The Novel is currently undergoing heavy editing, read at your own risk!
...
The city was wet with secrets.
Rainb poured down like it was trying to drown something buried deep in the streets. The lights glared through the downpour, casting blurry halos on the wet pavement. Ava moved fast, her boots splashing through shallow puddles as she ran down the alley, her breath sharp and controlled. Her heavy, wet hoodie clung to her soaked skin, hair plastered to her neck, but she didn't stop.
She couldn't even dare because she had made a mistake.
It wasn't during the job she was assigned to, though something had obviously gone wrong there, too, but after. She should have disappeared and blended back into the cracks of the city like she always did. But something had drawn her to this part of town, somewhere she should never have come.
And now she was being followed and she didn't even know who it was.
She couldn't see them, she didn't even hear them but she could feel it in her bones. There was a presence in the shadows, slow and steady, like a tiger who already knew where she would end up.
She turned to a corner and found herself standing in the cold glow of a towering black structure, its surface glass and steel, slick with rain and menace.
It was Arama tower and her blood went cold at the sight.
Even the air felt different here. It was too clean and too still. Like the building itself breathed differently than the rest of the city.
Ava didn't mean to come here.
She had not even realized where her feet were taking her.
But something inside her stirred as she looked up at the tower, something irrational, something old. She had heard the name whispered in corridors, in classified files, in meetings where people spoke quietly and died loudly.
Eitan Berger.
The man who owned this tower. A man who was supposed to be untouchable and a man who terrified people who terrified her.
Her heart thudded against her chest as a black car pulled into the underground entrance. It had tinted windows and an armored frame. It was the kind of vehicle that moved like it didn't answer to traffic laws or people.
Two men stepped out first. They wore basic black suits as they Scanned the area.
Then him and Ava held her breath.
Eitan Berger got out from the car like a ghost. He had a sharp jawline and eyes that cut through space. He didn't rush but he didn't hesitate either. Every step was intentional and precise. He didn't wear his power, he was the definition of it.
Even from across the street, she felt it.
He didn't look her way. Of course he didn't, but she couldn't look away.
Then his head turned slightly, enough to take her figure in completely and their eyes met.
Ava's chest clenched for a brief moment. But in that second, she felt exposed and known from inside out. Like he didn't just see her, it was as if he had already decided something about her.
She tore her gaze away and ducked back into the alley.
Stupid... She was so stupid.
Why on earth was she still standing here?
She moved fast, weaving through side streets, trying to shake the feeling crawling up her spine. Her phone still had no signal, there was no update from Kyra and no fallback message either. If Clint and the others had gone dark, it meant one of two things.
They were either already gone... or they had sold her out.
She was almost to the edge of the next street when a voice cut through the rain like a knife.
"Ava."
She spun around sharply with a knife already in hand but there was no one behind her. There were no footsteps either.
Then suddenly, a figure stepped out of the darkness. There was no weapon in his hand, no umbrella even. Just a long dark coat and the same suffocating stillness she had seen by the tower.
Her pulse spiked. "You know my name."
"Yes," he said simply.
She stared at him, her mind refusing to believe what her body already knew.
Eitan Berger was standing in front of her alone, completely calm and... miling?
"How?" Ava pressed.
He stepped forward, eyes never leaving hers. "I've been watching you for a long time."
She gritted her teeth. "Say that again."
"You were compromised tonight. Your exit points were blocked before you even entered the building. I had to make sure you came to me."
She scoffed. "So you staged the failure?"
"I allowed it."
She wanted to lunge at him but instead, she asked, "Why?"
"Because you've been running long enough." He answered curtly.
She gripped the knife in her hand tighter. "Don't pretend you're here to help."
"I'm not." Eitan shrugged.
"Then what the hell do you want?"
He stepped closer, close enough to see the water drip from her lashes.
"I want to offer you the one thing no one else ever has," he said. "A reason."
She blinked, confused. "What?"
"You were made into something you don't understand. Broken, controlled and hidden from yourself. I can show you what they did to you, why it worked and why it's falling apart now."
"Why should I believe you?" Ava took a cautious step back.
He held out a black card to her. There was no name on it, no brand. Just a single word.
VESSEL_07.
The rain in the background faded behind the thudding in her ears.
"You can come to me," Eitan said. "By midnight, or don't if you like. But either way… you won't be safe by dawn."
Ava didn't dare take the card... she didn't have to.
Because it was already in her head.