The elevators in Light Enterprises hissed shut behind them. The building—forty stories of mirrored glass and steel—loomed like a monument to every life the De-Light family had shattered.
Disguised in black uniforms and fake credentials, Jade and Kelz moved like shadows through the halls. Mira had briefed them with blueprints, security codes, and shift schedules. Everything was supposed to be smooth.
Until it wasn't.
On the thirty-seventh floor, the lights flickered.
Kelz froze. "That's not part of the plan."
Jade's fingers went to the gun at her side. "Nothing ever is."
A scream echoed from the corridor ahead.
They raced toward it, turning a corner—and stopped.
Blood painted the glass walls. A guard slumped over a desk, throat slit cleanly. The security feed behind him showed static.
Then, a face appeared on the monitor.
Victor De-Light.
"Thought you could sneak into my house, little brother?"
Kelz stiffened.
Victor's voice crackled through the speakers. "You don't know what you're playing with. This isn't just about your mother, Kelz. You're unearthing graves better left buried."
"Then bury me," Kelz hissed.
Jade's eyes scanned the wall. A hidden door behind the security station—marked *Vault Access*—blinked red.
"This is it," she whispered.
Kelz kicked the panel open. Inside: folders, tapes, blackmail material—and a single photograph.
A girl.
Young. Bloodied. Crying in a school hallway.
Jade's knees buckled.
"It's me," she whispered. "They filmed it."
She gripped the tape, knuckles white with fury.
Victor's voice returned, colder now. "You want a war, Jade? You just declared one."
The monitors shut off.
Glass behind them shattered.
Armed men in black poured in.
Jade raised her gun. "I'm done running."
Kelz stepped beside her, eyes blazing.
"So am I."