Simon watched Dominik scramble upstairs like a cornered animal. He stayed in the living room, staring at the heavy oak door. The shouts bleeding through the wood were sharp and commanding, requiring zero tactical intuition to decode. Dominik was dodging a massive, unpaid debt.
"Dominik Corvinus! You arrogant coward!" The voice hammered against the porch. "You said if I enlisted and made a name for myself, you'd give me a chance. I've been discharged for six months and you vanished into Myanmar forest !"
Simon let out a slow breath and reached for the deadbolt. Laura appeared at the bottom of the stairs, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Simon? What's going on out there?"
"An unresolved debt on your brother's part, I'd guess." He pulled the door open.
The woman on the porch stood at least 175 cm (5'7") tall. Her eyes were a piercing blue, her shoulder-length light-blonde hair pulled back tightly, with loose strands framing her face. She wore dark olive cargo pants and a fitted black tank top. Faded scars dusted the dense muscle of her arms.
Laura stared. This wasn't some delicate runway model. She radiated a raw, dangerous energy—sculpted by years of brutal physical discipline. This was Zoya Pomchenkova, codename Toxik. The System's latest arrival.
Zoya expected Dominik. Instead, she got a towering man in a skull mask and a teenager. Her fury hitched for a fraction of a second. Combat instincts flared before she forced them down, planting her feet. "I'm looking for Dominik Corvinus. I have this address."
"You're at the right place, wait right here!" Laura spun on her heel and marched to the stairs, lungs at full capacity. "Dom! Big brother! A very angry, heavily armed woman is here for you!"
Zoya crossed her arms. That icy glare bled into predatory expectation.
Simon stood in the doorway, analyzing the threat. A single glance told him she was lethal. The balanced center of gravity, thick calluses on her knuckles, and the specific friction wear on her trigger finger gave her away. This was a seasoned operator.
His priority was protecting Dominik's sister. Simon let his right hand drift to his waist, brushing the hilt of his combat knife. If she stepped out of line toward the interior, he would drop her.
Zoya clocked the shift in his stance immediately. She narrowed her eyes at the masked man. Two predators silently sizing each other up. She didn't reach for a weapon, keeping her gaze locked on the stairs.
"Hey! Go easy, is that how you treat your brother? Ow! Let go of my ear!" "Face your problems! Move!" "Alright! I'm walking, just don't pull!"
Laura dragged Dominik down the stairs by his ear. His tall frame folded at the mercy of the petite teenager. He didn't dare fight back, gritting his teeth while she hauled him directly into the line of fire.
She shoved him into the entryway and smiled innocently at Zoya. "Here. Brought him. By the way, I didn't catch your name."
"Zoya Pomchenkova." The icy blue locked onto Dominik like a targeting laser. "I was his—"
"University classmate!" Dominik shouted, backpedaling with both hands raised in frantic defense. "Back in Budapest. Just a former classmate, nothing more. Don't overthink it, you two."
Satisfaction had flashed across Zoya's face when he finally appeared. That vanished the second he branded her a 'regular classmate.' The veins in her neck bulged. Her face flushed with unfiltered rage.
"Just a university classmate?" She stepped over the threshold, closing the distance in a single stride. Her fists clenched. The joints popped with a sharp crack.
"You arrogant bastard. Who made the bet? Who said if I ditched my parents' money, joined up, and proved myself, he'd date me? I dropped out. I spent four years taking fire in frozen trenches to prove a point. And what did you do? You ghosted me and disappeared into Myanmar forest!"
"Zoya, wait, hold on—"
"Hold on? Do you know how insane I went tracking you down when the plague hit the northern sector? If I hadn't pulled a corrupted data-ping with your face on it, I would've thought you were rotting in a ditch!"
Dominik cursed the System. Fabricating her arrival through intercepted military data-pings was terrifyingly thorough.
He didn't have time to dwell on it. Zoya lunged, grabbing his collar with crushing force. Her eyes burned red.
"You liar. I gave four years of my youth to the military for your stupid bet."
She pulled her right arm back. A textbook, devastating hook aimed directly at his jaw.
Hardened knuckles hurtled toward his eye. Dominik wasn't angry about summoning her. An A-rank heavy gunner and combat medic was exactly what they needed. He was angry at the System's sick sense of humor. Implanting a violently hostile backstory meant he was about to suffer a bloody disaster the moment they reunited.
Her father was a Russian engineer and her mother a Hungarian trauma surgeon. She was a wealthy, comfortable student until Dominik made that reckless bet to brush off her relentless flirting. He never expected her to actually drop out and join the special forces.
Her fist connected solidly with his left orbital bone.
Dominik let out a pained howl that echoed across the gated community. A lightning-fast left cross found his right eye before he could even blink.
He collapsed backward, covering his face with both hands. "Are you insane?! Simon! Take her down! Suppress her!"
The whole sequence took three seconds. Laura and Simon had stood by, fully expecting an awkward, dramatic reunion between former lovers. Neither anticipated a professional two-piece combo to Dominik's skull. And judging by her shifting stance, she wasn't done yet.