The Assassin's vow

Melanie Morton was many things an heiress, a strategist, a master manipulator but above all, she was her father's daughter.

Which meant she didn't believe in accidents.

The woman in red had appeared out of nowhere. Stunning. Sharp. Too perfect. Her name didn't matter because Melanie knew a ghost when she saw one.

And ghosts always came for a reason.

She had the footage within two hours.

Every angle, every interaction. Ava Monroe if that was even her real name had danced through the party like a blade wrapped in silk.

She zoomed in on one frame: Ava slipping into the upper hall alone. Five minutes later, her father's heart stopped beating.

By morning, the coroner called it a sudden cardiac arrest. Melanie called it war.

Melanie poured herself a whiskey neat and dialed a number she hadn't used in years.

It rang once.

"Mel," a voice rasped.

"I need a ghost traced," she said. "Vanguard Academy. Codename Ava Monroe."

A pause. "Is this about Julian?"

"Yes."

Another pause.

"I'll send someone. But Mel… if the Circle's being hunted, it's not just her."

"I know," she said, voice flat. "I think there are two."

Classes resumed like nothing had happened.

But Ava knew better.

Morton was dead. And we had left fingerprints subtle, but there. Melanie would be sniffing around soon.

"You sure she didn't spot you?" Iris asked over lunch, slicing an apple like it had insulted her.

"She looked curious, not suspicious," I said.

"She'll get suspicious soon. Mortons don't let things go."

"She'll come looking."

"Let her," Iris grinned. "We'll kill her, too."

I didn't answer.

Because something about Melanie felt… different.

She wasn't just another spoiled heiress. She had ice in her veins.

And she might not wait to be hunted.

That night, I checked the Crescent Drive.

The one I'd taken from Julian's lockbox.

Encrypted.

But Iris knew how to break it.

We spent hours in the clock tower decoding it, string by string. Inside were documents, blueprints, a kill ledger with names I recognized… and one I didn't.

PROJECT HARROW

Underneath it: "Operation Clean Slate. Phase II pending."

I frowned. "What the hell is Clean Slate?"

Iris's eyes narrowed. "It means the Circle doesn't just cover their tracks. They erase everything. Including people."

And at the very bottom of the file, two new targets listed in red.

TARGET 1: Ava Monroe

TARGET 2: Ingrid Voss

They knew.

They were coming for us next.

The monitor flickered. A silhouette leaned back in a chair, watching the footage of Ava at the gala. Fingers steepled. A voice whispered:

"Activate the Harrow Protocol."

The screen cut to black.

Four down.

Four to go.

And now… they were hunting back.