By Monday morning, Jade had memorized every hallway, camera blind spot, and keycard beep in the top five floors of Light Enterprises. She walked them like a runway model and a trained assassin—because she was both now.
Kelz waited across the street in a black car, his burner phone in his lap, eyes on the building's surveillance logs. He'd hacked in last night.
Jade's voice came through the earpiece. "I'm heading to Lauren's office. He's in a board meeting."
Kelz tapped at his screen. "You've got twelve minutes before the assistant comes back."
She slipped inside the CEO's office, moving straight to the drawer the intern had tried to open. She used a thin strip of metal—a gift from Kelz—pressed it into the lock, and heard the soft *click.*
Inside: a black notebook. A gun. And a flash drive marked with one word—*Penance.*
Jade slipped all three into her purse. Footsteps echoed in the hall.
"Time's up," Kelz whispered.
She slid the drawer shut, straightened her skirt, and was already at the printer when Lauren's assistant walked in.
"Everything alright?" the woman asked.
Jade smiled. "Just fetching last week's reports."
That night, Jade plugged the flash drive into an air-gapped laptop. What she found chilled her blood.
Videos.
Footage from inside De-Light mansions. Bedrooms. Hidden cameras.
She clicked on one marked *PROMNIGHT.*
And stopped breathing.
Lauren. Jayden. Louis. And her.
Laughing. Pouring drinks. Dragging her down.
Her stomach turned.
Kelz stood beside her, face pale. "They recorded it."
Jade whispered, "And they watched it again."
Tears welled in her eyes. Not weakness—fuel.
"They're not just monsters," she said. "They're predators."
Kelz reached into his jacket. Pulled out a list. "Lauren's gala is this Friday. The whole De-Light family will be there. Jayden. Louis. Investors. Politicians. Everyone."
Jade's fingers curled around the flash drive.
"Then let's give them a show."
The gala would be a masquerade.
Perfect.
Because Jade was done hiding her face.
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