Chapter 03

"Funny," I said, looking down at her. "You're the one who looks ready to get on her knees."

Eris stood in the snow, staring at her flattened bag. Her whole body shook with anger.

"Morana, don't celebrate too soon!" she screamed. "I'll end you!"

Devlin pulled her back by the arm, but his eyes burned into the camera. "Just you wait."

"My mother won't let this slide!" Eris shouted over his shoulder. "Do you hear me? She won't!"

I closed the side hatch. Their voices became quiet, then disappeared down the road.

Let her mother come. I had a few things to say to Elese too.

...

At dawn, the head builder knocked on my office door. His face was gray with tiredness, but he was smiling.

"Miss Ashford, the electric grid is fully online. And the last shipment of military supplies just arrived."

"Unload everything into the defense yard," I said.

"Yes, ma'am." He looked out the window at the new steel walls, proud of his work. "Everything's built to the highest standard. Nobody is getting through this. It's impossible."

"Good work." I tapped my phone. "Your final payment has been sent."

He left, and I stood alone at the window, watching the snow clouds roll in.

In my first life, I sat in this house and waited for Devlin to save me. I waited until it was too late.

This time, I won't be waiting to die with empty hands.

I walked down to the defense yard. Boxes of weapons were stacked higher than my head. I put my hand on the closest one.

"Absorb."

The box vanished. I touched the next one.

[Storage full.]

[No more items can be absorbed.]

I froze. "What? Full already?"

I stared at the mountain of boxes still in front of me. Food and a fortress weren't enough. If the zombies got in, or people came for my supplies, I needed weapons close to me. Inside my storage, not sitting in a yard.

There was only one way to make the space bigger. Diamonds.

I grabbed my coat. "Time to go back to the black market."

...

The black market was hidden under an old subway station. Loud music shook the walls. People in expensive suits crowded around a big metal pit in the middle of the room, yelling and waving money.

"Hit him!"

"Beat him to death!"

"Best show tonight!"

I pushed through the crowd and looked down into the pit.

A man knelt in the dirt with chains on his wrists and neck. His back was covered in fresh cuts. His dark hair hung over his face. Behind the hair, I saw a flash of gold. His eyes were not human eyes. They were wolf's eyes.

A big man with an electric stick stood over him. He was the pit owner. I could tell by the way everyone cheered for him.

He pushed the stick into the wolf-man's side. Sparks flew. The wolf-man's body jerked, but he didn't make a sound.

"Scream!" the owner shouted. "Why'd you stop? Playing tough now?" He kicked him in the ribs. "A lab scrap like you thinks he can challenge me?"

The crowd laughed.

The wolf-man slowly lifted his head. Blood dripped from his lip. He didn't beg. He just stared, tired and empty, like he had stopped hoping a long time ago.

My chest went tight. *Poor thing.* I knew that look. I wore that same look in the snow outside my own door.

The owner raised the electric stick high. "Today, I'll show you who the master is here."

"Stop."

The whole room went quiet. Every head turned to me.

The owner squinted up at me and laughed. "And where did you crawl out from? A broke little nobody?" He waved at his guards. "Drag her out and beat her dead."

Two guards started toward me. I didn't move. I turned to the man behind the trading counter.

"Settle up," I said. "Every diamond you have in that vault. And the wolf in that cage. I'm taking it all."

The trader stared at me for a second. Then he laughed so hard he had to hold the counter.

"Are you brain-dead or something?" He wiped his eyes. "The cage plus the vault? The starting price is one hundred fifty million dollars. You think this is some street market where any card gets you in?"

A woman beside him snorted. "She must have escaped from a psych ward."

"Get security," another man said. "She's wasting our time."

I put my black card on the counter. "Swipe it."

The trader picked it up and smirked. "Fine by me. But if this card declines, I call the cops for fraud. Then I throw you in that pit to feed the wolves."

He swiped it.

The machine beeped.

[Transaction successful. $150,000,000.]

The trader's smile froze. He read the screen again.

"One... one hundred fifty million?" His voice cracked. "How is that possible?"

A door slammed open at the back of the room. A thin man in a gray suit rushed out, out of breath. The manager. He took one look at the screen, then at my card, and his face went white.

He bowed so low his head almost touched the counter. "A VIP from the offshore group! I'm so sorry, ma'am. My men were blind. They didn't recognize you. It's an absolute honor to have you here."

Then he spun around and grabbed the trader by the collar.

"What the hell have you done? Are you blind?" he shouted. "Pack your things and get out! You won't see a single cent!"