The next morning, a warrant of arrest was filed against Susan Hail by the Governor. All it took for the police to get their arses moving was to provide proof that she was behind all of it. The Governor had to be interviewed in his hospital bed just to put the woman behind bars.Aemond and Governor Reeves immediately took it to the media to broadcast Susan’s treachery, and before I knew it, she was already making headlines over the news. Aemond, Sebastian, and I watched on the big screen as the police and the journalists swarmed Susan on her way to her company. The paparazzi are going to earn a lot from her.“Beautiful execution,” Aemond raised a toast for Sebastian and me. “A little act and an inside job were all it took to get my father back to safety. Couldn’t have ever done it without you.” We clink glasses and sip from our glasses. The sweet taste of victory still overpowered my mouth. I never knew vengeance tasted this addictive. “Susan Hail is officially off the grid.”“Not q
Sebastian wouldn't come in the other line and its getting me worried. The operation was already taking longer than we have been expecting and Aemond and I are running out of topics to entertain the Hails. We needed him to come in fast.“First Mr. Novair and now Mr. Reeves,” a voice came in and Selene stumbled through the door with a smug grin in her face. "You really are something, huh Kierra?““Whatever you say, Selene.” I gave her a sweet smile, not wanting to escalate things further. Getting in trouble now would lessen the possibility of us buying time for Sebastian to find the Governor.“Are you doing this on purpose?” she washed her hands in the sink beside mine. “Donating that huge sum of money to a Hail orphanage. I don't know where you got those funds, but it seems like to me that you just want to rub it off.”“A large sum of money, indeed. Something you will never have.” I replied sharply.Selene then dried her hands off and started to adjust her earrings.“Boucheron in eight
Their faces paled like a sheet of paper when I emerged from the door with Aemond. Their expressions were indescribable, and I savored the taste of angst with a sultry smile. My eyes focused on Damian sitting with Selene and their son, Darius. “Kierra? And Mr. Reeves?” Damian’s eyes shifted to Susan’s, who merely mustered up a cough to break the silence in the room. “Of course, of course! Come sit.”Aemond pulled a chair for me, and I settled in. I could feel the joy in the table evaporate as my presence choked them. As it should.“It’s been a while, Kierra.” I turned my head to Davide, and I still couldn’t fully make eye contact with him. He, too, has hurt me in ways you couldn’t imagine.“I didn’t know you were Mr. Reeve’s muse now. Not to insult anyone, but the last time I remembered you were Damian’s.”“Mr. Reeves and I are business partners,” I explained to him.“And do you think of her that way, Mr. Reeves?”“I’d like to think Miss Evans and I are something more.”I smile di
The Hails. A name that struck fear and whispered silence across Carvelle.Three siblings. Damian. Davide. Susan.Each of them ran an empire built on sin. Damian controlled an expansive pyramid scheme masked as investment portfolios. Davide drowned the lower sectors of the city in drugs so pure they could kill with a single line. And Susan? Susan’s crimes were the blackest of them all—child trafficking. A twisted empire of missing children and shattered innocence.One might ask, how have they not been caught?The answer was simple: power and protection. The Carvelle police were little more than dogs on a leash, turning a blind eye in exchange for wealth and favors. To fight monsters like the Hails, the government had resorted to darkness of its own—hiring off-the-record mercenary groups and vigilante mobs. Noir de Costas was one of them. Ruthless, calculating, and untraceable.The Hails masked their operations under the pristine guise of a corporation: Eboncorp. A conglomerate of ‘sust
“Madam Kierra! Look at this!”I was shaken to my core as one of the household maids handed me a picture of Alberto’s body hanging on the orphanage’s entrance for the world to see. The sight was gruesome, his flesh torn apart and his tongue cut— a huge incision on his belly. A muck liquid poured from his body, black like tar and gasoline. I dropped the phone to the ground, shocked.“W-What the fuck..?”Alberto’s haunted face lingered in my head as if his picture was carved in my head. His body was all over the news.I had been looking for Alberto for days. And so was Sebastian.As if on cue, I hear commotion downstairs. Rummaging footsteps of many men— Noir de Costas finally returning from their hunt. I knew they were responsible for this.I immediately stormed downstairs. Nearly forty members of Sebastian’s infamous gang perched their heads on the staircase to look at me. Men with bulky bodies, littered with tattoos— but the most prominent one, a dragon with a moon. The symbol of N
“The game is on.” Sebastian and I surveyed the peaceful streets of Carvelle from the top of a skyscraper. Here, we could see every silhouette of a human, passing like ants on the streets. Every misdemeanor, every little piece of trash hiding in the alleys. The wind blew, and I held on to the rails. I never told anyone I was afraid of heights. Sebastian closed his eyes as the cold night breeze wafted his glorious visage, the strands of his midnight black hair somehow glittered in the light of the moon. I did not allow my mesmerization by his beauty to escape my lips.God… he would’ve been so attractive— if only he didn’t kill people.His eyes shifted to mine, and I immediately pulled them away and cleared my throat. “Should we get to it?”He smirks, too excited to play this little game of his.“Let’s go play cat and mouse with Alberto Ruiz.” ________Noir de Costas were spread all over the city that night. When the clock turned 10 and curfew for minors kicked in, the streets becam
“Madam! A word for the media, please—!”Cameras flashed wildly. Reporters shoved their microphones in my face, their voices overlapping in a sea of chaos. Swarms of people surrounded me as I made my way toward the main entrance of Sebastian’s company. The security team strained to hold the crowd back while my bodyguards cleared a narrow path for me.I clenched my jaw and pushed forward.I didn’t have time for this.Why the urgency?Because when I woke up this morning—Alberto was gone.Not in the guest room, not in the hallway, not even caught sneaking into the kitchen for his favorite strawberry milk. I had searched every inch of the estate. Nothing. No note, no call. Just… gone.That boy never vanished without a reason. My gut twisted with dread.The moment I stepped into the building, the pressure in my chest only intensified. The click of my heels echoed sharply against the pristine marble floor as I made a beeline for the elevator. The corporate employees parted like the Red Sea,
“Let me fucking out of here!”With a strong kick, the tip of my heels grazes through the man’s neck, which topples him to the ground. Right now, I am in the questioning room demanding an answer from the only man we could keep alive from the rescue. The other children were taken into Sebastian’s friend, who was a child welfare officer.But we still didn’t get any leads about Mr. Reeves.This is the only man we can question. And we need answers before daylight.Before the news explodes to Susan herself.“I said fucking let me out, lady!”I grabbed his hair and pulled him to face me. He winced in pain as he stared at me with hopeless, bloodshot eyes. “The only time you’ll be let out is when you die.” “Then fucking kill me.”“Don’t get too excited. That will soon come.” I crossed my arms and sat on a stool. “In the meantime, you and I can be very good friends.”“Fuck you!” he spat at me, livid. “Do you really think no one will me?!”“Yes.” I answered almost immediately. “Do you?”The m
Sneaking into the orphanage’s backyard took a lot of time.Upon arriving in that godforsaken place, I could immediately spot the vehicles the children were talking about.It wasn’t blocking the gate now. It had been parked to the side with its whirring engine.Sebastian and I stayed behind the thickets, crouching—while the rest of his men plundered in like flooding shadows. The dilapidated house was surrounded by Noir de Costas, and we were ready to wage war to get those kids.“We should’ve come at a time when these people weren’t around,” Sebastian scolded me slowly. It was I who had barged in here after insisting on saving the children right then and there.I couldn’t wait any longer.“I don’t like sitting still and watching people die. I’ve learned from that already.”“You’ll bring all my men to their deathbeds,” he continued to scold me while reloading his .22 pistol. “I know I told you to use everything I have at your disposal, but princess— I have to admit, this is insanity.”I