Chapter 7 - SHATTERED GLASSThe front door of my old house gave way with a single, brutal kick from one of Adrien’s enforcers.
The heavy oak splintered inward, crashing against the hallway wall. I stepped through the threshold behind Adrien, my boots clicking rhythmically against the hardwood floor. The house smelled faintly of expensive cologne and stale sweat.
Daniel was backed into the corner of the dining room, his suit jacket rumpled, his breathing ragged and shallow. He looked like a cornered animal, his eyes darting frantically toward the broken front door, then locking onto me.
For a second, his brain seemed to short-circuit.
"C-Clare?" he whispered, pressing his back so hard against the wall it seemed he wanted to phase through the drywall. "You're... you're dead. I left you in the snow. I saw you fall."
"You saw what you wanted to see, Daniel," I said, stepping into the light of the dining room chandelier. I wasn't shaking anymore. Every ounce of fear had melted away, replaced by an intoxicating sense of power. "You thought control was something you could wield like a weapon. But you forgot one simple rule of engineering: every system you build has a back door."
Daniel’s eyes shifted from me to the tall, imposing figure standing silently in the doorway behind me.
Adrien Moretti stepped into the room, adjusting his cuffs with slow, deliberate precision. The air in the house instantly grew heavy, suffocating.
"Adrien..." Daniel’s voice cracked, the color draining entirely from his skin. "This... this is a misunderstanding. We can talk about this. The legal filings—they were just corporate restructuring—"
"Quiet, Daniel," Adrien said, his voice dropping to a low, velvet hum that echoed off the walls. "You don't speak unless you're invited to."
Daniel swallowed hard, his throat working convulsively. "What do you want? Money? I can give you—you have everything, you took my accounts, my servers—"
"I didn't take anything," Adrien corrected smoothly. "I simply reclaimed what was stolen from David Vance. And from his daughter."
May you like
Adrien stepped aside, gesturing toward me with an open palm.
"She has a few final questions for you, Daniel. And I suggest you answer them honestly."
