Tangled Hearts: A Love Meant to Break

Chapter 8: The Calm Before the Storm

├┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┤

The hours dragged on as the first hints of dawn crept through the cracks in the boarded-up windows. Sleep had been impossible. Every sound, every creak of the old building, had me on edge, my pulse quickening with each faint noise. Liam sat across from me, as still as a statue, his eyes focused on something distant that only he could see. His body was tense, ready for action, yet he hadn’t spoken in hours.

I shifted in my chair, the discomfort of silence becoming unbearable. “What’s the plan, Liam? You said we need to get that list, but how are we supposed to do that?”

He didn’t respond immediately, his eyes still locked on the floor. I wondered if he’d heard me or if he was too lost in thought. But just as I was about to ask again, his gaze lifted to meet mine.

“I have a contact,” he said, his voice rough with exhaustion but steady. “Someone who used to work for Viktor. He knows the layout of the building where the vault is hidden. If I can find him, he’ll help us get in.”

I frowned, leaning forward slightly. “Used to work for Viktor? And now what? He’s just out of the game, living a quiet life? That seems… risky.”

Liam smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No one really leaves Viktor’s game, Alexis. But people like him, they learn to disappear. You find ways to become a ghost when your only other option is death.”

I swallowed hard. The more I learned about this world Liam had lived in, the more it terrified me. People had to vanish just to survive. No wonder he’d been so careful, always on the run. But now, we were going to have to find someone who was likely hiding as much as Liam was.

“And you’re sure he’ll help?” I asked, skeptical. “I mean, what’s stopping him from turning on us? If Viktor finds out—”

Liam cut me off with a sharp look. “He won’t. He hates Viktor as much as I do. He’s got his reasons, believe me.”

I wanted to ask more, to press him for details, but something about the way Liam spoke made it clear that this was not up for debate. He trusted this contact, and for now, that would have to be enough.

“Okay,” I said, nodding slowly. “So we find him. Then what? How do we get into the vault?”

Liam reached into his jacket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper and unfolding it on the table. It was a rough sketch, lines drawn hastily, as though in a hurry. I leaned in closer, realizing it was a layout of some kind—most likely the building Viktor used to store his secrets.

“This is the entrance,” Liam said, pointing to a narrow hallway. “The vault is somewhere in the lower levels, heavily guarded. But my contact knows the schedule. If we time it right, we can slip in when the guards rotate shifts.”

I stared at the sketch, my mind racing with the implications. This wasn’t just dangerous; it was impossible. Infiltrating a crime lord’s hideout, breaking into a vault, stealing the very thing that held his entire empire together—it sounded like madness.

“And you’re sure this will work?” I asked, my voice wavering slightly.

Liam’s jaw tightened. “It has to. There’s no other way.”