Six minutes. Ave's brain kept circling back to that number like it was the only thing that mattered. Six minutes until armed men came through her door to do God-knows-what.
'Run.'
Her mother's warning screamed in her head, but her legs wouldn't move. She stood in the wreckage, broken glass, Denise's blood on the hardwood, her knuckles still throbbing from a hit she couldn't remember making.
The engines outside got louder. Closer.
Move. You have to move. Her brain kept alarming her.
She forced herself up the stairs, each step sending fresh pain through her bruised face. The study. If Denise had answers, they'd be in his study.
The door was still unlocked from this morning's search. Inside, everything looked the same …..dark wood, that clinical smell, his cologne hanging in the air like he'd just left.
Ave went straight to his computer. The monitor glowed to life with a touch, password-protected. Of course.
She tried the obvious ones first. Their anniversary, his birthday, and "Kingship."
"Access Denied."
"Come on, come on."
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, trying combinations that made sense. Seraphina, Reaper, asset, but nothing worked. Outside, car doors slammed. Voices. Low and professional.
Four minutes, maybe less.
Ave's hands were shaking so badly she could barely type. She pulled out her phone, searching for anything….password crackers, encryption tools, something that could get her into his files before they got to her.
A Reddit thread: "Top 5 Free Hacking Tools for Beginners." She downloaded the first one. Ran it. Watched the progress bar crawl across the screen with agonizing slowness.
"Analyzing... 12%"
Footsteps on the gravel outside. Multiple sets, moving with precision.
The program crashed.
"No. No, no, no—"
She tried another one. Then another. Each one either failed or needed expertise she didn't have. The screen filled with error messages, lines of code that might as well have been a foreign language.
Three minutes.
Her vision blurred with tears she refused to let fall. This was stupid. She was stupid for thinking she could just Google her way out of whatever nightmare she'd woken up into.
"Asset confirmed active."
That's what the text had said. Like she was a weapon they'd lost track of and finally found again. Ave's fingers hovered over the keyboard. Her reflection stared back from the dark monitor…..mascara-smeared, lip split, a stranger wearing her face.
"What you were trained to do," Denise had said.
Her hands moved without conscious thought, pulling up a browser window. Not Google this time. A site with a black background and green text that looked like it belonged in a 90s hacker movie.
She didn't remember bookmarking it. Didn't remember ever seeing it before. But her fingers knew exactly where to go.
The forum loaded: "GHOST_NET -Secure Communications -Verified Users Only"
How did she know this existed? A search bar blinked at her, cursor waiting.
Ave's mouth was dry. Her heart hammered so loud she could barely hear the approaching footsteps downstairs. They were inside now. Moving through the house room by room.
Two minutes.
She typed a name she'd never heard before but somehow knew:
"Luca Greenberg"
Her finger hovered over Enter. Greenberg. Like her maiden name. Like her mother's name before she became Seraphina-who-was-with-Denise.
The connection didn't make sense. But then again, nothing had made sense since she'd found that photograph. Ave hit Enter.
The screen went black.
For a second, she thought the computer had died. Then text appeared, line by line, like someone was typing in real-time:
"QUERY RECOGNIZED
BIOMETRIC SCAN INITIATED
FACIAL RECOGNITION: MATCH CONFIRMED
IDENTITY: RAVENA GREENBERG -STATUS: DORMANT (ACTIVATING)
MESSAGE RETRIEVED // TIMESTAMP: 3 YEARS, 147 DAYS AGO"
The screen filled with a single message:
"Nice to hear from you, sis. Took you long enough."
The breath left Ave's lungs in a rush.
'Sis.'
She had a brother.
She had a brother she didn't remember.
Another message appeared:
"If you're reading this, things have gone sideways. Dad made the call he said he'd never make. And you're probably confused as hell right now."
Ave's hands were numb. Her brain couldn't process what she was seeing.
"They're coming for you. Not Denise's people….the others. The ones Mom died running from. You need to get out of that house. NOW."
Downstairs, a door opened. The study was at the end of the hall. They'd reach it in seconds.
One minute.
More text scrolled across the screen:
"There's a go-bag in the garage. Behind the third shelf, false panel. Cash, passport (real one, not the fake Denise gave you), untraceable phone. Keys to a car two blocks east, gray Honda, plate number JKL-4729."
How did he know about the garage? About Denise? About any of this?
"You won't remember me. I know that. The conditioning wiped me out along with everything else. But I remember you, Ravena. And I've been waiting three years for you to wake up."
Footsteps in the hallway now. Close.
"Don't trust Denise. Don't trust Dad. Don't trust anyone until you get to the safe house. Coordinates downloading now..."
A file appeared on the desktop. Started downloading.
78%... 82%... 91%...
The study door opened.
A man in tactical gear stood in the doorway, weapon raised. Not Leo. Someone else. Cold eyes scanning the room, landing on her.
"Ravena Greenberg," he said, voice flat.
"You need to come with us."
The download hit 100%.
The screen went black, then displayed a single line:
"PS - When they ask who sent you, tell them the dead don't stay buried. They'll know what it means."
"See you soon, little sister. -L"
The message deleted itself. The browser closed. The entire search history wiped in seconds, leaving no trace she'd ever been there.
Ave slowly raised her hands, her mind reeling.
A brother. She had a brother.
A brother who'd been watching her for three years.
A brother who knew she'd wake up.
A brother who'd left her a trail of breadcrumbs in case everything went to hell.
The man in tactical gear moved closer, weapon trained on her chest.
"Ms. Greenberg, we're not here to hurt you. We're here to extract you safely. But we need to leave. Now."
"Extract me where?"
"Secure facility. Debriefing. We'll explain everything once you're safe."
Safe. Right. Because she'd been so safe with Denise. So safe with Elena. So safe in this house that was really a cage.
"Don't trust anyone."
"And if I don't want to go with you?"
The man's expression didn't change. "That's not an option."
Two more men appeared in the doorway behind him. Same gear. Same weapons. Same dead eyes. Ave's gaze flickered to the window. Second story. She'd break both legs if she jumped.
To the door. Three armed men blocking it. To her hands, still positioned in that defensive stance her body knew but her mind didn't.
The first man took a step closer. "Ms. Greenberg—"
"Don't call me that."
"That's your name."
"No." The word came out cold. Certain. "It's not."
Because Ravena Greenberg might have been who she was. But Ave didn't know her. Didn't remember her. Didn't know if she even wanted to remember her.
All she knew was that everyone….Denise, her father, these men, everyone wanted to control her. And she was done being controlled.
"I'll ask one more time," the man said, patience wearing thin.
"Come with us voluntarily, or we'll sedate you and carry you out. Your choice."
Ave's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out slowly, keeping her movements visible, non-threatening.
A text from an unknown number:
"Garage. Go-bag. Gray Honda. You have 30 seconds before they lock down the perimeter. Trust yourself. -L"
She looked up at the three men. At their weapons. Their body armor. Their absolute certainty that she'd comply. And made a decision that was either very brave or very stupid.
"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll go with you."
The man lowered his weapon slightly. "Smart choice."
"Just one question first."
"Make it quick."
"When they ask who sent you...." Ave met his eyes.
"....tell them the dead don't stay buried."
The man's face went white.For a fraction of a second, his weapon dipped but Ave moved.
Not a conscious decision. Her body just... moved. She didn't remember learning to fight. Didn't remember training. But her hands knew exactly where to strike….the throat, the solar plexus, the knee that buckled just right.
The first man went down hard.The second man raised his weapon.
Ave grabbed a glass paperweight from Denise's desk and threw it. Not at his head, at his weapon. The gun clattered to the floor.
The third man lunged for her. She sidestepped, and he crashed into the desk.Then she was running.Down the hallway, the stairs and through the kitchen.
She heard them shouting behind her with footsteps pounding. The garage door was locked. No time for keys. Ave grabbed a chair and smashed the window next to it, reaching through to unlock it from the inside. Blood on her hand but that didn't matter at the moment.
She was through. The garage was dark. Three shelves against the back wall. Third shelf?. Her fingers found the seam, pulled. The panel came away.
Inside: a black duffel bag.
She grabbed it, didn't stop to look inside, just ran for the side door that led to the backyard. It pryed opened and she went outside.
The sound of more vehicles pulling up front was close. Ave ran. Her lungs burned. Her face throbbed. The duffel bag slammed against her hip with each step.
Behind her: shouting. Orders barked into radios. The screech of tires. She cut through someone's yard, vaulted a fence she had no business being able to vault, landed hard on the other side.
One block away , her phone buzzed again.
"Gray Honda. Between the blue sedan and the white truck. Keys in the bag. Drive north. DO NOT STOP. -L"
There. Gray Honda. Just like he said.
Ave's hands shook as she unzipped the bag. Keys on top, along with a passport she didn't recognize with her face and a name that wasn't Ave or Ravena, cash in rubber-banded stacks, and a phone that looked more like a military radio.
She unlocked the Honda, threw the bag in the passenger seat, and turned the key. The engine roared to life. Headlights filled her rearview mirror. The tactical team had found her.
Ave slammed the car into drive and floored it. The Honda shot forward, tires squealing. She took the first corner too fast, nearly lost control, corrected just in time.
The headlights followed. Her phone, her real phone….lit up. Denise calling.
She ignored it.
It rang again. And again.
Finally, she answered, putting it on speaker as she took another corner.
"Ave." Denise's voice was calm. Too calm.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"That's not possible."
"Watch me."
"They'll find you. You know they will. You're not trained for this...."
"I just took down three armed men and stole a car." Her voice was shaking but steady. "Seems like I'm trained for exactly this."
Silence on the other end.
Then: "That wasn't you. That was Ravena."
"Maybe Ravena and I are the same person."
"You don't know what you're saying. You don't know what you are—"
"No." Ave cut him off. "You don't know what I am. You've spent three years keeping me dormant, keeping me controlled, keeping me in a cage. But I'm awake now."
She hung up and threw the phone out the window. She watched it shatter on the asphalt behind her.
The tactical team was still following, but she was faster. Smaller car. Better reflexes than she should have.
"Thank you, muscle memory."
Ave took three more turns, lost them in a residential neighborhood, then merged onto the highway heading north.
The clock on the dashboard read 12:47 AM.
Fifteen minutes since she'd searched for Luca Greenberg, since she'd learned she had a brother, fifteen minutes since she'd become a fugitive from... who? Denise's people? Her mother's people? Her own past?
The new phone in the duffel bag buzzed. Ave grabbed it, keeping one hand on the wheel.
A text from L:
"You did good. Keep driving. I'll contact you when you're clear. And Ravena? Welcome back."
She wanted to text back. Ask him who he was. How he knew her. Why he'd been watching her.
But another message came through before she could:
"One more thing. The extraction team you just escaped? They weren't there to debrief you. They were there to terminate you. Denise sold you out. He activated you just to watch you fail."
"You were never supposed to make it out of that house alive."
Ave's hands tightened on the wheel. In her rearview mirror, the city lights faded into darkness. Ahead, only empty highway and questions she didn't have answers to. But somewhere out there was a brother she didn't remember.
A brother who'd saved her life without her even knowing it. A brother who'd been waiting three years for her to wake up.
And now that she was awake, now that she was Ravena again, or whoever she was supposed to be
…she had one goal:
Find out why everyone wanted her dead. starting with the brother who called himself L.
The phone buzzed one final time:
"Drive safe, little sister. We have a lot to talk about."
"And whatever you do, don't look in the trunk."
Ave's blood ran cold.
The trunk.
She'd never checked the trunk.
In the rearview mirror, red and blue lights appeared on the horizon. This was not the tactical team but..... the police chasing her.
And suddenly Ave understood.The car wasn't just a getaway vehicle.
It was bait. Her brother had set her up.