Colin’s knuckles were white on the wheel, eyes bloodshot with frustration and tension. “Lili,” he growled, casting a side glance at his daughter, who sat rigid in the passenger seat, while her yellow eyes scanned the treeline and the road ahead, reading heat like a silent radar. “It’s too damn hard to drive when you’ve got me on edge like this.”
“Keep going!” she snapped. “If I’m right about who killed Torin, we are in deep shit. And slowing down won’t save us.”
Astonia sat in the back, her usually calm demeanor now frayed with nerves, eyes flicking from window to window.
They had just cleared the city’s edge, the sprawl of buildings swallowed by open road and forest, when the sound of wind shifted and four figures landed in a perfect arc in front of the car.
“Shit!” Colin cursed, jerking the wheel and spinning the vehicle to a jarring halt, tires skidding sideways on the gravel shoulder.
Lili cursed under her breath, exhaled slowly as she closed her eyes to calm herself down. When they opened again, they burned with focus.
“I know them,” she said. “Don’t act until I say otherwise. Follow my lead.”
Without waiting for protest, Lili stepped out of the car. Her boots crunched against the road as she walked ahead. Colin and Astonia exchanged a quick, charged glance before following.
Four figures stood without moving yet, masks covering their faces. Lili’s eyes moved from one to another.
The tallest among them stepped forward.
Lili stopped a few paces ahead. “Deran,” she said with a nod.
To Deran’s right stood Aaron. The other two were unfamiliar, but clearly Deran’s men.
Deran lowered his mask fully now, revealing a wide smirk. “Lili. Still walking between shadows and loyalty, I see.”
“I walk where I need to,” she replied. “And unless you’re here to mourn Torin with flowers, I’m guessing you’re not standing on this road for nostalgia’s sake.”
“No,” Deran said, voice dropping with intent. “We came to see which side of the fire you’d fall on now that your leash is burned to ash.”
Her red gaze gleamed. “Depends on what you are offering.”
Behind her, Colin’s hand twitched, but Astonia reached out and gripped his arm gently.
Deran studied her, the smirk never leaving his face, though his eyes betrayed something wariness.
He gestured lazily with a gloved hand toward the woods behind him. “I’m not here to draw blood unless someone else makes the first cut.”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed. He said nothing, but a faint frost curled at his fingertips.
Lili didn’t move, but her voice, when it came again, was more measured. “Why meet me like this, after Torin’s body isn’t even cold in the ground yet?”
Deran’s smirk thinned. “Because everything is shifting. You and I both know Fosin doesn’t have the spine to hold that seat.”
“And you’re here to offer me what? A seat beside you instead?”
Deran chuckled once. “You were never meant to sit beside anyone, Lili. You’re meant to lead.”
Colin shifted behind her. “Over my dead body,” he muttered.
Lili didn’t flinch, but her heart beat faster. “I’m not interested in that, Deran,” she said finally.
His smile faltered. “You’ve changed,” he said. “The Lili I remember wouldn’t have hesitated.”
Lili let out a short giggle. “Really?” she drawled. “Funny how memories work. I remember you constantly asking me to join your little band. And now…” She took a step forward. “Now you’re suggesting me to lead the whole damn syndicate?” Her voice dipped into something colder. “Why, Deran? Don’t tell me the crown suddenly weighs too heavy for your head. Or you finally think you’re too weak to carry it alone?”
Deran’s jaw clenched, but then he smiled again. This time slower. “I’m not weak, Lili. But I’m not stupid either. Power… it changes shape.”
He took a step back. “You were always the storm, Lili. But only now have I learned how to stop fighting it.”
Lili didn’t smile this time. Her stare was a warning not to do anything reckless.
And Deran got the message. He turned without another word and he disappeared. Aaron followed him, casting one last glance back. Others followed.
Colin stepped beside her. “Arrogant bastard.”
Lili’s gaze remained fixed on the trees. “Yeah,” she muttered. “But he’s right about one thing.”
Astonia, quieter than both, asked, “What’s that?”
Lili exhaled slowly. “The game’s changed. And I don’t think any of us are ready for the next move.”
Colin scowled as the figures vanished into the trees. “That arrogant bastard,” he muttered. “What the hell was that all about? He shows up and throws you into the center of this mess? Why would he want you to lead the damn mafia?”
Astonia, arms crossed, brow furrowed. “Unless… unless it wasn’t a real offer at all.”
They both turned to look at Lili. But she didn’t answer at first. Instead, she smiled. “Because it was a test,” she said. “Deran knows how to play his cards. That’s how he’s survived this long. The moment I would’ve said anything that even hinted I might want that throne…”
Her eyes flicked to both of them. “I’d have become the threat.”
Colin’s frown deepened. “So that’s how the game is played now? Test your enemies, then decide if you kill them?”
Lili turned toward the path where Deran had vanished, her smile fading slowly.
***
Mike and Rafael stood, their eyes already locked on the car even before the engine died.
Colin’s car pulled to a halt in front of the base.
Lili turned toward her father and mother. Her voice dropped to a whisper immediately:
“Don’t say anything about our encounter.”
Colin blinked, eyes flashing with confusion. “What? Why the hell not?”
But before he could say more, Lili opened the door and stepped out into the cold hush of morning. She didn’t look back.
Colin gripped the wheel tighter, jaw working. “She can’t just—”
“Let her,” Astonia murmured, resting a calming hand on his arm. “She knows what she’s doing.”
Outside, Lili moved toward Mike and Rafael.
As Mike stepped forward, he stated what was already written across her face:
“You ran into something.”
Lili didn’t blink. She only let out a slow exhale:
“Yeah,” she said. “Like we all did. With the fucking news.”
Mike’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t press yet. Rafael, standing at his side, shifted subtly.
“Torin’s dead,” Rafael said slowly.
Lili shrugged. “Didn’t expect him to die in bed, but didn’t expect it to be this soon.”
“You’re taking it… calmly,” Mike observed.
She gave a quiet chuckle. “I had a front seat to that circus for long enough. You don’t mourn the puppet master when the strings finally snap.”
Lili walked inside the base.
Colin and Astonia stood behind her in silence. Colin’s jaw was tight, Astonia watched her daughter with a mixture of awe and worry. But Lili didn’t look back at them. Her eyes stayed on Mike and Rafael.
Colin and Astonia had just turned when Rafael’s voice snapped through the air: “Stop.”
They froze. Colin met Rafael’s eyes and instantly regretted it.
“You saw something.”
Astonia straightened. “She said it wasn’t time to tell.”
“She’s not the one who decides when it’s time to tell!” Rafael snapped, and the force of it made even Mike raise a brow.
Colin held his ground. “We were outnumbered. They didn’t attack. She handled it.”
“She’s not just some rogue trying to clean up her past anymore,” Rafael growled, stepping in closer. “She’s wearing our badge now. This is our base. Our people. And you’re telling me she made contact with our enemies and you just let her walk away from it?”
“She said she knew them. Said they weren’t a threat,” Colin answered, though his tone betrayed the doubt beneath.
“And what if she’s wrong?” Rafael hissed.
Mike finally broke his silence. “Raf—”
“No,” Rafael cut in. “If she’s hiding dealings with people we have orders to track and arrest, then she’s bending protocol.”
He turned to Colin directly, his voice lower now, rough and angry. “You’re my friend, Colin. But if I find out you helped her cover this up knowing what she’s doing, then I will file the breach report myself.”
Colin flinched, but nodded. “Understood.”
Astonia placed a hand on her husband’s arm, guiding him back with soft eyes, but Rafael’s gaze followed them all the way until the base doors swallowed them inside.
Mike gave Rafael a look. “You think she’s slipping?”
“I think,” Rafael muttered, “she never really left the war she was taken into.” Then, after a pause, quieter: “And I think the next time we will want to ask what she’s hiding… she might not let us ask at all.”
***
Lili had barely started unpacking her bag when the message blinked across her screen:
Report to Rafael’s office. Immediately.
She didn’t sigh. Didn’t roll her eyes. But the stiffness in her spine said enough.
When she stepped in, the heavy door clicked shut behind her.
Rafael stood behind his desk, arms crossed tight over his chest. Mike sat off to the side, hands steepled beneath his chin.
Lili arched an eyebrow. “You called?”
“Sit,” Rafael ordered.
That made her blink, but she obeyed, lowering herself into the chair. “Okay… What’s this about?”
Rafael leaned forward. “You’re going to tell us everything you’re hiding. Right here. Right now.”
Lili’s smile was faint. “Define everything.”
Mike’s voice was calmer, but no less firm. “Lili, this isn’t a game. We know you encountered someone during the drive. You said nothing. Your parents wouldn’t answer. And we are not in the business of protecting secrets anymore.”
Rafael added, “Especially not secrets involving known enemies of the state.”
Lili leaned back slightly. Her fingers drummed once against her thigh and stopped.
“So this is what we’re doing now,” she said softly.
“No,” Rafael snapped. “This is what we do when someone carrying our badge starts playing diplomat with people we’ve marked with shoot on sight orders.”
Lili exhaled. “You’re making a mistake,” she said, not hiding a warning in it. “No one out there has the strength to seize Torin’s throne yet. If we wait, they’ll tear each other apart.”
Rafael’s fist slammed the desk. “Where!?” he bellowed, eyes gleaming with disbelief. “Where do you expect this to happen? In daylight? On crowded streets? With civilians caught in the crossfire like fucking collateral!?”
Lili jolted, her breath caught.
The fire in Rafael’s voice cracked something in the air and in her.
For a moment her gaze faltered in regret and guilt. Then her voice returned, it was smaller now. “I’m sorry…” she murmured, eyes lowering to the edge of Rafael’s desk. “You’re probably right…”
Lili reached across the desk and tore a sticky note from the pad beside Rafael’s arm. Her fingers moved quickly carving names and a location onto the pale yellow square. Then, without flourishing, she slid it across the desk.
“Deran Vex,” she said. Her voice was steady now. “Gifted. Specializes in powerful and wide range shields. You won’t break through them unless you catch him off guard.” She tapped the note with a finger. “That’s his address. Or at least, the one he’s been operating from.”
Mike leaned in. “His right hand is Aaron,” Lili continued, gaze fixed ahead, unblinking. “Gifted with ice. Lethal in close range combat. I’ve seen him freeze blood mid flow.”
“And the others?” Rafael asked.
“I didn’t get names,” Lili replied. “Didn’t have time. Two more Gifted, maybe three, but I didn’t meet them face to face. Just… felt them.”
She exhaled and leaned back slightly in the chair. “They’re trained. Deran’s not some wild dog biting at a corpse. He’s building something carefully.” A silence followed. “He stopped the car,” Lili added at last. “Deran tested me,” she continued after the silence stretched. “My intentions. My alignment. He didn’t come to strike yet. That’s not his way.” Her gaze dropped to her hands, fingers fidgeting against each other. “He comes with a warning, finds the cracks, the soft spots, the places where you’re still bleeding.” Her voice faltered.
“I didn’t tell my parents the real reason I asked them not to mention him to you,” she admitted. “Not because I didn’t trust them or you… but because I knew he was watching. He saw my weakness, and that weakness was standing next to me.”
She lifted her eyes. “I think I saw what he’s planning. And I didn’t like it.”
Mike leaned forward, his elbows resting heavily on his knees, brows drawn low over tired eyes. “And what is he planning, Lili?”
Rafael didn’t speak yet. He simply watched her daring her to lie again.
Lili exhaled. “He’s not after the throne,” she said finally. “He knows the mafia is fractured and he wants to control it just long enough to tear it down, maybe, or rebuild it under his terms. And I think…” she hesitated, then bit the truth. “I think he hoped I’d help him do it.”
“You?” Rafael scoffed. “He thinks you’d help him take over a criminal empire?”
“No,” she corrected calmly. “He thinks I could. That’s why it was a test.”
Mike rubbed a hand across his face, groaning. “So what, he shows up with a few Gifted, blocks your path and you just let it happen?”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she replied. “You weren’t there.”
“No,” Rafael cut in coldly. “But I am here now. And here’s what I see: You withheld information. You compromised the security of this base. And now, you want us to believe it was all just a test?”
Lili didn’t flinch. “You don’t have to believe me,” she said more steady than she thought she could. “But he won’t stop testing me or you. That man is watching this base, Rafael and he’s not watching it alone.”
Rafael’s palm slammed against the desk. “You had no authorization to parley with terrorists!”
“I did not,” Lili shot back. “And my parents can confirm that to you.”
“Good,” Rafael snapped, standing. “Because until they do, you’re under arrest.”
Lili stiffened. Even Mike turned toward him, stunned. “Rafael—” he began, his tone edged with protest.
But Rafael cut him off. “Now.”
A silence followed. Then, without a word, Lili rose to her feet. Her chin lifted. Her hands rose slowly, wrists bare and offered. “At least don’t forget to suppress my powers,” she said while a smile curled on her lips. “I wouldn’t want to turn this into a real mess.”
Lili didn’t flinch when the cuffs clicked. She only whispered, more to herself than anyone else: “Let’s see who really gets burned by this.”
Mike led Lili out of the office. Every hallway they passed through tightened with silence: Soldiers pausing mid step, base personnel stiffening where they stood, conversations halting mid word. Eyes followed them, wide and disbelieving.
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