Prologue
The city hummed with its usual symphony of honking cars, distant sirens, and murmured conversations that mingled with the crisp autumn air. The reflective evening lights danced on wet pavement, painting the bustling streets in streaks of gold and crimson. Melody Carter adjusted the strap of her black handbag, her sharp heels clicking against the ground like a metronome as she crossed the street. Her striking red blazer caught the attention of passersby, though most were too shy to linger on her commanding presence. But she wasn’t thinking about them. There was a deadline. There was always a deadline.
The Assignment
Melody was an investigative journalist—one of the few left in an era where clickbait headlines and algorithms dictated what people read. Tonight, she was on the trail of something big, something the Board of Ethics had quietly swept under a marble rug in its lofty skyscraper headquarters downtown. She was digging into the disappearance of several whistleblowers at Greenscale Biotech, a shadow-cloaked pharmaceutical company entangled in allegations of secret experiments and human testing. She knew they were on to her; the silent clicks of anonymous emails stopping, the thick feeling of someone always watching. It came with the territory. But that red blazer? That was her armor—the veil of confidence she wrapped herself in before marching into any storm.
A Familiar Face
As Melody approached the sleek glass doors of Greenscale’s labyrinthine HQ, she nearly collided with a man exiting the building. His tailored navy suit and charmingly disheveled hair were immediately recognizable. It was Sebastian Kane, her ex-partner, a former investigative reporter turned corporate spokesperson—for Greenscale, no less. Melody fought to suppress the sudden sting of betrayal that surged anew. She squared her shoulders and allowed herself a wry smile. Of all the players in this game, she hadn’t expected Sebastian on the other side of the chessboard.
“Melody Carter,” he drawled, surprise flickering across his face, though quickly replaced by a practiced mask of composure. “Still chasing stories, I see?”
“Some of us still have to,” Melody replied evenly. “What are you doing here? Or should I be asking how much they’re paying you to wear that suit?”
He hesitated, and for a moment, she thought she’d struck a nerve. But then he smiled—a soft, melancholic twist that made her stomach knot. “Be careful, Melody,” he said quietly before striding away into the night.
Uncovering Secrets
Shaking off the encounter, Melody retrieved a tiny device from her pocket—a data tap cleverly designed to look like a USB drive. She had bribed a Greenscale intern to leave a security badge pinned behind one of the dumpsters for just this occasion. The badge granted her access to the lower-level research offices, where she hoped to find files damning enough to blow the whistle wide open in the public’s eye.
Inside the building, tension vibrated in the air. The sterile white halls twisted and turned, the sound of a far-off elevator humming like a distant threat. Finding an empty lab, Melody inserted the data tap into the nearest server. A progress bar blinked on the device in amber light, filling painfully slowly. Just as it was nearing 100%, a sharp voice echoed from the hallway outside.
“Who’s there?”
The Escape
Melody snatched the device and bolted through the back exit, her polished heels betraying her every step on the polished tile floor. Adrenaline surged with every alarm blaring behind her, threatening to drown out the sound of her own heartbeat. She tore through the side alley, ducking into shadows where city lights couldn’t follow. When she finally stopped, she clutched the data tap like a prize, leaning against a graffiti-laden wall and catching her breath.
She’d gotten what she needed—but at what cost? Over the next few days, the city would flood with her anonymous exposé, and Greenscale’s secrets would come to light. But she couldn’t stop thinking about Sebastian—the warning in his voice, the fleeting look in his eyes. Had he tried to protect her or stop her? Or, worse, had he played her?
It didn’t matter now. Melody adjusted her red blazer, smiled ruefully, and stepped back into the buzzing heartbeat of the city with a single thought burning in her mind: The truth was never free.
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