The attack began at 11:47 PM.
Ethan was inside his study, seated behind the large mahogany desk, quietly reviewing the latest security protocols. The room was calm, the only sound the soft turning of pages and the distant hum of the manor’s power system.
Then everything went dark.
Every single light in Blackwood Manor died at the same instant.
The sudden darkness swallowed the room whole. For three long seconds there was nothing; no light, no sound, only a suffocating silence.
Then the emergency generators roared to life.
Red emergency lights flickered on along the walls and ceiling, casting the entire manor in a dim, blood-colored glow.
But the damage had already been done.
The security system was down.
The cameras were blind.
The electronic locks had defaulted open.
Someone ha
