The morning sun painted the Lancaster estate in gold, but Sierra felt none of its warmth. In her private suite, she stared at the envelope that had arrived without a stamp, a return address, or sound. Just a black seal pressed into wax—two blades crossed over a serpent. A symbol she hadn't seen in seven years.
She ran her thumb across it. It felt like death.
She opened it slowly. Inside was a thin sheet of black parchment, inked in silver.
> "Viper, the serpent has awakened. The mission is unfinished. The man you left for dead lives. Find him. 48 hours. Dubai. He knows you're alive."
No signature. Just the echo of her past life—Viper. A name no one should know anymore.
Sierra sat back, her mind racing. The man referenced in the letter could only be Nikolai Vornin—the war broker who double-crossed her on a mission that ended in flames. She'd watched him bleed out. Or thought she had.
If he was alive… everything she'd buried was unraveling.
She locked the door and moved to the mirror. Behind it, concealed in the wall, was a hidden compartment. She hadn't opened it in years. Inside: her old gloves, her forged passports, a bloodstained watch, and a single titanium blade.
The weight of it in her hand felt too familiar.
The life she built as Mrs. Lancaster had been clean, elegant, quiet.
But ghosts don't stay buried. And assassins don't forget.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Xavier: "Dinner tonight. Don't vanish again."
She smiled faintly.
Too late.
Sierra slipped the blade into her clutch. The past had found her.
And this time, she wouldn't run.
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