Prologue

Sanya’s heart pounded with every ring of the phone pressed to her ear. The stormy sky rumbled ominously above her, sheets of rain falling in the night like shards, cold and tingling. 

Please pick up. Please pick up.

A sharp pain split through her lower stomach, and she groaned, folding over. Her grip on her phone slipped and it fell, skidding across the road.

Sanya crumbled, her arms wrapped tight around her stomach as she let out ragged breaths, the cold rain drenching her and yet it was like her insides were eon fire. It was like she was being torn apart from the inside out, and then the thought crossed her mind. What if she had been poisoned? They weren’t above it, bastards.

Urgency flooded through her, her heart skipping a beat as a car sped by infront of her, barely missing the phone that now lit up with Mitansh’s name, ticking seconds displayed at the top. The line was connected. She had to tell him. She had to tell him now, about the traitor. 

The person who had been leaking information, who was sabotaging Grisha Wealth to the ground. Why all their attempts at saving it had failed because they’d been set up too many times. 

She crawled forward. Her hand clutched her stomach as her knees tiptoed on the asphalt. 

“Hello!” She heard him bark on the phone, a shiver running down her spine.

She said the traitor’s name, but it came out as a hissed whisper. She knew he would stop them. She knew it. Mitansh would fix it.

“Mitansh..” A ragged sound escaped her throat, the energy wave carrying out of her slowing her down. 

“-Where-” Thunder rumbled through the sky, closing in on his voice. 

“I know who betrayed-” She rasped, her hand reaching out for the phone still a few inches too far. Her mind reeled with the realization. How could this be? How could they have been so blind to someone that was right infront of them?

“Sanya-” She heard his voice, until thunder lapped again, breaking it. “I’m coming, tell me where you are!” He yelled, desperate.

 Tears welled up in her eyes. Shit, would this be the last time she would hear him? The last breath she would take. Here on this wet road, before the poison or a car took her. Before she could- shit, she didn’t want to die. Her heart beat faster, she didn’t want to die. She froze for a second.

But maybe it was too late for her. It wasn’t too late for Grisha Wealth and the millions of people who depended on them.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her fists balling up as she dragged closer. 

“Figured it out. Check. Journal.” She rasped loud enough for him to hear, trying not to think of his face. Trying not to think of anyone she loved when they’d find her dead. “Mitansh-” Booming thunder silencing their clashing voices.

She said, “It’s-” 

Her head turned as light blinded her from the right, her eyes widening in the face of headlights and a deafening honk from a car thundering towards her. The sound of a monitor going off to a constant muted ring in her head.