Heart Thief

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The Dark Alley hadn't specified who was responsible for the heist, but it was clear it was a high-ranking female member. Besides Skye herself, that could only mean Sophia. Stealing from the Quinn family's territory wasn't something to be taken lightly. This had to be either a trap to lure her out or an attempt on Sophia's life. The Quinn family wasn't an easy target to mess with.

"Damn it," Skye cursed. The heist was scheduled for tomorrow, leaving her no time to prepare. Should she go or not? Was it true or false? How could she discern? It was Sophia - how could she stay calm? What did the organization have on Sophia that would make her follow such orders? It was all so perplexing.

Before dawn - the perfect time for a heist, according to their habits. If it was Sophia, she'd definitely choose this moment. Skye looked at the sky. She'd take the gamble and check it out. If it really was Sophia and she didn't go, she'd regret it forever.

The target was a jade disc from the Warring States period, recently purchased from France by the Quinn family. It was stored in the vault on the 112th floor of the Financial Tower. Its value was comparable to the Western Zhou jade disc they had stolen previously. This was another reason Skye suspected Sophia's involvement - in their organization, only she and Sophia specialized in antiques.

Disguised as a cleaner, Skye brazenly entered the Financial Tower. Not everyone here worked regular hours, after all.

Pretending to wipe the doors, Skye noticed the security cameras had been tampered with - it looked like Sophia's handiwork. Frowning slightly, she naturally made her way upstairs.

On the 112th floor, Skye casually touched all the elevator buttons before rushing out with her bucket, as if trying to save time.

Passing the vault door, Skye frowned again. It was too easy - not even a guard in sight. Had Sophia cleared them out, or was there another reason?

Before she could ponder further, she noticed the slightly ajar vault door. It was barely noticeable, but to her trained eye, it was clear - this was the organization's professional technique.

Suddenly, a faint click echoed in the silence. Skye cursed under her breath. The time-locked vault door had closed. Anyone inside would be trapped until business hours.

Skye clenched her fists as the security cameras began to function normally again. She had overestimated the person inside. Biting her lip, she activated a program on her wristwatch to disrupt all surveillance. It would be effective but leave her with very little time.

The disruption was violent and instantaneous. The entire building's computer system crashed momentarily, alerting everyone to the intrusion.

Skye quickly opened the vault door, shouting, "Sophia, come out! Wait... what are you doing here?" Instead of Sophia, she found Non-Heart and her old mentor trapped inside.

It was a trap. The whole thing was a setup to lure her in, using her concern for Sophia as bait.

Seeing Non-Heart's smug smile and her mentor's dark expression, Skye slammed the door shut and ran. "Zack, you'll pay for this," she muttered.

"Skye, you can't escape. We've set up a perfect trap. Where do you think you can run? Hmph, I... what's going on?" Her mentor, the second-in-command of the organization, had been gloating but turned livid upon seeing the chaos outside.

Skye dodged a kick from Non-Heart - years of being Sophia's practice target had its benefits.

Seeing her mentor's black face, Skye laughed, "Too clever for your own good, teacher. If you could use Sophia to lure me here, you should've known how important she is to me. Did you think I'd let her get hurt? Let's see who can get out of this mess."

She turned and ran down the corridor, shouting, "Thief! Thief!"

Non-Heart and the mentor paled. They had anticipated Skye coming to save Sophia but hadn't expected such extreme measures. The dark-faced man waved, and hidden organization members rushed to subdue Skye before security arrived.

Just as Skye was about to be caught, the elevator dinged. Security personnel finally appeared. Skye immediately screamed, "Catch the thieves! They're trying to silence me! Help!"

In the chaos, Skye's cleaner uniform worked to her advantage. All security and police rushed towards the organization members. Skye grinned, slipping away towards the end of the corridor.

Suddenly, a pair of arms shot out, blocking her path. Skye couldn't stop in time and crashed into them. A strong, familiar scent wafted over her. Her last thought before losing consciousness was, "Caught off guard at the last second."