Chapter one
The Perfect Plan
Joseph Lopez, a brilliant and reclusive software magnate in his mid-fifties, is on the brink of unveiling a revolutionary piece of code an elegant, highly sophisticated system designed to upend digital infrastructure and shift the balance of power in the tech world. The project is shrouded in secrecy, buried beneath layers of encryption and protected in a high-security vault inside his sprawling estate.
Just days before the highly anticipated launch, Joseph's only son, Frank Lopez, returns home from abroad with unexpected news: he's engaged. His fiancée, Tyler Ross, is a soft-spoken, timid young woman with oversized glasses and an air of nervous sweetness. She seems demure, deferential, and slightly overwhelmed by the opulence of the Lopez estate.
To celebrate their engagement, Joseph hosts a lavish evening party at the mansion. Laughter and music fill the marble halls. Guests drink and dance under glittering chandeliers. Tyler smiles politely, says all the right things, and earns the affection of the family. But midway through the evening, she excuses herself, claiming she needs to use the restroom.
Instead, she slips down a quiet corridor, her demeanor tightening like a drawn wire. Navigating the estate with eerie precision, she finds her way to the code vault Joseph's sanctum. Her hands tremble slightly as she removes her thick glasses, revealing sharp, alert eyes beneath. From a hidden fold in her coat, she retrieves a slim black disk.
She plugs it into the system. The screen flickers to life. Her fingers move quickly, inputting a string of custom-written commands. The transfer begins.
Time stretches unbearably as the progress bar inches forward. Every second feels like an hour. Her breathing shallow, she stiffens as footsteps approach outside the door. A security guard pauses, sensing something but Tyler, in a single calculated move, ducks behind a cabinet and freezes. The guard moves on.
Once the transfer completes, she ejects the disk, carefully replaces everything, and walks calmly back to the party, her smile gentle, her voice soft. No one suspects a thing.
Later that evening, Frank drives her back to what appears to be her modest suburban home. He kisses her cheek goodnight, waves cheerfully, and speeds off into the night.
But the moment his car disappears around the corner, a sleek black luxury vehicle pulls up from the shadows. Without hesitation, Tyler steps inside. The door shuts. The car speeds off.
Only then does she exhale her whole body relaxing in a single, quiet breath of relief.
The car eventually pulled off a dark, winding road and eased to a stop before a dimly lit compound flanked by armed guards. Tyler stepped out silently, her boots crunching the gravel. She was led through a narrow passage into a cavernous room where a single man sat in shadow, backlit by a halo of industrial lights.
He radiated control. Dressed in an obsidian-black suit, fingers adorned with chunky rings, his silver-streaked hair slicked back like a villain from another age. His eyes didn't move when she entered, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"Where is it?" he asked, his voice smooth but laced with steel.
Tyler reached into her coat and slowly extended the black disk.
"I did what you asked," she said softly, almost pleading. "Please… let me and my family go now."
He took the disk with a faint smirk, then gave a small flick of his wrist. A guard stepped out from the shadows, accepted the disk, and disappeared through a side door.
"We'll see," the man murmured. "Whether you walk out of here… depends on what's on that disk."
Minutes passed in heavy silence. Tyler didn't sit. She didn't move. Her fingers clenched and unclenched nervously at her sides.
The guard returned, leaned down, and whispered something into the man's ear. The man's expression shifted slowly first a twitch of the mouth, then a wide, incredulous smile, his diamond-studded teeth catching the light like a threat.
"You're full of surprises," he said. "Honestly, I didn't think a little mouse like you could pull off something of this magnitude."
Tyler's voice shook. "So… we're free now?"
He stood, buttoned his jacket slowly, and walked a measured circle around her.
"You're free. All debts cleared. But you should leave the city. No leave the country. Because once the Lopez family realizes what's happened, you'll wish you died in my basement instead of theirs."
She nodded slowly. "We'll relocate," she said quickly.
He raised an eyebrow "You'll need cash. And you'll need to vanish." Go dark for a while." With a snap of his fingers, another guard emerged and returned with a black briefcase. He popped it open bundles of hundred-dollar bills stacked neatly inside.
With another slight gesture, a second guard disappeared down a hallway. Moments later, he returned with a briefcase and handed it to Tyler.
She opened it. Her eyes widened. It was packed with crisp bundles of hundred-dollar bills.
"You're giving us… this much?"
The man chuckled, a low rumble of amusement.
"Do you even realize what you've stolen? This..." he tapped the side of the briefcase "is going to put me on the cover of Forbes. What trained mercenaries couldn't do in years, you did in a single evening. You're extraordinary, girl."
He laughed again, a cruel sort of glee in his voice. "Take it. You've earned it. You're free now."
Tyler hesitated only a second longer, then grabbed the briefcase with trembling hands and rushed from the room.
She was taken through a long underground corridor, flanked by steel walls and the muffled echoes of snarling animals. They passed cages of wild beasts—eyes glowing in the dark. A tiger stalked in silence. A lion growled as they passed. A monstrous anaconda twisted lazily behind thick glass.
Finally, they reached a rusted cage in a forgotten corner. The smell hit first—damp straw, old blood, human sweat. Inside, bound by chains, were a woman and a young boy.
Tyler stepped forward as the guards unlocked the cage. Light spilled in, making the prisoners flinch.
The chains came off. The woman gasped. The boy blinked against the light.
Outside, a sleek black helicopter waited, its blades already spinning.
Minutes later, all three were inside a waiting helicopter. The wind from its blades whipped their hair as they took off.
"Where are we going?" her mother asked, clutching Ana's arm and with panicked voice. "Is this… is this where they kill us?"
"No, Mommy," Ana said softly. "I promised. No one's going to get hurt."
The boy looked up, eyes wide with wonder. "Big sis… is this freedom? Are we really free?"
Tyler nodded, her voice hoarse. "Yes. Mom. Tony. As of tonight, we are free from Dexter."
They both stared at her.
"And the debt?" her mother asked, a crack of disbelief in her voice.
Tyler swallowed hard. "I manage to find a way to pay it."
Tony blinked. "What? That's impossible. That debt was more than we could ever repay in three lifetimes."
Her mother's face darkened with sudden dread.
"Ana... what have you done?" "Ana, what did you do?" her mother cried, panic creeping into her voice.
But Ana didn't answer. She just stared out the window, jaw clenched tight, her face unreadable.
She said nothing