The Bait
The message came at midnight.
"We move in five days. Need full layout. Codes. Patterns. You in?"
August stared at the screen, the glow of her burner phone casting pale light across her sheets. She didn't respond right away. She let the silence stretch, knowing Rafel would interpret it as caution, not hesitation.
He'd been growing bolder with her lately-sending her details of upcoming jobs, asking for her insight, even letting her tweak the timing of certain raids. She was his secret weapon now. His Ghost Queen.
But this time, he wanted something more.
He wanted her home. She had grown fond of this place as bad as she was..as temporary as it was she wanted to enjoy it before she decides to vanish.
—
So inorder to assess the situation of the house for Rafel... Obviously giving him wrong info on everything.. August waited until the house was asleep. She padded barefoot to the study, where Mark kept his files locked in a drawer. She'd already picked the lock weeks ago, memorized the alarm schematics, the panic button location, the security company's response time.
She knew everything.
And she gave Rafel just enough of it to believe her.
_ "Front gate code: 4482.
_Security panel: 09#7.
_Evelyne leaves for yoga at 6:30 AM. Mark works late Tuesdays.
_Cameras loop every 90 seconds.
_No dog. No guards."
All of it was true.
Except none of it was useful.
Smart
The gate code was old. The security panel had been upgraded. The camera loop was a decoy-there was a second system, silent and hidden, that fed directly to a private security firm. And Evelyne didn't go to yoga anymore. She'd had knee surgery last month,so obviously she's still recovering and home most of the time.
August knew Rafel wouldn't double-check. He trusted her now. Admired her, she wouldn't betray him especially if she was trying to loom her way into the team.. Right
But...
That was his mistake.
—
A few days later....
August was going to play the Illusion of Access on Rafel.
To make the heist look real, August left the side gate unlocked the night before. She moved a garden stone to reveal a fake key. She even disabled one of the porch lights--just enough to make the house look vulnerable.
She wanted them to believe they were clever.
Obviously as dumb as they're...
The orphanage saga was going to repeat it self.. Except this time they aint going to be lucky. August thought, it gave her great joy.
She wanted them to feel the rush of a clean entry.
Inside, she left a trail: Mark's laptop open on the desk, a jewelry box slightly ajar, a safe visible behind a painting. All bait. But it surely did not look like it.
But the safe was empty.
The laptop was encrypted.
And the moment the front door opened, the silent alarm would trigger a lockdown protocol that Marcus had designed himself__one that sealed the exits and alerted a private response team trained for corporate-level threats.
Pecks of rich parents..
—
One would feel scared on a night like but not August...
August lay in bed, eyes open, listening.
At 2:05 AM, she heard the soft click of the side gate.
At 2:07, the front door creaked open.
At 2:10 the silent alarm activated.
She counted the seconds.
Thirty-two.
Sixty.
Ninety.
Then came the sound of boots scrambling on tile. A muffled curse. A crash. The unmistakable thud of a reinforced door locking into place.
Guess the mouse fell for it... Such idiots...
She heard one of them shout, "It's a trap!"
But it was already late...
Sirens wailed in the distance.
August sat up, pulled on her robe, and opened her bedroom door just as Evelyne flicked on the hallway light.
"baby why are you up.. did you hear that?" Evelyne asked, voice tight.
August nodded. "I think someone's in the house."
"oww poor baby.. You weren't supposed to hear that" Evelyne said brushing her daughter's hair with her hand.
Mark appeared behind her, already on the phone. "Security's en route. Stay here."
"okay.. You sure me and the baby will be safe"
"yes, just stay put Eve"
But August didn't stay.
"mom i wanna go back in my room i forgot my teddy" she said lookin all cute which obviously melted Eve's heart.
"go get it fast and come to my room"
August quickly crept to the top of the stairs and watched as two masked men were tackled by black-clad guards in the foyer. One tried to run. The other reached for something in his coat and was slammed to the ground.
Weaklings... Such amateurs in crime... They surely know nothing.
It was over in less than four minutes.
—
By morning, the news had broken.
>"" Attempted robbery at prominent tech executive's home foiled by private security. Suspects linked to larger criminal ring. Investigation ongoing.""
Evelyne and Mark were powerful people in society monied and protected...clearly Rafel didnt do much research...he had to learn the hard way.
August sat at the kitchen table, staring at her cereal bowl while Evelyne paced and Mark gave a statement to the police. No one questioned her. No one suspected her.
She was just the quiet girl who'd been adopted a few weeks ago. Besides she's only 5...
But in her notebook, she wrote:
- "Rafel trusted me. He sent his best.
- Now they're gone.
- He'll feel the loss.
- And I'll be the one he turns to next."
She wasn't done.
Not yet.
But tonight, she'd taken the first piece off the board.
And the game was hers to finish.
That night, August sat by the window, watching the wind stir the garden leaves. She had struck her first blow. No one knew. No one suspected. And yet, the cracks had begun to form.
She opened her notebook and wrote a single line:
- "Sabotage works best when it feels like fate."
She wasn't just surviving anymore.
She was rewriting the rules.