Chapter 2 The velvet cage

The smell of lavender and expensive floor wax was the first thing that greeted Avery every morning at 5:00 AM. It was a scent that had become a secondary skin, a floral shroud that masked the rot underneath the Valentine estate.

Avery Woods-now legally and socially Avery Valentine-stood in the center of the grand foyer, a damp cloth in her hand. The marble floors stretched out like a frozen lake, reflecting the moonlight filtering through the vaulted windows. In the "Real" world, she was the daughter of a titan. Here, in this meticulously curated hell, she was a ghost who polished the shoes of a monster.

She knelt, her knees aching against the cold stone. This was the "Silent Protocol" her father had demanded. To win the game, she had to become invisible. She had to endure the three years of marriage to Lucca Valentine without breaking, without screaming, and without revealing the fire that still smoldered behind her ribs.

The Master of the House

"You missed a spot, Avery."

The voice was like a silken cord tightening around her neck. Lucca Valentine stood at the top of the sweeping staircase, draped in a charcoal silk robe. He held a glass of amber liquid, his violet eyes-the signature mark of the Valentine genetic line-glowing with a predatory boredom.

Avery didn't look up. She didn't speak. She simply moved her cloth to the spot he indicated, a microscopic smudge on the base of a 14th-century bust.

"Three years," Lucca mused, descending the stairs with the slow, deliberate grace of a panther. "Three years of this exquisite silence. Sometimes I wonder if you're still in there, Avery. Or if the Woods girl finally drowned in all that soapy water."

He stopped in front of her, the toe of his hand-made Italian loafer inches from her hand. "Look at me."

Avery paused. Her heart hammered against her chest-a frantic, rhythmic 120text{ bpm}. She forced herself to breathe, to slow the internal clock. She looked up, her expression a mask of perfect, vacant submission.

"Good girl," Lucca whispered. He reached down, his fingers tracing the line of her jaw with a touch that felt like a cold blade. "Tonight is the Gala. The Board will be watching. You will wear the Blue Heart sapphire. You will stand by my side. And you will not make a sound. Do you understand?"

Avery nodded once.

The Glitch in the Silk

By noon, the estate was a hive of activity. Stylists, caterers, and security detail swarmed the grounds. Avery was moved from the foyer to the dressing suite like a piece of furniture being readied for an exhibition.

As a stylist brushed out her long, dark hair, Avery stared into the vanity mirror. For a split second, the reflection didn't match her movements.

Her reflection's eyes flickered-not grey, but a brilliant, electric silver.

Avery blinked, and the image corrected itself. Fatigue, she told herself. The protocol is taking its toll. But then she noticed the clock on the wall. The second hand didn't tick; it swept backward for three seconds before snapping forward again.

"Trust the silence," a voice whispered in the back of her mind. It wasn't Lucca's voice. It was her own, but it sounded older, harder.

She reached out and touched the surface of the mirror. It felt... wrong. Not cold glass, but a subtle, vibrating resistance, like the surface of a drum.

"Is something wrong, Mrs. Valentine?" the stylist asked, her voice sounding strangely metallic, as if it were being played through a low-quality speaker.

"No," Avery said. It was the first word she had spoken in weeks. Her own voice sounded alien to her. "The light is just... sharp today."

The Gala of Masks

The ballroom was a sea of black ties and shimmering gowns. The elite of the Woods-Valentine merger were all there-men and women who traded in human lives as easily as they traded in stocks.

Avery stood at Lucca's side, the Blue Heart of the Ocean sapphire hanging heavy at her throat. The gem felt hot against her skin, a pulsing weight that seemed to thrum in sync with her heartbeat.

"Smile, Avery," Lucca hissed through a grin as they shook hands with a senator. "You look like you're attending a funeral."

"Perhaps I am," she thought, but her lips curved into the practiced, empty smile of a doll.

As the music swelled-a haunting violin concerto-Avery felt a hand on her arm. It wasn't Lucca.

A man stood behind her. He was dressed in the uniform of the security detail, but his eyes were sharp, intelligent, and focused entirely on her. He didn't look at the sapphire. He looked at the scar behind her ear.

"The Raven is hungry, Avery," the man whispered.

Avery froze. That was a code phrase from her childhood, a secret her father had told her would only be used if the world was ending.

"Who are you?" she breathed.

"My name is Julian Vane," the man said, leaning in as if to adjust her cloak. "And I'm the one who's going to kill you if you don't wake up in the next ten minutes."

MBefore Avery could respond, the lights in the ballroom flickered and died. A heavy, oppressive red glow bathed the room-the emergency override.

Lucca's grip on her arm became a vice. "Stay still, Avery! Security, report!"

But the security team didn't move. They stood like statues, their eyes suddenly glowing with a faint, digital blue light. The guests began to murmur, then scream, as the walls of the ballroom began to ripple like water.

"The simulation is degrading," Julian shouted over the rising roar of static. He grabbed Avery's hand, pulling her away from Lucca. "The Crows are purging the sector! We have to go, now!"

Avery looked back at Lucca. He wasn't screaming. He was standing perfectly still, his face beginning to pixelate and dissolve into raw code. He looked at her, his violet eyes turning into empty black sockets.

"You weren't supposed to speak, Avery," the dissolving Lucca said, his voice a distorted, demonic growl. "Now, the Third Protocol begins."

The floor beneath Avery's feet vanished, replaced by a bottomless abyss of scrolling white light.

Julian is holding her hand, but the world is literally falling apart. Is he her savior, or just another layer of the lie? And what happens when the "Silent Heiress" finally screams?

The ceiling is gone, and the real game has begun.