CHAPTER 1 — The First Lockdown
The screams hadn’t even fully started when the second wave of steel barriers sealed the last exits.
The ballroom was no longer a celebration.
It was a cage.
The heir—once smiling, now frozen—looked around as guests scrambled in panic. Phones dropped. Glass shattered under desperate feet. Security guards who had been laughing minutes ago were now pressing radios with shaking hands.
But no one responded.
Only my voice came through the system.
Calm.
Controlled.
Final.
“Internal lockdown active,” the AI system confirmed.
The heir turned back to me, eyes trembling for the first time.
“You can’t do this… this is a public event—”
I interrupted him softly.
“You stopped being at a public event the moment you touched me.”
A pause.
May you like
Then I added:
“You’re inside my jurisdiction now.”
