Mabella's POV"The Ruby is gone."Fred’s voice hit the corridor like a slap. We all froze.I spun around so fast my head spun. He was rushing toward us from the vault wing, face pale, eyes wild and red-rimmed like he’d just been punched in the soul."What the hell do you mean it’s gone?" Alfredo barked, stepping forward. "Fred, talk to me.""Overnight," Fred said, breathing hard, almost gasping. "Third hour rotation. The outer door was completely intact. No forced entry, no alarms, nothing. It’s just… not there anymore. Vanished.""That’s impossible," Alfredo growled, voice rising. "The protections were supposed to hold for weeks—""They were weaker than we thought, okay?" Fred snapped back, sounding wrecked. "Way fucking weaker. Whoever took it knew the exact degradation level. Down to the hour, Alfredo. They didn’t guess. They timed it perfectly."I looked at Serena. She stood there frozen, one hand gripping her shawl so tight her knuckles were bone-white. "Serena… you knew this mig
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