THE SHARED LOAF: A girl in a camel coat gave half a loaf of bread to a starving child on the frozen street. She didn't know she was rescuing her lost cousin—or starting a war.

The dining room went entirely silent, save for the crackle of the fireplace.

Clara stared at Nora, then at her uncle, her eyes sparkling with sudden, overwhelming joy. "Cousin...? She's my cousin?!"

Clara leapt up from her chair, throwing her arms around Nora’s neck, hugging her so tightly that both girls nearly fell off the chair. "I knew it! I knew I stopped for a reason!"

Nora sat frozen in Clara’s embrace, her mind reeling. Mother? Family? Cousin? For eight years, her world had been defined by cold concrete, garbage bins, and dodging rainstorms. The idea that she belonged to a family—to this family—felt like a dream she was about to wake up from.

"Is... is my mother here?" Nora asked, her small voice trembling with cautious hope.

Victor’s face fell, the shadow returning to his gray eyes. "No, Nora. Your mother passed away three years ago. But she spent her final years searching every alley in Sector 4 for you."

Before Nora could process the grief of a mother she never knew she had lost, a sharp, deafening siren suddenly blared through the manor.

WAIIL! WAIL! WAIL!

Red emergency lights flashed along the perimeter of the dining room ceiling. The grand glass windows shuddered as heavy blast shutters began automatically descending from the stone walls.

Victor stood up instantly, pulling a concealed handgun from his shoulder holster.

"Mr. Vance!" a security captain burst through the doors, his radio crackling with gunfire and static. "Perimeter breach at the North Gate! It's the Syndicate! They tracked the child’s biometric signature when she crossed the Sector 4 border!"