In the eyes of my parents, I had forever been the ultimate disappointment of the family. "You are nothing short of a worthless failure," my mother m0cked cruelly. "Exactly like that pathetic old man rotting away in the shed!" My bl00d instantly turned to ice. I smashed open the locked door and discovered my grandfather st@rving, shivering uncontrollably, and barely clinging to life in the shadows. With cold precision, I lifted my phone. "Move in right now," I commanded. "We have highly dangerous suspects currently on site." My parents chuckled, entirely convinced I was just putting on a bluff... right up until heavily armed tactical trucks blockaded the house... and my grandfather managed to whisper one single sentence that changed our reality forever...

I watched Brandon's lifeless body hit the wet concrete, his expensive designer boots finally covered in actual mud.

I turned around slowly, expecting to see Whitmore standing there with a smoking sniper rifle.

Instead, a tall, shadowy figure emerged from the thick smoke, lowering a suppressed handgun.

It was Director Vance, the highest-ranking official in my entire intelligence agency.

"Excellent work, Claire," Vance praised smoothly, stepping carefully over the dead bodies of the mercenaries.

"You efficiently eliminated the foreign rogue element just as I expected you would."

I kept my pistol raised and aimed directly at the center of his chest.

"You burned my identity and ordered a tactical hit on my transport convoy, Vance," I accused coldly.

He sighed heavily, waving a dismissive hand as if ordering an assassination was just a trivial administrative error.

"Diane and her crew were demanding entirely too much money to keep monitoring you," Vance explained calmly.

"It was significantly cheaper to burn you both and let you eliminate each other in a messy family dispute."

He smiled warmly, extending a hand toward me as if offering a promotion.

"But now that you have proven the Genesis genetic enhancements are a complete success in live combat, I want you back on my team."

I looked at the terrified little girl hiding behind the steel container, realizing Vance would never let either of us live in peace.

"I am officially resigning from this agency," I stated firmly, tightening my grip on the trigger of my weapon.

Vance chuckled softly, shaking his head in deep disappointment.

"You do not get to resign, Claire," he threatened softly. "You are government property."

Suddenly, Whitmore dropped down from the upper catwalk, landing directly behind Vance.

I smiled, fully expecting my loyal second-in-command to disarm the corrupt director immediately.

“Which daughter is yours?” should have been a harmless question

The first wineglass shattered at 8:07 p.m

The moment the mafia boss’s wife called me “an illiterate servant,”

Instead, Whitmore slowly raised his assault rifle and pointed the barrel directly at my forehead.

"I am deeply sorry, Commander," Whitmore whispered, his eyes entirely devoid of any emotion. "But the agency pays significantly better than loyalty."

Chapter 9 - The Betrayal