Yuki
I stormed past the girls, their laughter dying the moment they caught sight of the expression stretched across my face.
Whatever they had been talking about moments earlier immediately became an afterthought as their eyes followed me across the driveway.
I didn’t acknowledge a single one of them.
I couldn’t. If I stopped long enough for anybody to ask me what was wrong, there was a chance the cracks I’d spent years hiding behind would finally give way.
The second I climbed inside my car, I slammed the door shut, cranked the ignition, and sped off the estate without bothering to look in the rearview mirror.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel as the gates disappeared behind me, my pulse refusing to settle no matter how many deep breaths I forced myself to take.
I needed to get back to my estate where my men were waiting. I needed time to think.
More importantly, I needed to figure out how much Masina and Emory actually knew. Of course, if anybody could’ve uncovered what we’d done, it would’ve been Masina.
She had always been smarter than people gave her credit for, and judging by the way she’d looked me in my eyes downstairs, she wasn’t bluffing.
There had been too much certainty behind her words, too much detail for it to be an empty threat meant to shake me.
That didn’t mean I was going to panic, and it damn sure didn’t mean I was about to confess to anything.
Not after everything we’d sacrificed to keep the truth buried.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel until my knuckles turned pale, replaying every word she’d spoken over and over inside my head.
The conversation hadn’t ended the way I’d expected.
I walked into that house believing I was prepared for whatever anger she still carried toward me, but I hadn’t been prepared for her to look at me with pity.
Somehow that hurt more than her hatred ever had.
One minute I was gripping the steering wheel, replaying every word Masina had thrown at me, and the next I was right back on that quiet residential street, headlights washing over a modest brick home that belonged to a man who’d spent far too many years believing his position made him untouchable.
Elias had always been useful to Marius. That was the problem.
After Marius disappeared, every trail we’d followed circled back to one name.
My men had spent weeks tracking burner phones, financial movements, and the few people who’d managed to stay in contact with him without drawing attention to themselves.
Every lead pointed in the same direction. Elias hadn’t just known where Marius was hiding. He’d been actively helping him disappear, moving information, delivering supplies, and making sure nobody got close enough to finish what should’ve been finished years ago.
Which was exactly why I paid him a visit.
The tires barely rolled to a stop before Chen climbed from of the SUV. Two men followed behind him as I remained seated, watching the lights burning inside Elias home.
Beyond those walls was a man who believed his title insulated him from consequences. Tonight, I intended to remind him that titles didn’t stop bullets.
I stepped out of the truck, smoothing the front of my blazer before making my way up to the front porch.
Chen knocked twice. A few moments later, the front door cracked open.
Elias didn't had enough time to register who was standing on his porch before Chen and the others shoved the door wide open, forcing him backward into his own living room.
“What the hell is this?” he shouted, stumbling over his own feet. “Do you know who I am?”
“I do. That’s why I’m here.” I responded, stepping across the threshold.
One of my men grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him down into the recliner positioned in the center of the room.
The television continued playing in the background, filling the silence with meaningless noise as his breathing became noticeably heavier with every passing second.
I walked around the room, taking in the family pictures hanging on the walls.
Smiling faces. Holiday portraits. Awards.
A beautiful crafted life built on respectability.
It was almost amusing how easy people found it to separate the public versions of themselves from the monsters they became behind closed doors.
Finally, I stopped in front of him.
“Hi, Elias.” I folded my hands in front of me.
“Do you know who I am?”
“I—I do,” he stuttered, struggling to keep his composure.
“And this is completely uncalled for. I don’t—”
“Now, Elias.” I cut him off before another lie could find its way out.
“If you know who I am, then you know better than to lie to me. So before you do, I want you to think very carefully about the next words that come out of your mouth after I ask you this question.” I leaned forward just enough for him to understand I wasn’t making idle conversation.
“Do you understand?”
He nodded so quick it, looked painful. I watched beads of sweat begin collecting along his hairline. Fear had a way of stripping powerful men down to who they were beneath the expensive suits and political titles.
“Pay attention,” I snapped as his eyes drifted toward one of my men standing near the doorway. His gaze snapped back to me.
“I’m here for one thing, and one thing only. You’re going to tell me what I want to know.” I paused just long enough to let hope bloom into his chest. “...and I may let you live.”
His fear gave way to arrogance. “I am the respected Chief of this city. Do you really think you can kill me and get away with it?” He shook his head, forcing out a laugh.
“You’re more stupid than Marius gave you credit for.”
The shot rang out before the last word fully left his mouth. A sharp cry tore through the living room as the bullet shattered his kneecap, his body immediately folding sideways in the chair while both hands instinctively reached for the wound.
“You want to keep talking shit...or answer my questions?” I asked over his screams. He gritted his teeth, sweat pouring freely down his face now as every ounce of confidence drained from his expression.
“What the fuck do you want to know?”
“You know what. Where is he?”
For the first time since I’d walked into his house, he stopped pretending.
When he reached toward his pocket, every weapon in the room lifted at once.
I raised my hand, ordering my men to hold their fire.
Elias removed a black Android burner phone before tapping across the cracked screen with trembling fingers.
A few moments later he turned it toward me, revealing the last location Marius had sent him. Judging by the coordinates, it was another one of his temporary hideouts.
Chen stepped forward, snatching the phone from his hand before forwarding the location to the rest of my security detail. I never looked away from Elias.
“You see, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
“Fuck you.” He spat at my feet.
“Go to hell, you evil bitch.”
I looked down at the spit resting near my shoes before lifting my eyes back to his. “You first, you sick ass fat bastard.”
Without another word, I took Chen’s pistol from his holster and fired a single round between Elias’ eyes. His body went limp followed by the whisp of the gunshot that had completely died inside the room. I handed the pistol back to Chen before dusting invisible lint from the sleeve of my blazer.
“Leave him here for his stupid wife and big-mouth son to find. That should teach Cazmir to run his mouth to Majesty about my business.” The men nodded.
“After his funeral,” I continued as we turned toward the front door, “that’s when we’ll make our move on Marius.
Not a moment before then. I want him comfortable.
I want him believing the only man who knew where he was died protecting his secrets.
When he least expects us to come...” I glanced back once at Elias’ lifeless body. “...that’s when we’ll finish this.”
I walked out of his home the same way I’d entered it—calm, composed, and without looking back. By the time Elias’ body was discovered, every finger would point toward Marius. The two of them had spent years covering one another’s tracks, sharing secrets capable of destroying both of their empires.
To the outside world, it would make perfect sense that Marius had eliminated the one man capable of exposing him once the walls began closing in.
After all, what reason would anyone have to believe I wanted Elias dead? As our convoy disappeared into the night, I leaned back against the leather seat and allowed myself the smallest smile. For the first time in a very long time, Marius wasn’t the only one setting traps.
The memory faded as quickly as it had come, pulling me back to the present just as my SUV turned beneath the iron gates of my estate. I didn’t regret killing Elias.
Not for one second.
The world had lost a corrupt police chief, but the truth was far uglier than the badge he’d worn on his chest ever allowed people to see.
Elias wasn’t just another crooked politician with dirty money tucked away in offshore accounts.
He was one of the many reasons Marius and Luka had managed to build an empire trafficking children through the very foster care system that was supposed to protect them.
He signed paperwork that should’ve never been approved.
He looked the other way when children disappeared.
He buried investigations before they ever reached a courtroom.
Teenage girls had become another commodity to him, another transaction, another opportunity to line his pockets while pretending to serve the city.
Men like that didn’t deserve retirement.
They deserved judgment.