"The mob boss mocked his clumsy waitress for six months—until bullets flew and she moved like a trained assassin."

She stood in the center of the rainy alleyway, her posture straight as an iron pillar, her coat blowing softly in the wet wind, her hazel eyes locked onto the four shooters with an absolute, unshakeable sovereignty.

She reached into her coat, pulling out an encrypted satellite communications box, clicking the red master switch.

BEEP.

A deep, thunderous voice echoed from the box's high-output speaker—a voice that made the four mercenaries instantly freeze with their fingers on their triggers:

"This is Director Thomas Vance of Vance Global Operations. All Valenti Syndicate mercenaries currently operating in Sector 4... stand down immediately."

The lead mercenary in the van hesitated, his weapon lowering slightly. "Director Vance...?! What the hell is this?! We were hired by Marco Bandi!"

"Marco Bandi’s contract is void," Director Vance’s voice declared flatly through the speaker. "Because you are currently aiming weapons at Agent Sophia Vance—the operative who single-handedly eliminated sixty-seven armed enforcers in the Warsaw Purge."

Silence fell over the rain-soaked alleyway.

The four mercenaries looked at Sophia standing in her dark vest, her custom suppressed pistol resting easily in her hand, her hazel eyes holding zero fear, zero doubt, and zero mercy.

The name "Sophia Vance" passed through their ranks like a cold, terrifying plague.

"The... the Ghost of Sector 4...?" one of the shooters whispered, his hands trembling violently against his rifle stock. "My God... it's really her..."

"If you fire a single round," Sophia spoke softly, her clear, velvet voice carrying cleanly over the sound of the rain, "not a single one of you will leave this alleyway alive. Drop your weapons."

For three agonizing seconds, the air hung thick with the threat of total, bloody destruction.

CLATTER!

The lead mercenary dropped his assault rifle onto the wet pavement.

Within five seconds, all four mercenaries tossed their weapons out of the van, raising their hands high in total, groveling surrender, terrified to even make eye contact with the woman who had wiped out an entire syndicate wing in Poland.

Nicolo stared at her back in total, awe-struck reverence.

She hadn't just saved his life with bullets; she had dismantled an entire hit squad with the sheer, terrifying weight of her reputation.