The Lopez Estate.
Back at the Lopez mansion, the air felt heavier than usual, like the whole place was holding its breath. Some guy from security, pale as a ghost, eyes bugging out, burst into the living room, slamming the door so hard it rattled the fancy crystal glasses on the side table.
"Turn on the damn TV! Now!" he yelled, his voice cracking like he was about to lose it.
The family shot each other these what-the-hell looks, Joseph in his big leather armchair, nursing a scotch; Vivian, his wife, perched on the couch with that perfect posture she always had; Lilian, Damien's aunt, flipping through some magazine like nothing could touch her world. They grabbed the remote, hearts picking up speed without knowing why.
The screen flickered to life, and bam, live news, the anchor grinning like she'd just won the lottery. "Breaking: A game-changing code just dropped, folks. Launched by some shadowy dude calling himself Dexter. Experts are already calling it the biggest digital bombshell in years, it's gonna rewrite how the whole internet works."
Joseph's glass slipped from his hand, shattering on the Persian rug. He shot up from his chair, face draining of color, mouth hanging open like he'd been sucker-punched. "No... that's my code," he whispered, but it came out choked, barely there.
Then his knees buckled. He hit the floor hard, clutching his chest, eyes wide with that raw, gut-wrenching terror you only see in nightmares.
The mansion turned into chaos, screams, phones dialing 911, everybody piling on him like they could will him back. But Joseph Lopez, the unbreakable tech titan, was gone before the ambulance even pulled up.
Hours later, the sterile hospital hallway felt like a bad dream that wouldn't end. The Lopez crew huddled outside the OR doors, Vivian twisting a tissue to shreds, her makeup streaking down her cheeks; Lilian pacing like a caged animal, muttering prayers under her breath; Damien leaning against the wall, fists balled so tight his knuckles were white. The air smelled like bleach and bad news, every tick of the clock a knife twist.
Finally, the doors swung open. The doctor stepped out, sweat soaking his scrubs, face etched with that heavy, "I hate this part" look. The room went dead quiet, like someone sucked all the oxygen out.
"I'm... I'm so sorry," he said, voice rough. "We threw everything at it. The surgery looked solid at first. But with his history, the heart attacks, the stress from tonight... the shock was too much. We lost him."
It hit like a wave crashing over rocks. Vivian crumpled into the nearest chair, a sob ripping out of her that echoed down the hall, raw and broken, like her whole world just shattered. Lilian buried her face in her hands, screams muffled but piercing, her shoulders shaking so hard it hurt to watch. Damien? He just stood there, frozen solid, like his brain couldn't catch up to the ache exploding in his chest. His dad was really gone? Just like that.
It took everything he had, but Damien pushed off the wall, legs like lead, and closed the gap to the doc. His heart was hammering so loud he swore everyone could hear it. "What... what the hell happened?" he managed, voice a ragged whisper, barely holding together. "This isn't his first rodeo with a heart attack. He bounced back before. Why now? Why today?"
The doctor glanced around quick, like he was checking for ears on the walls, then leaned in close, dropping his voice to a low, gravelly murmur that sent ice down Damien's spine. "Look, kid... off the record? This doesn't add up. We had him locked in, stable as they come. Then boom, systems glitch, alarms screaming, and he's slipping away like someone flipped a switch. I've been doing this twenty years, and that? That's not random. Feels deliberate. And hell, with the right access... betrayal in these walls isn't impossible. Someone could've tampered, bought off, you know? But I can't prove squat without stirring a hornet's nest. Your call on what to do with that."
Damien's eyes locked on the doc's, the words sinking in like lead weights, twisting the grief into something sharper, dads death wasn't natural after all, a betrayals play, he thought in wardly. But he nodded slow, just once, the understanding hitting him like a freight train.
Because one look over his shoulder, at his mom Eleanor's broken sobs, and Vivian's his sister's state, Lilian's pacing turning frantic, the way the whole family was fraying at the edges. He immediately decided to clamped it down. Hard. No way was he dropping this bomb now, not when they were already drowning. He'd carry it alone, let it fester, turn it into fuel. Until he come to the bottom of this.
"Honestly, we tried everything. We got him stable post-op, thought we were in the clear. But... sometimes the heart just quits. It's unpredictable, cruel like that. The shock from the news, his condition, it all piled on. I'm gutted, truly. Your dad was a legend, fought like hell. The world's definitely gonna miss him."
The doctor clapped a hand on his shoulder, that gentle squeeze now loaded with shared secrets, then walked away down the hall.
Damien nodded numbly, watching the doc walk away down the hall. Inside, though? Rage and grief tangled up tight Inside, Damien ground his teeth, eyes narrowing to slits, the pain carving lines into his face.
Meanwhile...
Back at the mansion, the silence was a living thing, heavy, smothering, wrapping around you like fog you couldn't shake. The grand hall, usually buzzing with staff chatter and the click of heels on marble, now felt like a tomb. Black drapes hung limp over the windows, blocking out the sun like it had no right to shine.
The entire Lopez family sat together in the formal sitting room. Leather chairs circled a central fireplace, its flames crackling quietly, like a whisper trying to fill the hollow left by Joseph Lopez's absence.
Vivian Lopez, Damian's younger sister, was the first to break the silence.
"I still can't believe any of this," she said, voice low but sharp. "First, someone steals Dad's life's work. Then he dies because of it. Meanwhile, some fraud named Dexter is out there being hailed as a tech savior."
Lilian, Damian's cousin, folded her arms tightly across her chest. "That man is parading around with glory that never belonged to him. Uncle bled for that code."
Damian's aunt leaned forward. "Can't we do something? There must be a way to expose him. Are we really going to let this slide?"
Damian sat back, running a hand over his face. "What I don't understand," he said, "Is how anyone managed to get inside the Code Room, our secret vault. It's supposed to be impenetrable."
His mother snapped her head toward the security detail stationed at the door.
"Explain," she barked. "How does someone waltz into one of the most secure homes in the country and walk out with everything we've built?"
A senior guard stepped forward in a crisp black suit. He bowed slightly before speaking.
"Ma'am, we've reviewed all access points. No external breach. No irregular entries except for Friday, during the welcome reception."
"The day Damian brought that girl," Vivian said sharply, her voice suddenly cold.
The guard nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The only guest outside the family was Mr. Damian's fiancée. All security protocols were intact until precisely 8:46 p.m., when our internal CCTV system malfunctioned for five minutes."
Lilian's eyes narrowed. "That's oddly specific."
"We believe it was deliberate," the guard admitted. "Someone timed it perfectly. Just long enough to gain access to the vault."
Silence blanketed the room like snow.
Lilian stood. "Are you saying someone inside this house betrayed us?"
"Not a member of the family," Vivian said quickly. "No one else would know how to bypass Dad's lockout protocols."
The guard hesitated then spoke with grim finality. "Sir, Ma'am, after a thorough investigation, we believe the person responsible is the young woman introduced to us as Mr. Damian's fiancée."
The room erupted.
"You're out of your mind!" Damian shot to his feet. "You think Tyler did this?"
But even as he defended her, his mind was already splintering. His chest felt hollow.
The guard pressed on. "The timeline matches perfectly. At the exact moment of the system crash, she excused herself to use the restroom. A patrol guard reported movement near the restricted corridor but dismissed it, he said she looked too innocent. Too fragile."
Vivian's expression darkened. "Innocent like a fox. I just knew it. No wonder I never liked her, turns out shes fraud"
Damian's mother turned toward him, voice trembling with betrayal. "Damian, did you bring a thief into this house?"
Damian's jaw clenched, but he said nothing.
Because apart from the fact that, for strange reasons he hadn't been able to reach her, particularly ever since he lost his dad.
Her lines suddenly became unreachable, her cousin's house became empty, and its almost like she had vanished from the earth surface.
He had been worried for her, but had thought to settle family problems first, and then now she was being called out on the suspect list.
No way in hell could that ever be possible, Tyler, his fragile, sweet reserved little girlfriend, Tyler could never do such a thing, except...
Except, something, he doesn't want to spell or name, except she was someone else entirely. Except he had just been scammed. But how can a person like him ever be scammed by a woman. A woman? He doubted. But for a memory that punched him right in the gut.
Two Months Earlier in Singapore...
He had been in the city for a quiet acquisition deal, planning to leave unnoticed.
After the deal, he and his right hand man Victor had decided to go check out a beach front he had just acquired.
Then she appeared.
A girl with oversized glasses, messy curls, and a handmade placard that reads; "You Are My Dream Man."
His bodyguards moved instantly, stepping forward to usher her away but she'd burst into tears before they could reach her.
"Hey Mr handsome, are you going to just stand there and watch your guards throw me away like a piece of trash, but come on, I haven't done anything, couldn't you be more gentlemanly,
If you don't want me just say it and I'll walk away like I wasn't even here, but see how I have been rough handled. When all I did was tell the truth," she said as she suddenly became sad.
Damien had to give her audience because she was damn too noisy, and maybe because he felt his men were a little too much, too aggressive with her, after all she is just a woman, so he decided to give her a listening ear, something he later come to regret or maybe not.
"I've spent my whole life hiding. People told me to speak up. Be brave. But I was never courageous enough to do so, but then I thought to finally do today and judging by this level of rejection, remind me never to believe in people's word."
Then she dropped the placard in an exaggerated manner and puffs her cutelittle cheek and then turn around to walk away. But she had returned the moment she took two steps.
She walked back to Damien and her expression was everything, she looked like she has so much to say but didn't know what to say, she looked like a lonely sad little girl, she was a nervous wreck.
Damian had stared at her, frozen. She was shaking so profusely, he thought she might collapse right there.
"Please," she'd whispered, "Just let me talk to you. For five seconds, I promise."
Damian had immediately told his men to stand down.
Looking at her then trembling, broken, earnest he felt something crack inside him. She looked nothing like a threat.
Nothing like a liar.
And that's exactly what made her so dangerous.