DANTE- The Billionaire’s Ghost Vixen

Chapter 6: The Correction Facility

"Stop! Please, just stop!"

I lunged for the monitor, my fingers clawing at the glass. On the screen, Jax was tied to a chair in a room that looked like a meat locker. His face was a map of purple bruises. A guard in a black mask leaned in, whispering something I couldn't hear before slamming a fist into Jax's stomach. Jax doubled over, a sickening wheeze rattling through the speakers.

"One word from you, Ivy, and the next one goes for his throat."

Dante stood behind me, his voice as cold as the air in that dungeon. He wasn't touching me, but his presence was a weight on my neck. He looked at the screen with the bored eyes of a man watching the evening news.

"He doesn't know anything, Dante! He’s just a mechanic! Let him go!"

"He knows you," Dante said. He walked around me, his shoes clicking on the polished floor of the observation deck. "He knows the girl who used to live in that skin. And as long as he’s alive, you’ll keep trying to find a way back to a life that doesn't exist anymore."

I turned on him, my hands shaking. "You're a monster. You think you can just erase me? Stick me in this dead woman’s body and expect me to forget who I am?"

Dante stopped. He reached out, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw. I tried to flinch away, but he was faster. He held me there, forcing me to look at the torture on the screen.

"I’m not erasing you, Ivy. I’m correcting you. You were a scavenger. A nothing. Now, you have the power to change this city. But you’re too busy crying over trash."

He let go of my face and tossed a small, silver keycard onto the desk.

"There’s a drive in the high-security wing. Level Four. It contains the original data for the Vixen interface. My father left it there before he died. Retrieve it, and I’ll move your friend to a private medical suite. Fail, or try to run, and the guards in the Kennel get to have their fun."

"Why me?" I spat. "You have an army. Send them."

"The sensors in Level Four respond to Vivian’s biological signature. And besides..." He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear. "I want to see if that biker girl is still in there. Prove your loyalty, Vixen. Prove you’re more than just a biological graft."

He turned his back on me, his eyes returning to the monitor where Jax was being hauled upright by his hair.

"You have twenty minutes. Go."

The vents in the Moretti estate smelled like stale ozone and dust. I crawled through the dark, my emerald dress snagging on every bolt. I’d shredded the skirt to my thighs just to be able to move.

I'm coming, Jax. Just hold on.

[Host heart rate: 110 bpm. Adrenaline levels rising. Activating stealth sub-routines.]

"Shut the f**k up," I whispered. My knees were raw, and my palms were bleeding from the rough metal.

I reached the grate for Level Four. I kicked it out, landing silently on the carpeted floor below. The hallway was silent, lit by the pulsing blue glow of the security nodes. This was the heart of the Moretti empire—where the secrets were kept.

I moved like a shadow. My "low-status" instincts, the ones I'd honed running from gangs in the slums, were screaming. Every shadow was a threat. Every hum of the AC was a footstep.

I reached the vault door. I pressed my thumb to the scanner.

[Identity Verified: Vivian Moretti. Access Granted.]

The heavy door slid open with a hiss. Inside, the room was filled with servers that looked like ribcages. In the center, on a pedestal of glass, was a single black drive.

I grabbed it. My hand was shaking so hard the drive rattled against the glass.

This is it. This is what he wants. My ticket to Jax's life.

"I didn't think you'd actually make it."

I spun around. Standing in the doorway was the guard from the Kennel. He had his taser drawn, the electrodes humming with a lethal yellow light.

"Dante sent me," I lied, my voice cracking. "I have the drive. Let me through."

The guard chuckled. It was an ugly, wet sound. "Dante sent me too, sweetheart. He said if you made it this far, it meant you were too dangerous to keep on a long leash. He wants to see how the system handles a total reboot."

He stepped forward, the taser level with my chest.

"What the f**k? No! He said I could save him!"

[Betrayal detected. Threat level: Lethal. Host Vitality: Low.]

The guard lunged. The taser shot forward, the wires unspooling like snakes in the air.

I couldn't move. My boots were glued to the floor. My heart stopped.

He lied. He was never going to let us go.

Everything I’d done—the gala, the feeding, the humiliation—it was all for nothing. I was just a lab rat they were done testing.

"I'm sorry, Jax," I whispered, closing my eyes.

[Activating Skill: Vixen’s Shadow.]

A sound like a massive gong echoed in my skull.

I opened my eyes, and the world was dead.

The blue lights of the hallway were gone, replaced by a cold, flat grayscale. The guard was frozen in mid-air, the taser wires hanging like stiff threads in front of my face. A single drop of sweat from his forehead was suspended in the air, a crystal ball of salt.

Everything had slowed down. No, it had stopped.

[Host interface synchronized. You have 30 seconds of perceived time. Move, Ivy. Or die.]

I didn't think. I moved.

I stepped around the taser wires, my body feeling light, almost weightless. I walked behind the guard. I could see the individual hairs on the back of his neck.

I reached out. My hand didn't feel like flesh. It felt like cold fire.

The 30 seconds were ticking down in the corner of my vision.

15... 14... 13...

I looked at the guard’s neck. I didn't want to be a killer. I was a biker. I was a runner. But Dante Moretti had turned me into something else.

"My turn," I hissed.

I slammed my palm into the base of the guard's skull.

The grayscale world shattered.

The color rushed back in with a roar of sound. The guard flew forward as if he’d been hit by a truck, his head slamming into the glass pedestal. He went down hard, the taser firing into the carpet with a frantic pop-pop-pop.

I stood over him, my chest heaving. My hand was glowing with that dark, oily light again, but this time it didn't feel like a curse. It felt like a promise.

[Skill: Vixen’s Shadow depleted. Energy levels: 2%. Warning: System collapse imminent.]

I grabbed the drive and bolted for the exit. My vision was blurring at the edges. I had to get to Dante. I had to get to Jax.

I burst through the final security door, stumbling into the main hall.

Dante was waiting.

He was leaning against the wall, a glass of scotch in one hand and a remote detonator in the other. He looked at my shredded dress, my bloody hands, and the drive clutched to my chest.

He didn't look surprised. He looked satisfied.

"Welcome back, Ivy," he said, his voice a low, dark purr. "I knew you had it in you."

"Where is he?" I choked out, my knees buckling. "Where is Jax?"

Dante walked toward me, his eyes locked on mine. He reached out and caught me just as my legs gave way. He pulled me against his chest, his grip possessive, his heart beating a steady, rhythmic thud against my ear.

"He's safe," Dante whispered. "For now. But the drive you're holding? It's not a record of the past. It’s the kill-switch for the 'Architect.' And now that you’ve touched it, they know exactly where you are."

A massive boom rocked the mansion. The glass windows of the hall shattered inward.

A mechanical screech filled the air.

"They're here," Dante said, pulling a handgun from his holster and shielding me with his body. "And they don't want the drive, Ivy. They want the heart inside you."