LUCIFER'S POV
The room smelled like fear and cheap ramen, he was still shaking on his knees, tears streaking down his grimy face, snot dripping into his trembling lips. Pathetic. If you are going to betray a syndicate, at least have the balls to die like a man.
I hate repeating myself, but the guy is too frightened, and I doubt he even heard me the first time. "Who. Sent. You?" I repeated, my gun still leveled with his head.
He whimpered and held up his palms like they could stop a bullet. "I… I don't know his name, I swear! Just that he is a cop. He is a high-ranking one but still likes doing field work. He seems to be really obsessed with lucifer."
I narrowed my eyes. "A cop?" My voice was calm, deathly calm. The kind of calm that made hearts stop.
"I didn't want to do it," he said, voice cracking. "I was charged for theft, small thing, stupid thing…I didn't even take much but they said I would rot in jail if I didn't help him gather intel. He said I would be the perfect rat since no one knows me. The cop... he knew where to look, he pointed me at your shipments, your aliases, the warehouses." I thought I was careful, incredibly careful. "I am sorry please, I didn't want to do it, but he gave me no choice, and I needed a way out."
I clicked the safety off with a deliberate, slow sound. "Don't worry," I said coolly. "I will give you a permanent way out after this."
His lips trembled. "Please… please, I didn't give him anything yet! I was still compiling it! Everything you see here is all I gathered, I haven't sent a word, I didn't even know who to send it to! No contact name, just a burner number. Check it if you want, check my phone." He cried but crying won't help him now.
Red was already moving, efficient and silent, as he scanned the room. One of the boys bagged the phone, another swept up the laptop and the mess of drives and notes.
I circled the rat slowly, gaze flicking across the wall, printed screenshots, low-res surveillance shots, grainy footage from dockyards. Nothing that could identify me, nothing that used the word, Sabrina.
Still, they are too close, way too close for comfort.
"Burn it all," I snapped. "Files, devices. Strip this place, I want this apartment wiped like it never existed."
"Yes, boss," Red replied with a curt nod.
I turned to the rat, who was now sobbing quietly into his own hands, breathing heavily like a child who just learned monsters are real.
I crouched in front of him and grinned, with all my teeth. "Next time," I said softly, brushing a lock of sweat-drenched hair from his face with my gun, "choose your fucking errands wisely."
He nodded frantically, still on his knees. I stood and turned to the door. Letting him think he was getting out, letting him believe that mercy was possible in this world.
I reached the doorway, paused and turned back. My finger squeezed the trigger before my conscience could whisper anything human to me.
BANG… One bullet, right between the eyes, his body collapsed with a thud, eyes wide open, mouth frozen in a plea he never finished.
"Clean it up," I said, holstering my gun. "No trace, I want bleach, lye, and fire."
I left the building after making sure that the boys got the message and they knew how to proceed because I wanted no trace of me there.
The ride back was quiet, and tense… Red drove like he always did, aggressive and surgical. The city lights danced across the tinted windows like fireflies in a war zone. I stared out, chewing on my inner cheek, mind racing as I played back what the rat said.
A cop, high-ranking, field work and obsessive.
That was dangerous, that was a man who played dirty and smart. The kind that didn't stop until he either uncovered the truth or died chasing it.
"Red," I said, breaking the silence.
"Yes, boss?"
"Find out who the fuck this cop is, we don't have a name, but you know how to trace shadows. Field operatives with rank, check arrest logs, backdoor charges, and favors traded off the books. Find out who arrested and cut that rat loose."
"I'm on it."
"And Red?" I turned to face him. "Put all operations on hold, no shipments, no arms movements, no product transfers. Until I know for sure that rat was working alone, I want this syndicate invisible and underground always." I hate that they are even onto me.
He nodded. "Understood."
"Lucifer stays a ghost," I muttered, more to myself than anyone. "No leaks and no fuckups."
Only two people alive knew Lucifer was a woman, Sebastián and Jordan, his best friend. The third person that knew was buried in a pine box somewhere in the woods… I would not be exposed because of a desperate thief and a nosy bastard with a badge.
We were pulling onto the expressway when the car's dashboard screen lit up. Red must have forgotten to mute the satellite feed.
A news anchor's voice filtered through the cabin; I barely glanced at it until I heard his name.
"...Sebastián Montgomery, CEO of Montgomery Industries, has reportedly lost his second major contract this quarter..."
I froze.
"...Insiders say the board is beginning to panic, and rumors are circulating that investors see Montgomery as unstable and possibly... irresponsible. Some speculate that his string of failures is tied to his personal life. Still unmarried, after a high-profile split 2 years ago, sources say Sebastián may have lost his mojo."
Mojo?
I reached forward and turned the volume up, the anchor's voice kept going, smug and chirpy like she was announcing the weather. She's obviously having fun with this.
"While Montgomery remains tight-lipped, analysts claim this most recent loss, a lucrative government security project could cripple his standing in the tech defense market. More on this story after the break."
I stared at the screen long after the segment was cut off… My throat felt tight, something rare and unfamiliar twisting in my chest.
I knew exactly why he lost that contract, marriage, family, and image.
He told me the board preferred executives with a "stable-looking" life. A wife, a home, a brand. The investor he was trying to secure had even said it directly… "Men who build empires should have foundations."
He has asked me to marry him countless times and each time, I say no but not because I don't want him but because I can't and here, he was, on public display, failing, falling because of me.
I clenched my jaw.
I was a killer, a leader, a walking storm but tonight, I felt something close to guilt, not enough to undo what I was, but enough to know I had to do something. Fast.
"Turn the car around," I said coldly.
Red raised a brow. "To where?"
I lit a cigarette and stared out into the dark. "To Sebastián." I said quietly. He needs me now more than ever.