Chapter 2 No.2

'Seven' POV

The morning light filtering into my penthouse was the color of bruised iron, a cold, grey hue that did nothing to warm the minimalist luxury of the room.

I sat in a bespoke leather chair, the city of Marseille sprawling beneath me like a map of missed opportunities. On the glass table in front of me sat my Damascus steel stiletto. It was a beautiful thing-the ripples in the metal resembling a dark, stormy sea.

I was meticulously oiling the blade, the cloth moving in slow, rhythmic circles.

The door to my private quarters didn't open, but the air shifted. The Butler materialized in the entryway, his presence as unobtrusive as a funeral shroud. He didn't speak immediately; he waited for me to finish the stroke on the blade.

"A tragic mechanical failure," the Butler announced, his voice a monotone drone that suggested he was reading from a script he found tedious. "Her speedboat exploded last night during a routine transit to the mainland. High-velocity impact with a submerged reef. No remains were recovered from the wreckage. Don Silas sends his condolences to the remaining Heirs."

I didn't pause my polishing. I didn't let the cloth slip. But inside, the gears of my mind, a steel trap that had been forged in the same fires as hers, began to snap shut.

"A shame," I said softly. "She was the most promising of us. To die by a faulty engine... it seems a waste of the Don's investment."

The Butler bowed slightly and retreated. I waited until I heard the faint click of the outer door before I slammed the stiletto into the wooden arm of the chair.

Bullshit.

Nine-Seraphina-dying from an engine fault was as likely as a shark drowning in the shallows. Silas didn't breed apex predators to die by accident. He bred us to die by each other's hands, or to die for his whims.

If Nine was "dead," it meant she had been moved. The game hadn't ended; it had just been reset, and I was being left in the dark.

That night, the air felt thick with the metallic scent of killing intent. It was a physical sensation, a prickling on the back of my neck that had saved my life a dozen times during the Culling. I stepped out of my private elevator into the foyer of my home, and the silence was too heavy.

My two primary guards-men I had personally vetted from the local mercenary guilds-lay in a heap near the coat closet. They weren't dead, but they were breathing through broken jaws.

From the shadows of the vaulted ceiling, a masked figure lunged. It was a blur of black tactical gear and frantic, unrefined motion. A serrated knife aimed flawlessly at the soft tissue of my throat.

I didn't retreat. I pivoted on my heel, the stiletto already in my hand. I caught the attacker's wrist, the sound of bone shattering under my grip echoing in the marble foyer. I drove my knee into his solar plexus and pinned him to the cold concrete floor, my blade hovering a fraction of a millimeter from his eye.

The attacker didn't beg. He hissed, a reckless, suicidal ferocity radiating from him that gave him away instantly.

I dragged him down the service stairs to my subterranean wine cellar-a place where the walls were thick enough to dampen any sound. I strapped him to a heavy wooden chair beneath a single, harsh bulb. With a jerk of my hand, I ripped the silver mask off.

"'Twelve'," I said, my voice dripping with a mix of pity and annoyance.

Twelve was the youngest of the remaining pool, a boy who had always been more heart than head. His eyes burned with a rabid, futile hatred. He was shaking, not with fear, but with the sheer force of his grief.

I casually walked to the rack and uncorked a vintage Barolo, the sound of the cork popping like a small explosion in the quiet room. "You think I killed her. You think I sabotaged her boat to clear my path to the succession. You came for your Vendetta."

Twelve spat blood onto the floor. "You always hated her. You were jealous that she was Silas's favorite. You're a coward, Seven. You couldn't beat her in the pit, so you killed her in the dark."

I stepped closer, the wine glass in my hand. "You have a short memory, Twelve. Years ago, when you failed that reconnaissance mission in Istanbul, Silas ordered your execution. It was Nine who smuggled you out, who hid you in the cargo hold of a freighter and claimed to the instructors that you had been killed by the local police. For that lie, Silas hung her over the Cistern for two days in the dead of winter. She traded half her life and three of her ribs for your freedom."

I tipped the glass. The dark red wine cascaded over Twelve's head, soaking his hair and face like thick arterial blood. "And here you are, throwing away the life she suffered to save on a misguided suicide mission against me. You are a traitor to her memory. Un traditore."

A choked, ragged sound tore from Twelve's throat. His will, which had been a jagged glass shard moments ago, pulverized into dust. He slumped in the chair, the weight of his own stupidity finally crushing him.

"Silas played us all," I whispered, leaning in so close that our foreheads almost touched. "She isn't dead. I know her better than anyone. If she were dead, the world would feel colder. He smuggled her off the island. He's using her for something bigger than the Culling."

The dead look in Twelve's eyes ignited with a desperate, flickering fire. "Where? Where would he send her?"

"She is in New York," I continued, securing the invisible leash around his neck with every word. "I have contacts in the harbor. There was a private transport registered to a Russo front company. Go there. Find her. Do not let her see you, but watch her. If she is in trouble, you help her. If she is the one causing the trouble... you report to me. That is your only path to redemption. Get out before I change my mind about the value of your life."

I cut his restraints. He didn't say a word. He bolted up the stairs, a man resurrected by the hope of a dead woman.

Marco, my Capo and the only man I trusted to handle my logistics, stepped from the shadows of the wine racks once Twelve was gone. "Letting her loyal ghost walk free is a fatal mistake, boss. He's a loose cannon."

I chuckled, pouring myself a fresh glass of the Barolo. "If Nine wants to stay hidden, we won't find her. Not with all the technology in the world. But a starving bloodhound with a sense of debt? He'll lead us straight to her viper's nest. Have our men shadow him from a distance. New York is about to get very crowded."