CHAPTER 2 — The First Crack in the Empire
CHAPTER 2 — The First Crack in the Empire
That night, the power in the building flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out completely.
The emergency lights snapped on in a dull red glow that made the penthouse feel like the inside of a warning.
Leo woke screaming.
Not angry this time—terrified.
Cameron reached him before anyone else could move. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t call for help. She just gathered him into her arms and sat on the floor, rocking him while the city outside glittered obliviously.
“It’s okay,” she murmured. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
Matteo appeared seconds later, a gun already in his hand.
Years of instinct. Years of enemies.
“What happened?” he snapped at security.
A guard answered too quickly. “Backup systems failed—”
Matteo didn’t like quick answers.
Neither did Cameron.
Because Leo was shaking harder now, his small fingers digging into her shirt.
And then she noticed it.
The silence.
Not the city silence. Not the blackout silence.
Something else.
Too controlled.
Too clean.
“This wasn’t an outage,” she said quietly.
Matteo turned his head slightly toward her. “What did you say?”
Cameron looked up at him for the first time without fear. “Someone shut your systems down.”
A pause.
Then Matteo’s expression changed—subtle, dangerous.
Because that was not impossible.
That was intentional.
From somewhere in the dark hallway, a soft metallic click echoed.
Security didn’t react fast enough.
May you like
A door at the far end of the corridor slid open.
And someone stepped inside who was not supposed to be in the building at all.
