Chapter 33 - The Intruder in the DarkAmber froze, pressing her back against the kitchen counter. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. She remembered her mother’s warning from the old letters: People who build their lives around secrets eventually mistake silence for safety. She refused to be silent anymore.
Silently slipping her hand into her coat pocket, her fingers wrapped around her heavy metal keychain. Footsteps approached the kitchen—slow, deliberate, and chillingly calm.
"You've been digging in places you don't belong, Amber," a smooth, unfamiliar voice echoed through the dark. It wasn't Julian. It was younger, sharper, with a chilling European cadence. Viktor Vance stepped into the faint moonlight filtering through the window, holding a silenced pistol loosely at his side.
"Viktor," Amber whispered, her voice steady despite the terror gripping her spine. "Julian is in federal prison. Whatever you think you're going to achieve by coming here—"
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"Julian was a fool who underestimated a five-year-old child," Viktor interrupted, stepping closer, his eyes gleaming with malicious intent. "He thought corporate dominance was about intimidation. I know it's about elimination. My brother lost everything because of you and your husband. Now, we are going to finish what he started."
Viktor raised the weapon, but before he could pull the trigger, the front door of Amber’s apartment flew open, slamming against the drywall with a thunderous crash.
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