bChapter 256 /b

    OLIVIA’S POV

    is bvouchers /b

    Adrian was just about to speak when the sound of heavy footsteps echoed across the hall. The noise instantly silenced every whisper, every muffled sob, and every shaky breath. My eyes snapped toward the direction bthe /bsound wasing from.

    Adrian and I turned our heads at the same time, almost in sync. It wasn’t just another one of the masked men patrolling with guns, it was the one who seemed to be in charge. The way the others reacted to his presence, stepping aside as if to make way for him, told me everything I needed to know. He was the leader.

    He strolled toward the center of the room with a confidence that chilled my blood, finally tugging at his mask and pulling it off. His face was rugged, the kind of face that told stories of violence and survival. He didn’t look like someone who spared lives for free.

    “Alright everyone,” his voice boomed, silencing the faint murmurs in the room, “you all have cooperated well. Everyone has submitted their jewelry, their wallets, their watches. Because of that, everyone gets to live as we walk out of here.”

    For a split second, the tension in the room loosened. People exhaled shakily, exchanging relieved nces. I even heard the faintest sound of muffled sobs that carried a tone of gratitude instead of fear. The promise of life after the nightmare–filled the air like fragile ss–delicate, ready to shatter at the slightest crack.

    But I wasn’t fooled.

    I stared at the man carefully, noticing the way his lips curved into a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes. His words were too rehearsed, too sharp, like the prelude to something worse. My stomach twisted because I knew — this wasn’t over.

    And then, he spoke again.

    “Everyone would live… except for one person.”

    The room went dead silent. His pause stretched like a rope pulling tighter and tighter until my lungs ached. And then his eyes, sharp and merciless,nded squarely on me.

    The moment our gazes met, I felt an invisible grip tighten around my throat. Fear mped down hard, suffocating me, yet I clenched my fists in myp, refusing to let it show. I would not give him the satisfaction. of seeing me break.

    Whispers rushed like wind through the crowd. People shifted ufortably, their gazes darting between me and the leader as though they were watching my fate unfold in real time. My pulse pounded in my earsb, /beach beat echoing louder than thest.

    He started walking toward me. Slow, deliberate steps that reverberated across the hall like a countdown. Each thud of his boots felt like the tick of a clock dragging me closer to death. My instinct screamed at me to grab Charlie, to run as far and as fast as I could. But I knew if I tried, it wouldn’t just be me – Charlie would pay the price too. The thought of my little boy’s terrified face was enough to glue me to the floor.

    When he reached me, his shadow loomed over where I sat. He tilted his head slightly, his lips curling into a

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    mockery of a smile.

    :

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    “Now then,” he drawled, his voiceced with mock amusement, “my colleague over here told me that byou /bband /byour boyfriend were trying to sneak out of here right under our noses.”

    The usation cut through the air like a de. He looked down on me with such disdain, like I was nothing more than an insect he was deciding whether to squash.

    “That’s not true!” Adrian’s voice rang out before I could even gather the courage to speak. He sounded firmer this time, louder, almost desperate. “She was just moving away from the air conditioner. It was my idea for her to move away!”

    I jerked my gaze to Adrian, my heart lurching at the way he stood his ground. He was trembling slightly, but his words carried strength, his attempt to shield me from the me as if his life depended on it.

    The leader’s head snapped toward him, his narrowed eyes sharpening.

    “I wasn’t talking to you, Mister.” His voice was like venom, dripping with irritation as he fixed his attention fully on Adrian.

    The shift in his focus made my stomach plummet. I could see where this was going

    “You know,” the leader said slowly, his tone low and deliberate, “you have a pretty loud mouth. You like involving yourself in other people’s business… even when it doesn’t concern you.”

    Then it happened.

    In one sudden, brutal motion, he raised his gun and cocked it, the metallic click echoing like thunder in the silence. He pointed it directly at Adrian’s chest.

    A collective gasp surged across the room. Fear rippled through every corner as people clutched each other, muffled screams breaking out. My own heart nearly stopped, my breath catching in my throat.

    The world around me blurred into noise and chaos, but my focus stayed locked on the sight of that gun. It’s cold, merciless barrel aimed at Adrian.

    I used my hand to cover Charlie’s eyes so he wouldn’t see the chaos unfolding before us. His small frame trembled under my palm, and I could feel his rapid breaths against my wrist. The air in the room was thick with fear, a silence so sharp it could slice through skin, broken only by the shaky gasps of people who clearly thought this was theirst day on earth.

    Adrian’s eyes… Those eyes were steady. He stared up at the robber, unflinching, unbothered, as though the muzzle of the gun pointed at him was nothing more than a child’s toy. There was no fear in him, not even a flicker.

    Yet in the middle of all that panic, my eyes drifted to someone else – Isadora. And that was when my confusion deepened.

    She wasn’t trembling. She wasn’t gasping or crying like the others. She sat there,posed, her face calm in a way that almost felt out of ce. I expected her, of all people, to lose control. She loved Adrian or so she imed. If there was ever a time to scream, to beg, to throw herself in front of him, it was now. But instead, —echinm horovnrion unreadable. Almost as though she already knew nothing bad was

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    going to happen to him.

    My stomach twisted.

    “Not afraid?” the robber asked, his voice low, almost mocking.

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    But Adrian didn’t answer. He didn’t even blink. His eyes were locked on the man, and it was like the world around him didn’t exist anymore.

    The robber let out a dry chuckle, though his grip on the weapon never wavered. “I wish I could put a bullet in your head right now,” he said slowly, savoring each word. “But unfortunately for me, I have orders not toy a hand on you.”

    And with that, he lowered his

    My heart stopped. Orders?

    gun.

    This was supposed to be a robbery. A chaotic, unnned, desperate act of criminals hungry for cash. But this? Orders not to touch Adrian? That didn’t sound like a robbery at all. That sounded like a mission like someone had sent them here.

    And worse… someone who knew Adrian.

    The realization mmed into me so hard I almost forgot to breathe. This wasn’t random. Someone had orchestrated this whole mess. Someone with a purpose, someone who wanted Adrian alive but had no problem pointing their gun at everyone else including me.

    But why today? Why mypany? Why me?

    I just got back into this city. I hadn’t even been here long enough to make enemies. No grudges. No debts. Nothing. Unlessb… /b

    Unless this whole thing was a performance.

    My chest tightened as my eyes flicked back to Adrian. Could it be? Could the mastermind have been right beside me all along, ying the part, pretending to be just another victim in this game of terror?

    It made sense the more I thought about it. He had been the one to call the police so quickly, the one who never showed even a spark of fear while everyone else drowned in it even though I never bought his silly excuse of why he was calm. Even when the gun was pressed against his chest, he hadn’t faltered. Why? Because he already knew. He knew they wouldn’t pull the trigger. He knew, because they wouldn’t dare kill their own bossb. /b

    A sick feeling crawled up my throat.

    He wasn’t afraid because he didn’t need to be.

    “Now…” the leader’s voice cut through my thoughts, deep andmanding. “Back to you.”

    My heart lurched as his attention shifted. The cold ck eye of the gun swung toward me, and every nerve in my body screamed. But as the man moved, something caught my eye – something strange, something

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    buried deep in the corners of my memory.

    Something I thought I would never see again.

    4914

    bAD /b

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