I was walking through the dark space. I didn't know where or when I was, but I was in a place where there were no people. I didn’t know where I was going, or if I even had a destination—until I heard someone calling me, my name.

“Eli.”

I looked around and saw no one.

“Eli.”

I heard it again—that soft voice calling me.

“Eli.”

As I walked through the darkness, the voice grew closer and clearer, and suddenly, I could see a light.

I don’t know what came over me, but I suddenly started running toward the light like a child overjoyed to see their parents.

I ran until I reached the light, and when I opened my eyes, I was in a room.

“This looks familiar,” I said to myself as I looked around. My mind was still trying to process everything when someone called me again.

“Eli.” I turned toward the voice—and tears welled up in my eyes when I saw who it was.

“Eli?” she asked with concern as she approached me.

“Baby, are you okay? What’s wrong?” she asked again and again.

I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this person again—the one I thought I had lost forever.

“Mommy,” I said as I hugged her tightly.

God, if this is a dream, please don’t wake me up.

“El, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy that you got invited to your friend’s birthday party?” she asked.

“Birthday party…?” I asked in confusion.

“Yes, don’t you remember? The whole class was invited this year. You were excited just minutes ago,” she said.

Still confused, I looked around the room again.

**December 10, 2013**

“Rowan’s birthday party…”

“Yes, baby. Rowan’s birthday party,” she said.

I was hesitant to go. I didn’t want to go.

“Mommy, can I just stay here instead? I’ll help you around the house,” I said.

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you, baby. But you can go have fun, mommy will be okay,” she answered with a smile.

I kept staring at the calendar. I needed a plan.

I want to save her.

I want to save my mom.

I looked at my mom again, and suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew from somewhere. I turned toward where it might have come from, and when I turned back to look at my mom—the place had changed.

People were everywhere. Police surrounded our house.

I felt a heaviness in my chest when I saw my mom’s body.

She’s dead.

Someone killed her and I wasn’t there to save her.

I didn’t know what to do. Then I suddenly heard a voice.

“Elise.”

“Elise.”

“Ms. Elise.”

“Ms.”

I opened my eyes and realized—it was all just a dream. Me hugging my mom was just a dream.

I groaned before sitting up and asking the maid what time it was.

“It’s already 6:40, Ma’am,” she replied.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

“Oh, and Ma’am, Sir Damian said he’ll be home soon and wants you at the office before 7:30. Your medicine is also on your bedside table,” she added.

I looked at the table and saw the tablets and a glass of water.

“Okay, prepare my breakfast. I’ll be done in a few minutes,” I told her.

She immediately left my room.

I took the medicine from the table and then went into the bathroom to shower.

“Damian is such a pain—those medicines are all pain in the ***,” I muttered in irritation.

After showering and getting dressed, I went downstairs to eat.

Food, tea, and a newspaper were on the table.

“Did Damian leave any other instructions?” I asked the maid while reading the paper.

“None, Ma’am. He just said not to be late,” she replied.

I didn’t respond and just continued eating.

After breakfast, I headed straight to my car to drive to the police station where I work. Just a few minutes into the drive, my adoptive father (Damian Reyes) called me.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Elise. Are you on your way to the office?”

“Yes, I’m on my way,” I replied briefly.

“Good. I’m on my way too, but I’m stuck in traffic.”

“I’ll meet you there then.” I hung up immediately since I was still driving.

When I arrived at the office, my team greeted me.

“Good morning, Elise,” said Theo.

“Morning.”

“Good morning, Captain. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” Nia asked.

“Nightmare,” I answered briefly.

“Good morning, Captain,” greeted Riley and Kenji as they handed me coffee.

“What’s this for? A bribe?” I asked.

“We got you your favorite,” they said with a smile.

The last to greet me was Ava, who had just come out of the office.

“Oh, Captain! Glad you’re here. Sir Damian is already here and looking for you,” she said.

“Is he mad?” I asked.

“Well—” she was about to answer when Damian suddenly came out of his office looking for me.

“Is Elise here already?” he asked loudly.

“I just got here, sir,” I replied as I approached his office.

“I said don’t be late,” he said.

"It’s still 7:28, you said 7:30,” I replied to him. He had no choice but to let me into his office.

He sat down in his chair and stared at me.

“I just got back. No welcome hug?”he asked seriously.

“Welcome back, sir,” I answered shortly.

He let out a slight chuckle.

“Do you know why I called you here?” he asked.

“To congratulate me for a job well done?” I replied.

“El, you know what happened. I asked you to build a group, a team to join you in your missions,” he said.

“With all due respect, sir, I’m fine with my team,” I answered.

He sighed heavily.

“What if something had happened to you? To all of you? You could’ve jeopardized the entire mission—”

“But I didn’t. It went well. And now we’re all here,” I said firmly.

He stared at me for a moment before handing me an envelope.

“What’s this? A bribe?” I asked.

“More like… a vacation,” he said.

“Vacation?” I asked again.

“Yeah. A two-week vacation. Hot spring, or whatever you want to do. I’ll cover the inn where you’ll be staying. No worries about that,” he answered.

“We don’t need this, and we have work to do, we—”

“Let the others handle it. You’ve already done enough,” he said before sending me out of his office.

My teammates approached me. We’re a six-person group—I personally selected the five of them based on their skills and preferences, which I defined myself. They all fit. Even though we’re just six, we accomplish more missions than other groups.

“So? What did he say?” Riley asked.

“Did he congratulate us or scold us?” Kenji added.

I didn’t have the energy to answer them, so I just showed them the envelope.

“What’s this?” Theo asked.

“A two-week vacation. He’s covering all our accommodations,” I replied.

"So… no work for two weeks?” Nia asked.

“Yeah. Ava, you know what to do,” I said.

“On it, Capt,” she answered before turning back to her laptop.

I didn’t know what to feel, but I knew something was off.

“Nia, come here,” I called out to her.

She looked at me and came closer.

“What’s wrong, Capt?” she asked.

“Ava is checking if there’s anything suspicious happening in the area we’re going to. I need you to tell everyone to stay alert at all times. I want you to be alert. Tell me if you notice anything strange. This isn’t just a vacation,” I told her.

“Copy that, Capt. Oh, by the way, I heard they’re forming a new team. Maybe they’re the ones assigned to handle illegal drugs and missing persons cases now,” she said.

I didn’t reply. Something’s definitely off—and I won’t get any answers from Damian.

Days passed, and we were on our way to the place where we’d be spending our “vacation.”

“Is everything ready?” I asked them.

“I think everything’s good to go,” Theo, who was in charge of checking our equipment, answered.

“Are you sure? Once I start driving, I’m not turning back,” I warned.

“Definitely sure, Capt,” he replied.

“Okay, everyone get inside,” I said.

We all got into the van and headed for the resort. It was a five-to-six hour drive—pretty far—so we’d be taking turns driving.

After driving for about three hours, I looked for a gas station to refuel and let everyone rest for a bit.

“Capt,” Ava called out.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I approached her.

She didn’t answer right away, just stared at her laptop. On the screen were recent incidents in the area we were headed to.

“Kidnapping and drug trade? Is this serious? Damian didn’t say anything about this beforehand.”

“I don’t think Sir Damian knows about it,” Ava answered.

I didn’t say anything, just read through the article on her laptop.

“It says here it’s confidential. How did you find this?” I asked her, surprised.

“Well, computer work and hacking is my specialty. That’s why you chose me over the others,” she replied.

Well, she’s not wrong. All of them have weaknesses—and I picked members who could cover for each other’s. That’s what makes my team perfect.

“Can you hack into our office files?” I asked.

“The office? What for?” she questioned.

“I just want to check something,” I answered.

“Hmm,” she muttered, then began hacking into the office computer.

“If this is about the new squad, they’re not that good,” she added.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“I looked into their files. Just average,” she said.

“Average?”

“Yes. They’re the candidates you didn’t choose. I guess they just graduated.”

It was expected that they’d graduate later than Ava’s group. My five are advanced—and the fact that I picked them gave the board enough reason to let them graduate earlier than anyone else in their class.

“Can you send me their files?” I asked.

“I already sent them to you minutes ago,” she replied, still staring at her laptop.

I took out my phone and checked the file Ava sent.

It’s true—they’re the average classmates Nia and the others had. I don’t know why Damian hired them.

As I looked into their information, I slowly started to understand why Damian chose them. All these students are children of the most powerful people—it’s a given that you’d need someone strong to back you up. In this case, I still don’t know why Damian needs people like that.

"Ava, can you keep those people in check? They might be hiding something," I said.

"I’ll try, but if Sir Damian was the one who chose them, I don’t think they’d let anything slip," she replied.

Tch. Damian, you’re hiding something, aren’t you? I guess I’ll have to find out.

"Nia," I called her.

"Yes, Captain?" she asked as she approached.

"Ava discovered something—there’s kidnapping and drug trading happening near the inn we’re headed to. You know what to do," I said. Nia didn’t look surprised at all, as if she already knew something.

"Copy that, Captain," she responded before heading back to Riley and the others.

I lost track of time. I didn’t even know how many hours we had been on the road before we reached the inn.

The innkeeper welcomed us. At first glance, you wouldn’t think that this person was hiding something.

"Welcome. How was your trip?" the innkeeper asked.

"It was fine," Nia replied with a smile. She looked at me, and I gave her the signal that she could proceed with what she needed to do.

"Sorry to trouble you, but may we go to our rooms now? The trip was really exhausting," Nia added.

The innkeeper hesitated but eventually let us in. Everyone was delighted with the place—it truly was beautiful and peaceful—but that didn’t erase the suspicion brewing in my mind.

"Ava, what’s the status?" I asked her.

"Hmm, they still aren’t moving. It’s like they’re waiting for someone," she said.

They’re acting so suspicious right now. Is this Damian’s doing? I inspected our belongings carefully. After almost an hour, I found a tracking device—so small, you wouldn’t even notice it was there.

I called Damian to tell him what I found.

"Hello? Are you there already?" he asked. His calm voice makes it hard for others to suspect him, but not me.

"Why bother asking if you already know?" I replied.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I could hear the change in his voice.

"Don’t play dumb with me, Damian. I found the tracking device you planted. So you managed to bribe one of my members, huh?" I said.

He didn’t answer for a while. The silence between us was already enough of an answer—it really was him.

"Whatever, I’ll just enjoy our vacation. Thanks for this," I said before hanging up. I couldn’t believe he managed to turn one of my own people.

I threw away the tracking device I found and continued searching through our stuff.

"If there’s one, I bet there’s more," I told myself.

They all said they were heading to the hot spring, and I told them I’d follow after taking care of something (finding more tracking devices). Once I was done, I hid the devices and followed them.

While I was going down the stairs, I started hearing noise. I saw Nia and Ava standing, blocking the hallway.

"Ava, Nia. What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the hot spring?" I asked as I got closer. I still had my doubts about them, but for now, I decided to act normal and observe.

"Captain, it’s you," Nia said.

"What’s going on here?" I asked again.

"Someone’s being harassed," Ava replied.

I looked at the person and the one harassing her—he seemed familiar. I stepped in to stop what was happening.

"Hey, stop it," I said as I grabbed the man’s arm. Nia came over to check on the girl once the guy let go.

"Ohhh, what a coincidence. It’s the dream team, the most elite among the groups," the man said, laughing.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He laughed lightly.

"Come on, don’t you remember? After you picked the students you wanted, you failed the rest of us. That’s why it took us so long to graduate," the man answered.

So that’s why he looks familiar—he was one of Ava and the others’ average classmates.

"Captain," Nia called out to me.

I looked over and saw the girl trembling all over.

"You should take her to her room—we’ll take care of this," Ava said.

I didn’t want to leave them since there were only two of them, but they insisted that I take the girl back to her room.

"Why me? Why not someone else?" I asked myself.

I had no choice but to help the girl up so I could escort her to her room.

"Be careful, you two. I’ll call Riley once I’ve taken her to her room," I said.

"No need, Captain. She needs someone to be with her—she’s traumatized," Nia said. As expected, she’s very observant.

"Okay. But if anything else happens, make sure you call for backup," I said before leaving.

As I walked away, I kept looking back at them. Yes, I had my doubts, but I would never put my team members’ lives in danger.