They say love can make you do unbelievable things. Erica had always believed that—but she never imagined it would consume her entirely.
Her gaze swept over the other passengers in the dimly lit van: two men, three women. She remembered only the leader's name, Redd—and the man sitting beside her, Varell. The rest blurred into faceless shadows, mere accomplices in a scheme born of desperation.
She told herself her motives were noble: protecting her family, saving her brother. Yet the bitter truth lingered—love had become both her armor and her undoing.
Memories pressed against her mind like unbanishable ghosts. She saw herself as a child again, an orphan scavenging the unforgiving streets, with nothing but grit and a stray dog she'd named Friend. Together, they endured endless nights of hunger and cold, guarding each other from a world that offered no mercy.
When other street kids tried to steal her meager scraps, Friend would leap to her defense, teeth bared, until they scattered in fear. Without him, she knew she wouldn't have survived.
But one fateful night changed everything. Animal Control cornered Friend. He refused to abandon her side—and they killed him right before her eyes. The loss struck like a blade, leaving her exposed and alone, easy prey for the same children who had once fled from her protector.
Erica pressed her forehead against the van's cool glass, watching the city lights smear into ribbons of color as they sped through the night. She remembered the alley's foul stench, the cruel laughter echoing off the walls, the flash of raised sticks descending upon her. And then he came—a stranger charging through the chaos with a ferocity that mirrored Friend's own. He scattered her attackers like leaves in a storm, lifting her from the grime-strewn ground. In his arms, she felt something she had never known: safety. And love.
From that day forward, he became her adoptive father, pulling her into a family that mended her broken world. Erica vowed to protect them at all costs. But she never imagined she'd have to risk everything to save her adopted brother, Brian. His illness was grave, a relentless shadow devouring him from within, and the doctors demanded forty million gold coins for the treatment that could save him.
Her adoptive parents were already buried under mountains of debt, their pleas for a loan from the Public Vault dismissed without a second thought. Desperation clawed at Erica's heart.
So when whispers reached her of a daring heist—targeting Governor Alden Roque's private vault—she made her choice. If the law wouldn't bend to help the desperate, she would shatter it herself.
The crew's goal was modest by criminal standards: one hundred million gold coins. Anything grander would summon the relentless Warden Authority, turning their lives into an endless hunt. Their plan was precise: release sleeping gas through the building's vents, wait until silence blanketed the halls, then breach the vault and vanish before dawn broke.
Erica, however, harbored a secret agenda. She intended to claim the entire haul for herself—to save Brian, no matter the cost.
Inside the van, tension hung thick as fog. Beside her sat Varell, a rough-hewn man with a jagged scar slicing across his face, partially concealed by a scruffy beard. He studied her from behind his mask, curiosity glinting in his narrowed eyes.
"You're pretty," he murmured, his voice low and gravelly.
Erica ignored him, her focus locked on the darkened road ahead.
He chuckled softly. "After this heist, maybe we should stick together. You'll be a millionaire, I'll be one too. Erica, we could glowrun this city side by side."
*Glowrun*—a slang for those who flaunted their wealth and influence without restraint. In the city's cutthroat hierarchy, glowrunners were both envied and feared, their opulent lives marking them as untouchable elites.
Erica said nothing, her gaze unwavering.
Varell smiled wider, revealing a chipped tooth that caught the faint dashboard light. Erica forced a brief, polite smile in return before turning away, her thoughts swirling with disdain.
("To say gross would be an understatement,") she mused inwardly. ("The real word is—over my dead body.")
Varell laughed louder, calling forward to the driver. "Redd! You see that? That's how you talk to a girl!"
Redd shook his head with a wry grin, eyes on the road. From her seat across the aisle, Mara smirked. "If it were me, I'd have given more than just a smile," she teased.
"Sorry, Mara," Varell shot back with a grin. "Can't see a whale and go fishing for a catfish instead."
"You bastard," Mara hissed, her glare sharp as a dagger. But before the spat could ignite further, Redd's voice sliced through the air like a whip:
"Enough. Save the noise for after we're rich."
The tension eased, though the air remained charged. Erica observed them silently, realizing this was no cohesive team—just a ragtag group of strangers, each chasing the same desperate dream, bound by greed and circumstance.
Redd's tone hardened as the van slowed. "We're here. Masks on."
Everyone complied without a word. Erica adjusted her mask over her face, catching a dim reflection of the city lights in the window—flickering like distant stars about to be eclipsed.
A warning sign loomed ahead, illuminated by the van's headlights:
**YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE PROPERTY OF GOVERNOR ALDEN ROQUE. DO NOT PROCEED IF NOT AUTHORIZED. PERMIT REQUIRED.**
**PROPERTY: PRIVATE VAULT.**
A lone enforcer stood sentinel at the gates, his posture rigid and proud, as if the very idea of intrusion was beneath contempt.
"Still as arrogant as ever," Erica murmured under her breath. "The fearsome enforcers truly believe no one would dare challenge the law."
She drew a deep breath, steeling herself. ("Let's change that.")
The heist was about to begin.