the following morning.Lucas watched through the glass partition as Legal's representative escorted him into the conference room. The man was in his early fifties, with thinning grey hair and a dark suit that hung loosely around his shoulders. He carried a worn leather folder and kept one hand pressed against its handle.Helen had arranged the relevant documents on the table. The original inventory recovered from the migration backup, the restricted register entry and the personnel archive access history were kept in separate folders.Lucas waited until the man sat down.“Mr. Grant, thank you for coming.”Grant placed his folder on the table. “I was told this concerned a handover declaration I signed before leaving the company.”“It does. We also have questions about restricted correspondence reference ER/77-D.”Grant's expression changed slightly.“I wondered when that would come up.”Lucas noticed the reaction but didn't
CHAPTER 154: The Missing Attachment
Lucas received the first response from Legal at 9:06 the following morning.The handover declaration had been filed in the personnel archive, but its supporting inventory wasn't attached to the scanned copy. The original submission had been recorded as three pages: one signed declaration followed by a two-page inventory.The archive register marked the file complete when it was received four months earlier. No amendment or removal had been recorded.Lucas forwarded the message to Helen.“They're saying the file arrived complete,” she said.“That's what the register shows.”“So the inventory existed.”“Someone received it, counted it and registered it. We need to establish what happened afterward.”Helen placed her notebook on the desk. “Can they identify the receiving clerk?”Lucas opened the archive history. The declaration had been submitted by the former restricted correspondence officer. A records clerk had received it, checked the page count against the submission slip and transf
CHAPTER 153: The Desk Behind the Account
The investigator called at 8:17 the following morning.Lucas was already in the office. He had spent most of the night reviewing the four documents recovered from the migration backup. The coffee beside his laptop had gone cold, and his eyes ached from staring at the same lines until the words began to blur.Helen stood near the window, reading a message on her phone.“Tell me you found something useful,” Lucas said as he answered.“We found the account assignment history,” the investigator replied. “ES-RC-04 wasn't registered to an individual employee.”Lucas glanced at Helen.“Who was it registered to?”“Executive Coordination's restricted correspondence desk. It was a shared account. Three positions had permission to use it during the relevant period.”“Names?”“I've sent the access schedule to Legal. Two positions were held by people who have since left the company. The third belonged to the office of the Deputy Director of Executive Coordination.”Helen lowered her phone.“Does t
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