LOGINElena's POVImpossible.For a moment, I thought I was seeing things.The beam of the flashlight cut through the darkness of the underground corridor, illuminating a tall figure dressed in black.Sharp features.Cold eyes.Calm expression.A presence that seemed completely natural in the darkness.Adrian Blackwell.The future Mafia King.My heart skipped a beat.Not because of fear.Not because of attraction.Because Adrian Blackwell was the last person I expected to find beneath Factory Seven.Yet there he was.Standing in front of me as if exploring secret underground facilities in the middle of the night was perfectly normal.For several seconds, neither of us spoke.The silence between us felt dangerous.Then Adrian's gaze settled directly on me.There was no surprise in his eyes.Which meant he had already known someone was hiding nearby."Following clues again, Miss Hart?"His deep voice echoed softly through the tunnel.I stepped out from behind the concrete pillar."That depend
Elena's POVSome truths waited patiently.Hidden beneath layers of lies.Buried beneath time.Protected by fear.And some truths had bodies attached to them.Bodies nobody wanted discovered.Evidence nobody wanted exposed.Secrets powerful people would kill to protect.As I stared at the photograph of Sector B-17, I couldn't shake the feeling that whatever lay beneath that hidden hatch belonged in the second category.Someone had erased it from official blueprints.Someone inside the Serpent Circle had secretly pointed me toward it.And someone else was desperately trying to keep me away.That combination alone made it worth investigating.---Three days later, I stood in front of a large map of Factory Seven.The abandoned factory had been closed for years after the explosion.Officially.Unofficially, people still came and went.I've already proven that much.The facility wasn't dead.It was sleeping.And sleeping monsters were often the most dangerous.---My laptop displayed satel
Elena's POV"Look beneath B-17."Those three words stayed in my mind long after midnight.I had received anonymous messages before.Warnings.Hints.Threats disguised as advice.But this felt different.Whoever sent it wasn't trying to scare me.They were guiding me.The question was why.---I sat in front of my laptop, staring at the photograph from the underground facility.Sector B-17.The hidden area that officially didn't exist.The area someone desperately wanted me to investigate.And now another unknown person wanted me to look beneath it.---A trap?Possibly.---A clue?Even more likely.---My instincts told me the answer lay somewhere between those two possibilities.---I enlarged the photograph again.This time focusing on the floor beneath the support beam.At first glance, it looked ordinary.Concrete.Dust.Industrial markings.Nothing unusual.---Then I noticed something.---A faint outline.---A rectangular shape hidden beneath layers of grime.---Not part of
Elena's POVI spent the entire night studying the photograph.Most people would have seen nothing unusual.A dim underground corridor.Industrial walls.Metal support beams.A security door.Nothing more.Nothing important.Nothing suspicious.But I wasn't most people.And I had learned long ago that the smallest details often hid the biggest secrets.---The photograph lay on my desk beneath a bright lamp.Beside it sat my laptop.Three notebooks.A magnifying lens.And several cups of coffee.---I zoomed in.Again.And again.And again.---Every shadow.Every reflection.Every object.Every angle.---Hours passed.The city outside slowly transitioned from darkness to dawn.Yet I remained focused.---Because someone connected to the Serpent Circle had given me this photograph.That meant it had value.Perhaps not obvious value.But value nonetheless.---Otherwise they would never have risked exposing it.---Finally...I found something.---A number.---Tiny.Barely visible.-
Elena's POVThe invitation sat on my desk all day.A simple black card.A serpent seal.An address.A time.Nothing more.Yet it occupied my thoughts more than any school lesson.Because whoever sent it knew exactly what they were doing.They weren't inviting Elena Hart, the daughter of a billionaire.They were inviting the girl investigating Factory Seven.The girl hunting the Serpent Circle.The girl who refused to stop asking questions.And somehow...That bothered me more than I wanted to admit.Because it meant someone had been watching me much more closely than I realized.---By evening, I had already made my decision.I was going.Not because I trusted the invitation.Not because I believed answers would simply be handed to me.I was going because information was worth risk.And because opportunities rarely appeared twice.---The location was an abandoned opera house on the edge of the city.A strange choice.The building had been closed for years.Most people forgot it even
Elena's POVThere was a saying in the business world.When your enemy remained silent after suffering a loss, it usually meant one of two things.They were either retreating.Or preparing something bigger.Knowing Victor Kane, it was never the first option.Men like him didn't retreat.They adapted.They observed.Then they struck harder.Which meant I couldn't afford to relax.Not even for a moment.---The investigation inside Hart Group continued throughout the week.Every day brought new discoveries.Missing funds.Suspicious transactions.Questionable contracts.The audit department was working overtime.Executives were becoming nervous.Managers were becoming defensive.Several employees had already been suspended.Exactly as planned.---The best part?Nobody suspected me.Why would they?I was still a sixteen-year-old high school student.A girl who attended classes.Completed assignments.Participated in competitions.Nobody imagined I was the reason half the finance departme







