Page 5

The man they called the Beast of the Twins.

CHAPTER 2

ARKANE

I never considered this world to be a fair place.

Nothing was fair about the boy who stole to survive, nothing fair about the woman who sold her body to feed her son, nothing fair about the bodies of evil men heaped over the edge of my city. Nothing fair about any of it.

I took calculated measures. Measures that some would consider immoral to keep my city from falling. And the Stormholds have upheld that honor for generations.

Twin City was the most powerful hub on the East Coast, and it was ours.

There wasn’t a living person in the city, or the entire East, for that matter, who went against our word. All the trade, businesses, and political leaders were under our control. We knew all their dirty little secrets, and they operated under our rule to ensure the balance never tipped too far in one direction. One wrong move, and they knew the Stormholds would have their throats—at least those who valued their lives knew.

Yet still, someone dared. Someone dared to touch my family in our territory, in plain sight, and still get away with it.

My city was no longer safe.

The rule my father held with a loose grip and a soft heart made worms crawl their way in. And my father fed them for thirteen years, but their appetite only grew bigger and bigger, and soon, their hunger started to devour everything in sight.

For years, I watched quietly as he made one mistake after another, not saying a word because any protest on my part would’ve been considered a direct disrespect to the family. So I did my duty without question. And now, finally, at thirty-three as the eldest son, I inherited our family’s legacy four months ago. Only my father gave me the keys to a kingdom that was rotting from the inside out. For a man who showed me no kindness since birth, I wondered if, for once, he had treated me like a son instead of a machine, would we even be in this mess right now.

It wasn’t a role I wanted. It still isn’t something I liked, but I had no other choice. I vowed to keep my family safe, and that was one promise I swore my loyalty to.

But now the balance was tipping; the power scales in the Twins were being questioned, and everyone wanted a piece. The weak reign my father held had finally shown its true colors, and now it was my job to clean this mess. Losing Twins would only happen over my dead body.

I knew one miscalculated weakness on our end could cost us everything. I certainly wasn’t willing to lose my family or my city to anything or anyone. I had already almost lost the most important person in my life. So for months, I closed the city and waited patiently. And now that the fish had landed on the hook, nothing was going to stop me, not until I cleaned up my city for good. Once and for all.

“We’ve word on the matter,” Mikhail announced in his usual monotonous tone. I didn’t have to see him to know that he was staring at me with his cold brown eyes in his sturdy posture, ready to take on any intruders who would jump inside one of the safest homes in the Twins. Even though the chances were slim to none, that was Mikhail—always on high alert and one of the best soldiers on my team. Mikhail and I shared an unexplainable bond. I wouldn’t call us friends. We were more than that. We didn’t need to speak to understand each other, and as a man who had taken more than a bullet for me, he was the only person I trusted with my life at the moment.

For one more second, I took in the ocean that served as my backyard, knowing very well that my days from now on would be as chaotic as the choppy waves crashing over the cliff. Even then, this place brought me peace. It was the only reason I chose it. I knew no one could touch me here.

“Perfect,” I eventually said, turning to Mikhail. “Let’s get this started, shall we?”

Bellerose Esteal

They called her Beauty because she took a life beautifully. She marveled in the act as if killing were a craft, her favorite hobby. I never gave her much thought. I never gave any of the Valerians much thought. As long as they stayed in their lane and didn’t interfere with my business, I didn’t give a fuck about them. And for the most part, they didn’t. In fact, they helped keep my territory clean.

The Valerian Organization was a group of highly trained assassins, spies, and secret agents who functioned independently and remained neutral with Alacteon. They called themselves the peacekeepers and were stationed around the world to eliminate any threat to innocent people. Their adage was Death before question, and they stuck to it. They killed confidently before asking questions—they didn’t believe in a fair trial. They believed in death for the evil, and surprisingly, it was one sentiment I agreed with them on.

As immoral as I was when it came to my territory, the skin trade was strictly prohibited in my land. Our family respected women and children, and that was one line we never crossed.

But predators loved to lurk through the shadows and take what wasn’t supposed to be theirs. Yet I didn’t even have to lift a finger to deal with the matter because the Valerians always took care of it, and I gladly let them.

Bellerose was a S-class Valerian assassin at night, and a librarian at the Twin Codex by day, and lived with her two sisters in the Lowers. She loved to kill. Especially men. She loved to stake their head over the city lines on display.

From her file, I pictured a ruthless, cold-hearted killer with a stiff, ugly face. Not this beautiful woman in front of me. She knew I was here, yet she carried on arranging the books without sparing me a glance. It worked for me because it gave me time to appreciate the Beauty in real life.

She wore a dress. Even last night, she was in a silk dress that hugged her curves and a pair of three-inch gold-pointed pure black heels. The last thing any sensible assassin would wear. But not Bellerose Esteal.

The flowing material of her skirt swung in the air as she rose on the tiptoes of her heeled shoes to slide a book into place on the top shelf. The motion made the ladder sway, and if I knew nothing about her, I would’ve rushed over to keep her from falling.

But Bellerose spent eight years in the Valerian mountain to become the formidable weapon that she was. A mere ladder wouldn’t dare to scratch her pretty skin.

And she was not just pretty—she was beautiful.

Breathtakingly beautiful.