Semua Bab THE DEVIL'S TOY CAME FOR REVENGE : Bab 11 - Bab 20

ERDEMTwo days after I caught Hendrix in the corridor, I assigned him to cleanup duty.He was given simple tasks: helping servants clear dishes after meals, organizing storage rooms, assisting with laundry. Menial work designed to be humiliating for someone who'd sat beside me at the captain's dinner.I watched Hendrix through surveillance as he moved through the estate performing servant duties with the same careful precision he applied to everything else.He didn't complain or resist. Didn't show any sign that he considered the work degrading.Konstantin entered my office with the daily security report."Sir, Hendrix has been compliant during cleanup duties," he said."He's too compliant, Konstantin," I said. "Keep him away from the lower levels.""Yes, sir."HENDRIXOn the third day of cleanup duty, I was assigned to help clear wine storage after a delivery.The same storage room where the steward had entered the code I'd memorized. The same area near the service corridors I'd trie

ERDEM The courtyard attack had left the estate unsettled in that specific way gunfire always did: not in the shouting or the running or the blood, but in the quiet that followed once everyone had been forced back inside and the doors had been locked again. That was when a house told the truth about itself. A fortress became a cage. A family became a target. And every person inside it started revealing what they were willing to do to survive. I sat in my study with my injured shoulder exposed while the doctor worked, his hands quick and careful as he stitched the graze I had taken near the upper seam of the muscle. The pain was useful, it sharpened things and kept me from thinking too broadly. Or rather, it should have. Hendrix stood near the wall, quiet and still, with two guards behind him and one by the door. He had been brought here under the excuse of supervision. Suspicion, really. The sort of suspicion I did not bother to hide. If someone had wanted to breach my esta

ERDEM The warehouse sat at the edge of the river district. From the outside, it looked ordinary enough. Concrete walls. Rusted metal shutters. Two loading bays. Floodlights mounted high on the corners. Men moving crates in the dark with the stiff, efficient posture of people who knew enough not to ask what they were handling. That was how Niko liked his operations. I stood across the street in the black of the parked vehicle and watched the building through the rain-streaked glass while Konstantin finished his briefing on the comm. "Three exits confirmed," he said. "Front bay, rear service door, and a narrow dock access on the west side, and at least twelve armed men." "Any sign of Niko himself?" "No." I looked at the building and said nothing for a moment. Then: "He doesn’t need to be here." Konstantin hesitated. "No, sir." That was the problem with men like Niko Arzan. They never stayed where the blood would touch them if they could help it. They made other men hold the

HENDRIXA maid entered my room carrying a silver tray with tea, bread, and a small white envelope resting beside the cup. She placed everything on the table near the window, kept her eyes lowered, and stepped back."From Mrs. Veyra," she said.Mrs. Veyra.I looked at the envelope without touching it.The maid waited."Does she expect an answer?""Yes."The maid's fingers tightened around the edge of her apron.I picked up the envelope.My name was written across the front in dark, elegant handwriting.Hendrix Vale.Inside, there was one line.Tea in ten minutes Come alone.I almost laughed.Come alone.In Erdem's house, no one came alone.There were cameras in every hall, guards stationed outside every important door, and servants who carried information more efficiently than any telephone, even the walls seemed to have ears.Still, the invitation was not really a request for privacy.I glanced toward the camera in the corner.Last night's interrogation still lived beneath my skin.I

ERDEMThe man was begging.That was what I remembered first.Not his face, not his name.Only the sound of his voice breaking against the walls."Please."The word echoed in my head."Please, I have children."I was fourteen.My hands were too small for the pistol my father had placed in them, but the weapon felt heavy enough to belong to someone already ruined. The grip pressed into my palm. My finger rested beside the trigger exactly as I had been taught.The man knelt in front of me, his shirt was torn. One side of his face had swollen shut, blood ran from his mouth and dripped onto the concrete between his knees.My father stood behind me."Look at him," he said.I did.The man's eyes were wide with terror.My father's hand settled against the back of my neck.Not gently, he was never gently."What do you see?"I swallowed hard."A traitor.""Wrong."The man looked at me."Please, son. Please, I didn’t—"My father's fingers tightened."What do you see?"I stared at the kneeling ma