The sirens came first, sharp, piercing, and far too close. They sliced through the hum of Vega Tower like a blade through glass.
Elena froze. Red lights pulsed along the corridor outside, reflecting off every polished surface until it felt like the entire floor was bleeding. Her phone vibrated in her hand again, Adrian's name flashing on the screen.
"Adrian?" she breathed.
"Listen to me carefully," his voice snapped through, hard and unsteady. "Security found an intruder on the lower floors. They're moving up. You're not safe there."
Her pulse spiked. "An intruder? Inside your building?"
"Elena, get out. Use the service elevator behind the executive pantry. It bypasses the main security grid."
"But what about you…"
"I'm already on my way up. Don't argue. Move!"
The line went dead.
She turned toward the glass wall again, and flinched. The blinking red light was gone. The small camera that had been suctioned to the window was no longer there. Only a faint circular mark remained.
Someone had removed it.
Heart pounding, she grabbed her phone and ran. Her heels echoed in the empty hallway, each sound magnified by the silence between alarm pulses. The tower that always felt too alive now felt abandoned, its usual rhythm swallowed by tension.
She reached the executive pantry, the space pristine, stainless, untouched, and pushed open the hidden door Adrian had once shown her in passing, jokingly calling it "the escape hatch for bad deals."
But this wasn't a deal. This was survival.
The service elevator loomed, its metal doors dull and industrial. She jabbed the button. Nothing. The light didn't even flicker.
Her stomach dropped.
"Elena."
She spun.
A man stood at the far end of the corridor, half in shadow. Dark clothes. No company ID. He moved slowly, deliberately, like a predator who knew she had nowhere to run.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice trembling despite herself.
He didn't answer.
The distance between them shrank with every step he took.
Her mind screamed for her to move, but her body refused, until her hand brushed against the counter, feeling the weight of a metal coffee press. She grabbed it.
"Don't come closer!"
He smiled faintly, and lunged.
Elena swung. The press connected with his arm; the sound was sharp, metallic, desperate. He stumbled, and she bolted for the stairwell, flinging the door open and racing down the concrete steps.
The alarms roared louder below. Voices echoed somewhere in the building, security guards shouting orders, the thud of boots against tile. But she couldn't tell where the danger was coming from.
Then, through the chaos, she heard it, a familiar voice shouting her name.
"Elena!"
Adrian.
She nearly sobbed with relief. He appeared two floors below, jacket gone, sleeves rolled, eyes burning like fire. "Down here!" he barked.
She sprinted toward him, breath ragged. But before she reached him, a gunshot cracked the air.
The sound was so sharp it shattered everything, thought, breath, silence. Adrian spun, pulling her behind the stairwell wall just as another shot rang out. Concrete dust exploded near his shoulder.
"Stay down!" he hissed, pressing her into the wall.
"Who are they?" she gasped.
"Not thieves," he said grimly. "Someone's sending a message."
He peeked around the corner, jaw clenched. "Security's sweeping the upper floors, but they've cut the power in sections. Whoever's doing this knows the tower layout too well."
Her mind reeled. "You think it's someone from inside?"
His silence was answer enough.
Footsteps thundered above them, too heavy, too close. Adrian grabbed her hand and pulled her toward a maintenance tunnel that led to the parking level. The narrow corridor smelled of metal and oil. Emergency lights flickered in dull orange flashes.
Elena's legs trembled, but she kept pace, gripping his hand like an anchor.
When they burst into the parking bay, Adrian's security team was already there, armed, shouting, scanning the exits. He turned to her, cupping her face with rough, shaking hands.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head. "No… I… I think I hit him. On the forty-third floor."
His thumb brushed her cheek, a fleeting touch that betrayed everything he tried to hide. "Good girl," he whispered. "You did what you had to."
The moment lingered, brief, fragile, before one of the guards ran up, phone in hand. "Sir, we found the intruder. He's down. No ID, but he had access codes, Vega-level clearance."
Elena's blood turned to ice.
"Vega-level?" she repeated faintly. "That means,"
Adrian's jaw locked. "Someone inside my company wanted you dead."
The words hung between them like smoke, heavy and poisonous.
She looked up at him, the man who was both her shield and her undoing , and for the first time, saw the fear he couldn't hide.
Because this wasn't just a random attack.
This was a declaration of war.
Adrian turns to his men. "Lock down the tower. No one leaves until we find who gave that clearance." Then, to Elena, softly, almost broken," From now on, you don't go anywhere without me."