CHAPTER 1 — THE FIRST DOMINO

The limousine moved through the sleeping city while Evelyn watched the Thorne mansion disappear behind a wall of trees.

Across from her, Mara Quinn balanced a laptop on her knees.

“Deletion has started,” Mara said. “Primary servers, private backups, security archives, everything connected to the Thorne network.”

Evelyn touched the blood soaking through the shoulder of her black gown.

“And our copies?”

“Already moved.”

Mara looked up.

“You stole twelve years of financial records, private messages, surveillance footage, and sealed legal files. Once Julian realizes what’s gone, he’ll come after you with everything he has.”

“That’s the idea.”

Mara’s fingers paused above the keyboard.

“You wanted him angry?”

“I wanted him careless.”

A progress bar reached ninety-eight percent.

Inside the mansion, hundreds of guests were still trapped in stunned silence. Julian Thorne had spent his entire life being feared. Now the most powerful people in the city had watched his wife knock him into a table and walk away untouched.

That humiliation would hurt him more than the punch.

Evelyn knew him.

Julian never made his worst decisions when he was losing money.

He made them when he was losing control.

The screen flashed.

DELETION COMPLETE.

Then another message appeared.

UNAUTHORIZED FILE RECOVERED.

Mara frowned.

“That wasn’t part of the transfer.”

A folder opened by itself.

There was no company logo.

No financial label.

Only one name.

PROJECT NIGHTINGALE

Evelyn leaned closer.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Mara clicked the folder.

A single photograph appeared.

It showed Evelyn at seventeen years old, standing outside her father’s office.

Behind her was Beatrice Thorne.

And beside Beatrice stood a man Evelyn had watched being buried ten years earlier.

Her father.

Mara whispered, “That photograph was taken three years after his funeral.”

Evelyn stared at the date in the corner.

Her blood turned cold.

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