Before proceeding, Aaliyah wiped her sweaty hands on her dress. If she went even a fraction passed any of the combination numbers, she would have to start all over again.

With laser focus, she started by resetting the safe's dial, turning it to the right five times. Aaliyah then stopped underneath the index of the first combination number.

Her breathing was slow and steady as she turned the dial left, passing the next combination number twice before stopping on it the third time.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she went to the right again, for the third number in the combination. Aaliyah passed it once before she stopped on it the second time she saw it. 

Before continuing to the last number, she took a deep breath to steady herself. With held breath, she turned the dial left and watched with keenness as the numbers went by. 

Thirty-eight…thirty-nine…forty, and…forty-one. 

Her hand stilled on the final number. 

She briefly closed her eyes and sent up a prayer to a God she didn’t think heard her anymore. Aaliyah’s hand shook as she placed it on the handle of the safe, and slowly turned it.

Relief so strong floods Aaliyah that her knees become weak. There it is. She grinned, her smile so wide and her chest so warm that her eyes lined with tears.

Maybe God was still listening to her. 

No. Of course, he wasn’t. It was just luck, plain and simple.

Taking the folder out of the safe, Aaliyah's hands trembled as she stared down at it.

This was the moment she had been waiting for. She had finally turned nine-teen just the following month. The minimum age required for anyone to attend the yearly Prestigious Families banquet.

She held her breath as she opened the folder—Aaliyah's brows drew in confusion.

What?

Before her was a single piece of paper with sparse text on it.

Where is the rest of it? What is going on?

Aaliyah clenched her jaw before she took a slow, deep breath. Her eyes scanned over the little bit of text, hoping to learn any new information.

Date recorded: 12 of August 19XX

Country: Iratheia

Death(s): Zere Ruth Tesfaye and Gebre Isaiah Tesfaye. 

Classified: Murder. 

Death caused: poisoned wine. 

Poison: Cyanenic

Perpetrator(s): Isabella Lorenz Vicario and Mateo Valentine Vicario. 

Objective: An assassination attempt on the Tesfaye’s and recently elected Prime Minister Alastor Van Steel.

Political Context: 19XX election of Iratheia's Prime Minister by the eight Prestigious Families. Finalists: The Vicario and Steel Family. Election results: Mr. Steel was chosen as Prime Minister.

Context summary of crime: The Tesfaye’s hosted a celebration at their estate, on the 1st of August 19XX. It was in honor of Mr. Steel being elected as the Head of the Prestigious Families. The other six Prestigious Families were invited.

At this event, the poisoning of both Prime Minister Steel and the Tesfaye's took place. Two antidotes were found in possession of the Vicaros, but one of the vessels had been broken. The other antidote was given to the Prime Minister.

That was it.

There wasn’t a single piece of new information.

Body feeling weak, she sagged against the wall.

It was all a complete waste. 

Aaliyah squeezed her eyes to stop the tears but a single tear fell. It made a lonely path down her cheeks until it was soon followed by another until she could no longer hold them back.

Her strength spent, she crumbled to the floor. Sobbing into her hands, Aaliyah's chest heaved; her throat was tight and she cried so hard she could barely breathe. 

She was a failure.

Even after all these years, she seemed to get nowhere. And she had been trying so hard. So f-ing hard to find her parents' killer and yet.

Nothing.

All the trails she had chased seemed to lead to dead ends. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how much of her will and effort she exerted, it still was not enough.

She was not enough. And Aaliyah feared she never would be.

Through her blurry vision, she glared down at the file in her hand. She wanted to tear at it until it was as shredded as her soul.

Why?

Why did the case file contain hardly any information? When her parents were one of the most influential families in Iratheia?

Aaliyah looked down at the file again and reread it, hoping to find something her eyes had missed the first time. She sighed when she reached the bottom of the paper.

There was nothing for her to go on. No specific person, or anyone for the matters, listed who could have been involved.

It was too clean, too simple…too vague. This was not the quality work that the Prestigious Families investigators did. It was almost like…someone had tampered with the evidence.

Whoever was responsible for it, must have access to the Headquarters. It would be near impossible to even enter the building without a connection to a Prestigious Family.

The more Aaliyah thought about it, the more the lack of evidence was making sense. And despite the investigators concluding the Vicarios were the perpetrators, she didn't fully believe it.

Although the evidence was stacked up against them, it all seemed murky. As if it was a setup. After all, Isabella and Mateo Vicario were found dead a few days after they had been arrested. A suicide, it had been determined.

Aaliyah hadn't heard of their deaths immediately. No. She had been holed up in her new room in the Steel estate, refusing anyone to come near her.

The maids were not allowed into her room to clean it or help her dress—not that Aaliyah even changed her dress the first few days she lived in the estate.

Alastor had even tried to comfort her, his warm brown eyes—the same eyes as Elias—were filled with pain and sorrow but she had slammed her door in his face. 

Ridden with guilt, she had apologized profusely to him a week later when she finally left her room. But he had only smiled kindly at her, with no trace of resentment in his eyes. He instead had asked Aaliyah if she wanted to get some ice cream with Elias and him.

They had all spent a beautiful and fun day together—well beautiful and fun to Alastor and her, not so much to Elias. Elias who had not talked to her once. Aaliyah could have sworn, in his cold eyes, she had seen a burning fire of hatred whenever she attempted to talk to him. 

Besides him raining on their parade, Aaliyah and Alastor had a great time. The day ended with her feeling a little lighter. She had smiled for the first time since her parents had died, the suffocating pain in her had lessened—a bit only a little.

With the day over, Aaliyah had been in her room, getting ready for bed. The heavy sound of rain had filled the silence of her room and the sound of thunder boomed, causing her to jump a little.

It was right after that sound, that Aaliyah had heard a knock on her door. The cursed knock that began the disastrous events to follow.