The wind howled like a wounded beast as the chopper sliced through the night sky, cutting above the storm-drenched landscape of Eastern Europe. Below, the mountains loomed cold, silent witnesses to secrets long buried beneath the earth.Inside the aircraft, Scarlett sat strapped in her harness, her face hidden behind a black tactical helmet. Her fingers were gloved but trembling slightly, not from fear but from memory. Each mile they crossed dragged her closer to a past she had tried to bury.Sebastian sat across from her, his gaze locked on her through the dim cabin light. Damien checked their weapons, speaking into the comms with their pilot, issuing clearance codes that only a ghost operation like Orbis would still recognize."We're almost at the coordinates," the pilot crackled through the headset. "Two clicks north of the original drop zone. No visible threats, but the system’s giving me intermittent radar interference.”“EMP pulses,” Damien muttered, strapping on his sidearm. “S
Thunder rolled across the sky like a warning drumbeat as rain poured down the glass windows of EmTech’s command center. The city beyond faded into a blur of lights and shadow, while inside the sleek, dimly lit war room, tension hung thick like smoke.Scarlett sat at a glass terminal, her fingers dancing across the backlit keyboard. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, lips pressed into a thin line. Damien stood behind her, eyes glued to the shifting code that scrolled down the monitor in electric blue lines. On another end of the room, Sebastian paced, his hands tucked into the pockets of his tailored suit, but his storm-gray eyes held a different kind of unrest one not even power could ease.“This isn’t just another system breach,” Scarlett murmured, voice laced with suspicion. “This code isn’t from the outside. It’s built on our own architecturemodified, yes but it started here.”Sebastian paused mid-stride. “You’re saying this was an inside job?”“Worse,” she whispered. “It wa
The air in Santorini was thick with salt and sunlight. Waves whispered along the white cliffs as the newlyweds strolled hand-in-hand through cobbled streets, hidden from the world. For the first time in what felt like forever, Sebastian and Scarlett weren’t fighting enemies or ghosts they were simply in love.They had rented a private villa perched on a hill, overlooking endless blue. Days were spent in laughter, nights tangled in whispered vows and warm sheets. No chaos. No danger.But even paradise has shadows.One afternoon, while Sebastian was preparing lunch yes, he cooked now, though terribly Scarlett sat by the infinity pool, sunglasses on, sun on her skin. A gentle breeze danced through her curls.Her phone buzzed once on the side table. A message.Damien:You need to see this. Check the secure line. Now.Her chest tightened. She slipped away into the villa’s private study, keyed in the encryption.A live feed opened grainy surveillance footage of a laboratory, somewhere in Ea
The winter sun poured golden light over the hills of Tuscany, warming the frost-kissed ground as if the earth itself had been waiting to exhale.Sebastian Hale stood beneath an arch of wild roses in a quiet vineyard chapel, dressed in a tailored black suit. No fanfare. No flashing cameras. Just the soft strum of strings, a breeze humming through olive trees, and a woman walking toward him like a dream he’d once thought he’d lost forever.Scarlett.Her gown flowed like melted moonlight, the silk clinging to her curves, her wild curls dancing over her shoulders. Her eyes locked onto his no hesitation, no doubt. Only fire. Only love.Damien stood off to the side as best man, unusually solemn.“You sure about this?” he’d asked earlier, teasing but sincere.Sebastian had smiled then really smiled.“For the first time in my life, yes.”As Scarlett reached the altar, her hand slid into his, and silence fell like reverence.The officiant spoke, but neither heard much of it.They were speaking
The private jet tore through the night sky, slicing clouds like blades through silk.Inside, tension hummed like an electric current. Scarlett sat near the window, strapped in, eyes locked on the encrypted tablet in her lap. Every second, she monitored Evelyn Hale’s now-exposed network unraveling like a spider’s web lit on fire.Across from her, Damien loaded fresh rounds into his pistol.“This isn't just a takedown,” he said, glancing at Sebastian. “It’s a reckoning.”Sebastian sat still, eerily calm. Dressed in black, his features were granite unreadable, impenetrable. But beneath the surface, a storm raged.His sister. His blood.The woman who once read him bedtime stories… had become the mastermind behind every wound his company and his heart had suffered.“She betrayed our name,” he said finally. “She manipulated everyone. Used my mother’s death as a game piece. This ends now.”Scarlett reached across and laced her fingers through his. “No matter how this ends… I’m with you. Even
The boardroom at EmTech’s top floor had been transformed.Where once billion-dollar deals were made over champagne and silver pens, now satellite maps flickered on digital walls, heat maps of cyber intrusions pulsed like warning beacons, and code streamed like blood through the veins of a dying empire.Sebastian stood at the head of the long glass table, arms crossed, eyes hard.“Evelyn Hale wants a war,” he said. “She’ll get one.”Damien was on his right, silent, studying the digital blueprint of the NOVA system. On his left, Scarlett stood tall, in control—her engagement ring catching the light as her fingers typed commands into the tablet like a soldier issuing battlefield orders.“She’s rerouting data packets through encrypted shadows,” Scarlett muttered. “Even with deep scan protocols, we’re only tracing half of what she’s accessing.”“Then we use bait,” Damien suggested. “A false version of NOVA. Let her steal it.”Scarlett’s brow lifted. “She’s not just any hacker. She’ll know