Chapter 2

Before I left the Obsidian Syndicate, I needed to return everything that belonged to them.

The underground training facility reeked of stale sweat and old iron. I walked past the bloodstained canvas of the sparring rings until I found Dante.

He was sitting on the mat, surrounded by scattered screws and wooden planks. He was painstakingly building a custom dorm bed for Mia.

I pulled the heavy gold medal from my pocket, its weight a sudden anchor in my palm.

It was from his first underground death match. He had been only twelve. Covered in blood, he had run across the arena, shoved it into my trembling hands, and told me I was the most important person in his life.

I held the medal out to him in silence.

Dante glanced up, his brow furrowing in immediate annoyance. "What is that?"

"Your medal," I said, my voice deadpan. "I'm giving it back."

Dante rolled his eyes. He snatched the gold from my hand and carelessly tossed it over his broad shoulder. It hit a metal hardware box with a loud, hollow clank, bouncing among rusty nails and loose wrenches like a piece of worthless scrap.

"Stop throwing a childish tantrum, Sienna," he muttered, already turning back to his screws. "Grab that heavy box over there and help Mia move her stuff into the new room."

"No," I said.

Dante froze, his grip tightening on his screwdriver. He looked at me, his face turning a dangerous shade of red. "Excuse me?"

"I am not helping you, and I am not helping her."

Without waiting for his explosive reaction, I turned around and walked out of the gym, leaving him in the dust.

My next stop was the Syndicate archives, buried deep beneath the estate.

Silas was sitting at the massive oak table, meticulously reviewing blackmail files. I dropped a heavy stack of illicit operation blueprints and tactical ledgers directly onto his desk.

Silas slowly raised his eyes to the stack. "What is this?"

"Your work," I said, meeting his cold stare. "I organized and archived everything. I am done doing it for you."

Silas picked up a ledger, his expression unreadable as he studied my face. "This is an unusual behavioral pattern for you, Sienna. But if you think this pathetic silent treatment will change our minds about sending you to the North, you are wasting your energy."

Before I could reply, Mia walked into the archives, clutching a course catalog to her chest. "Silas, can you help me pick my classes? I'm so confused."

Silas immediately dropped the ledger as if it burned him. He stood up and pulled a chair out for Mia, his cold demeanor instantly melting into absolute gentleness.

"Do not put up a pointless fight, Sienna," he said, not even bothering to look back at me. "Just accept the arrangement."

I left the archives without another word.

As I walked out of the estate gates, Enzo blocked my path, a looming shadow in the afternoon sun. He shoved a thick, encrypted hard drive hard against my chest. I had to grab it instinctively to stop it from hitting the ground.

"Take this," Enzo demanded. As the future Head of Interrogation, he was always aggressive, always invading personal space. "It has eighteen years of our home videos. Make a montage for Mia's eighteenth birthday party tomorrow."

I looked down at the cold metal of the drive, my stomach twisting.

"Edit out all your own footage," Enzo ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Replace your parts with Mia's photos. Make it look like she was always here with us."

"I will not erase my own childhood," I said, my voice trembling with a quiet fury, and pushed the drive back toward him.

Enzo completely ignored my hand. He turned around and walked toward the garage, already dismissing my existence. "Have it done by tomorrow morning!" he yelled over his shoulder.

That night, Lucian took me to the old mob-front restaurant. Two years ago, it was in this exact spot that he had given me his promise ring.

We sat in the dimly lit back booth, but the romantic atmosphere was dead. Lucian spent the entire appetizer course texting on his phone. The bright light of the screen reflected Mia's name in his dark eyes.

Slowly, I took off the black diamond ring. I placed it on the pristine white tablecloth and slid it across until it rested by his water glass.

Lucian finally looked up from his screen. He saw the ring, but instead of panic, he let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair.

"I will put that back on your finger when you return to the Family for winter break," he said. He sounded utterly bored by my display. "You will calm down by then. The five of us will come up North and take you out to dinner."

I did not say a single word in response.

I left the restaurant, went straight home, and plugged Enzo's hard drive into my computer. In the dead silence of my room, I backed up every single raw video file to my private, highly encrypted cloud server.

Then, with a final sense of closure, I left the original drive sitting on the desk, completely untouched.