–Chapter 1: The First Shot
Sapphire sat cross-legged on her bed, the glow of her laptop screen illuminating her face in the dim light. Rain tapped gently on the windowpane beside her, the night calm and familiar. Her fingers moved quickly across the keys, coding a patch into a private file—a firewall she'd designed just to keep her curious little sister out.
She was halfway through encrypting it when she heard it.
A gunshot.
It echoed sharply through the still night, unmistakable in its violence.
She froze.
For a moment, everything inside her went silent. The humming of her laptop, the rain, even her heartbeat. Then she moved—slowly at first—pushing the laptop aside and stepping off the bed. She crept toward the window, the world outside coming into view like a nightmare unfurling.
People were running in the street. Screams shattered the night's quiet. She watched as a man collapsed on the pavement—one moment running, the next face-first in the dirt. His body didn't move again. More gunshots rang out, closer this time, each one sending shivers down her spine.
Her breath caught.
Something terrible was happening.
Grabbing her robe, she darted from her room, racing down the hallway toward her parents' bedroom. She had to get to them. Had to warn them.
But just as she reached the stairs, she heard another gunshot—this one muffled, but close. Too close.
From her little sister Lily's room.
Sapphire froze.
No. No, no, no.
She turned back to run toward Lily's door, but heavy footsteps and unfamiliar voices filled the hall behind her. Men. Armed. Not her family.
They were coming.
Without thinking, she turned and bolted down the stairs. Her mind raced as fast as her feet. She had to disappear. Hide. There was one place left.
The basement.
Their family had always been prepared for emergencies—not just storms or power outages. Her father had built a hidden safe space beneath the house, accessible only through a mechanism behind the library bookshelf. She'd thought it was paranoid. Now, it felt like prophecy.
She skidded into the study, heart hammering against her ribs. With trembling fingers, she pressed the third book on the second row—The Silent Pact. The shelf gave a soft click and creaked open, revealing a dark stairwell.
She slipped inside.
The door shut behind her just as someone entered the room above.
Sapphire ran, the pitch-black stairwell spiraling downward. Her breath came in ragged gasps. Every step echoed like gunfire. In her mind, she begged—pleaded—that her parents were okay. That Lily was okay. That maybe this was all some sick mistake.
She reached the bottom, pushed open the final door... and stopped cold.
Her parents lay on the floor.
Lifeless. Twisted. Soaked in blood.
The silence in the room screamed louder than the gunshots ever could.
Her scream tore through the stillness, raw and shattering.
Everything she'd ever known had been ripped away.
And something deep inside her—something buried—began