To kill or To love

The screaming was back again. Shouts. Glass breaking. My mom crying. My dad’s voice, loud and ugly, filling every corner. I saw myself again—small, scared, hiding in the corner, wishing it would all stop. Then silence. My mom’s face. Pale. Gone. I snapped awake, sitting up too fast. My chest hurt from the memory. It was just a dream. No. Not a dream. A memory. I wasn’t that little girl anymore. Not the weak one who used to beg for peace. Now I sat in my office, high above the city, watching lights blink from towers of glass. My city. My world. A knock. Soft. I didn’t bother looking. “Uncle,” I said flatly. The door opened. He walked in, smiling like he always did, calm and fake. “You look pale, niece. Working too much again?” I didn’t even turn my head. “What do you want?” He chuckled, like I’d just told a joke. “Still sharp. Still cold. Sometimes I wonder if you even remember I’m family.” “I remember,” I said, my voice like ice. “But family doesn’t mean trust.” For a second, his eyes shifted—something dark under that smile. Then it was gone, like it had never been there. “Be careful with that kind of thinking. Even the strongest fall when they’re alone.” “I don’t fall,” I snapped. My eyes finally cut to his, sharp as glass. “Now stop wasting my time.” He dropped a folder on my desk, gave me that fake little bow of his, and walked out. His shadow stretched long across the floor before the door closed behind him. The second he was gone, silence swallowed the room again. My phone buzzed. Not the normal one. The encrypted one. [Priority Mission. Target: Berlin. Extraction window: 48 hours.] I stared at it, a cold smile pulling at my lips. To my family, I was the distant daughter, the one they couldn’t figure out. To the public, I was just a name behind a company everyone whispered about but no one could pin down. But underneath it all… I was something else. The world’s best hacker. A secret agent in the shadows. The girl with more faces than anyone could count. And now, I had another job. I stood, heels clicking against the marble, and went to the hidden panel behind my bookshelf. With a touch, it slid open, showing the tools of my other life. Masks. Weapons. Codes. Secrets. Another face. Another mission. My second phone buzzed again. Not encrypted. Personal. I almost ignored it—until I saw the name. Brother. I answered, holding it to my ear in silence. His voice came sharp, like he’d been waiting. “You think you can keep everything, don’t you? The business. The inheritance. The spotlight. You’ve always acted like it’s all yours.” I leaned against the shelf, my voice calm and cold. “Acted? No. It is mine.” “You’ll regret saying that,” he spat, and the line went dead. I slipped the phone back into my pocket, not even blinking. Family. They were always the first knives aimed at your back. Berlin would have to wait a few hours