Prologue
My hands have held knives sharper than most people's thoughts.
I complete missions. Leave bodies. Move on.
That's what I was built for.
That's what they trained me to be - a weapon dressed in human skin. Efficient. Silent. Obedient.
But lately, the silence has teeth.
And some ghosts don't stay buried.
Now, Sector Eleven is sending me halfway across the world - to a snowy archaeological site tucked in the mountains of India. My cover: student. My orders: infiltrate, observe, and retrieve whatever lies beneath the ice and ancient stone.
They say it's science.
I've read the reports. I know better.
There's something under that ground - something older than the dirt itself, something wrong. And they think I'm the perfect tool to unearth it.
Smile. Blend in. Pretend to be harmless.
Then he walks in.
Kian.
Tall, quiet, with too many secrets stitched into the corners of his grin. The kind of man who moves like he's always known where the exits are - and how to drag you through one if needed.
He's not part of my plan.
He's not supposed to matter.
But his eyes linger too long.
His voice slides under my skin.
And his presence? It's like pressure behind my ribs - constant and unwelcome.
We're not partners. Not really. Just two operatives forced to play nice while the world burns quietly beneath our feet.
I don't trust him. Not with my mission. Not with my life.
And definitely not with the parts of me I've spent years trying to kill.
But danger doesn't always announce itself with guns and blood.
Sometimes, it smiles.
Sometimes, it leans too close.
And sometimes... it feels like a touch you regret surviving.
This was supposed to be just another mission.
But I can already feel it.
This time, I won't walk away clean.
