THE BLACK VEIL ORGANIZATION
"The Ice Queen's here."
"Shut up—she'll hear you."
"So what? We're agents too. She can't touch us."
"But damn, she's gorgeous."
"Please. She probably slept her way to the top."
Tori's footsteps echoed through the corridor—light, deliberate, lethal. Conversations died as she passed. No one met her eyes.
Let them talk. They were ants. And ants could be crushed.
She stopped at a mahogany door, knocked once.
A grunt from inside. Permission.
The scene that greeted her was typical: Master Derrick with a woman draped across his lap. Cecilia Warren, the organization's resident seductress, smirked at Tori like she'd already won something.
Tori's expression didn't flicker.
"Master. About the mission—"
"Is mandatory." Derrick's eyes slid over her body, and Tori's skin crawled. "Come here."
Her pulse spiked. "I came to reject it."
"I said, Come here." His voice dropped an octave, taking on a commanding tone. Dark.
He patted his empty thigh.
Tori's stomach turned. In all her years under Derrick's command, he'd never been this blatant. He'd always hidden his depravity behind professional coldness.
Not anymore.
"Are you defying me?" The temperature in the room plummeted.
Tori held her ground. "I'm rejecting the mission. Nothing else."
Cecilia's smirk widened. This was entertainment for her—watching the "innocent" Ice Queen squirm.
Derrick leaned back, his smile predatory. "Fine. Let me clarify your options. Option one: infiltrate Bell Royal's company. Hack his system. Destroy it from the inside. Complete this mission, and you earn your freedom."
Tori's jaw tightened. Bell Royal. The Devil. Every agent sent after him had disappeared.
"Option two," Derrick continued, his gaze heavy with intent, "become mine. My woman. I've watched you grow up, Tori. I know every piece of you. This way, you get your freedom without risking your life. Easy choice, isn't it?"
Bile rose in her throat.
The room closed in—Derrick's leering gaze, Cecilia's satisfied smirk, the suffocating reality that she'd never truly been free.
"I start tomorrow."
She turned and walked out before he could see her hands shake.
---
Tori's legs carried her on autopilot—down hallways, through exit doors, past security checkpoints—until she stood at the organisation's back lake.
Dawn painted the sky in bruised purples and bleeding oranges. Beautiful. Mocking.
Freedom whispered in the wind, but it was a lie.
She'd promised her siblings freedom too. And now—
'Whoosh.'
Instinct kicked in. Tori dodged, and a knife embedded itself in the tree behind her.
She recognised the initials on the handle immediately.
"What are you doing at our spot without me?"
Matrix emerged from the shadows, his voice too pretty for a trained killer. Androgynous features, sharp eyes that missed nothing.
Her brother in everything but blood.
"Studying the sky," Tori said.
"Bullshit." He sat beside her, expression hardening. "What happened?"
"I'm being sent after Bell Royal."
Matrix shot to his feet. "What?!"
"I had no choice—"
"No choice? Tori, he's called the *Devil* for a reason! Everyone sent after him dies. What about me? What about the kids?" His voice cracked. "They only care about you. And you're just going to throw your life away?"
Tears gathered in his eyes—rare, precious things from a man who'd been trained not to feel.
Tori stood and brushed them away with gentle fingers. "I'm not throwing anything away. I have a plan."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not." She caught his hands. "Matrix, you know me. I wouldn't walk into hell without an exit strategy. When the time comes, I'll tell you everything. But right now, I need you to trust me."
He searched her face, then pulled her into a crushing hug.
"You'd better come back," he whispered.
"I will."
She didn't tell him the truth: that her only two options were the Devil or becoming Derrick's plaything. That she'd chosen the Devil because at least with him, she'd die with her dignity intact.
Some things brothers didn't need to know.
---
Darkness swallowed Midwest Royal, but the city lights transformed it into a glittering sprawl of sin and possibility.
Tori sat on the roof of a medical research building—her favourite perch. Up here, she could pretend she was free.
The wind tangled through her hair, and for one moment, she let herself breathe—
CRACK.
Gunshot.
Tori was on her feet instantly, nightshade glasses deployed. The specialised lenses cut through darkness like a blade through silk, overlaying thermal signatures and structural outlines.
Her fingers flew across her laptop keyboard, slicing through the city's traffic camera system like it was made of paper. The security office would see ghost signals—nothing more.
Where?
The shot came from nearby. She cycled through camera feeds, searching—
There.
A hidden camera in an alley caught the tail end of the movement. Dark figures. Tactical precision.
And bodies. Lots of bodies.
Tori's blood went cold.
The Snakehead Gang.
She recognised their tattoos—serpents coiled around throats, marking them as elite enforcers for one of the nation's most feared criminal organisations. They controlled territories across the country, had legitimate businesses as fronts, and politicians in their pockets.
And someone had just massacred them.
The masked figures moved with military efficiency, neutralising targets before they could scream. In minutes, it was over. The Snakehead Gang's leadership—gone.
Who would be insane enough to—
Her phone buzzed.
'BREAKING: Snakehead Gang Eliminated Nationwide. All Assets Seized by Bell Royal.'
Tori's heart stopped.
One night. He'd wiped out an entire criminal empire in *one night*.
Her fingers trembled as she looked back at her laptop screen—
And froze.
A figure stood in the alley, staring directly at the hidden camera.
Directly at her.
Half his face was shadowed, but his eyes—God, those eyes—burned through the darkness. Heterochromia. Silver and gold. Inhuman.
Recognition slammed into her like a bullet.
Bell Royal.
He knew. Somehow, he knew she was watching.
The corners of his mouth lifted—not quite a smile. A promise.
Then he turned and disappeared into the shadows, leaving nothing behind but corpses and a message:
'I see you.'
Tori slammed her laptop shut, pulse racing.
She'd thought she was the hunter.
But the Devil had been watching her all along.
---