The guards took their places, two at the wheel, the rest shadowing them in the vehicles behind. The engines rumbled to life, low and steady, their growl vibrating through the ground as the convoy prepared to move.
The Xu estate gates parted slowly, heavy wood groaning against iron as the procession slipped into the night. Lantern light dwindled behind them until only the vast dark of the city roads stretched ahead.
Inside the car, Xu Xie sat still, her gaze fixed on the blur of passing shadows beyond the glass. Her reflection stared back at her, calm, unyielding, yet weighed with the storm she carried alone.
Her brothers' faces rose unbidden in her mind, threaded with memories of laughter, recklessness, and ambition. Now those same faces stood in her path like looming specters, pulling the Xu name into peril. Her jaw tightened, her hands folding neatly in her lap.
Tonight, there could be no wavering.
