The mansion was quiet, but the silence only sharpened the storm inside Elias' mind. He sat in the dim light of the study, hands wrapped around a mug of black coffee, eyes fixed on the rain-streaked window. His chest still throbbed, the remnants of his injuries reminding him he was mortal—but the fire in his veins burned hotter than ever.
For a moment, he allowed himself to feel… human. Frustrated. Angry. Impulsive. Immature. He clenched his fists, teeth grinding. Revenge. That word pulsed through him like a heartbeat, echoing louder than reason.
He wasn't ready to be a perfect killer. He wasn't flawless. But he was alive. And now, everything he had lost—and everything that had been taken—would be repaid.
He picked up a folder from the desk. Inside, sketches, intel reports, and files—every piece of the Obsidian network he had managed to uncover. Seraphina's face stared back at him from one of the files. Her smirk, her arrogance, her betrayal—it fueled the fire.
She's first, he thought. She has to pay.
And then the Obsidian boss. Not the true mastermind behind the shadows of the Order, but the man who had allowed everything to fester, who had created the environment for betrayal, loss, and death. He would pay too.
Elias stood, pacing. The mansion seemed smaller now, tighter, as if the walls themselves were pressing him to act. He wasn't patient. He wasn't methodical yet. He was reckless. He wanted it all to burn.
"Seraphina," he muttered under his breath. "You made me see everything… and now I see you too. The price… you'll pay for it."
The glow of the desk lamp cast shadows across his face, exaggerating the intensity in his eyes. He was no longer just a man who had survived. He was a man who had tasted betrayal, and the hunger for payback was raw, unpolished, and all-consuming.
He returned to the folder, scanning names, locations, movements. Each one was a thread, and he would pull them all. One by one. Starting with the woman who had been closest to him—and who had betrayed him most.
Elias' mind raced, plotting, scheming, imagining the moment when Seraphina would realize that he knew everything. And the rush made him grin. It was immature. Dangerous. Perfectly human.
And for the first time in months, he felt alive.