How it started

The Party erupted with panic. Doors slammed, footsteps thundered, and voices collided in a frantic hum. I didn’t run. I moved in the shadows, slipping away from the centre of chaos, choosing a different staircase so they wouldn’t know who I was with—if anyone. Kai stood at the eye of it all. Calm. Still. Dangerous.

It happened when one of the men—her husband—hit her. Right there. No warning. No shame. The slap rang out and froze the room. His wife, the same woman he had children with, took the blow like a secret, folding into herself. Everyone saw it. But no one acted.

Except Kai.

He has lines he doesn’t cross, and lines he doesn’t let others cross either. One of them is hurting women. That’s where the switch flipped. He didn’t yell. He didn’t hesitate. He just killed the man. Hands around his neck, clean and cruel. The room didn’t thank him. It turned against him. Fear rolled in like smoke. Ellie said it was too much. Diamond stood by him. And me—I said nothing. I just watched. Not cold, not warm. Just unreadable.

And that unsettled him more than anything.

They were all still watching when it happened.

Someone leaned toward me, voice low, urgent: “She’s trying to kill him.”

Kai’s mother was already moving. She said there was one thing that could kill someone like him. One thing is immune to his resistance. And then she tore fabric from the window coverings, ripped it into strips, and stuffed them into his mouth. One by one. Fast. Deliberate. No one moved to stop her.

He staggered, his face losing colour. Then he fell backwards from the second floor, crashing down to the ground below. No sound but the impact.

For a moment, I thought that was it.

But his eyes glistened before he blacked out.

Half an hour passed before his chest rose. Before he stirred. Before he stood.

And when he did, he didn’t shout, He stood up.

He just said, “All right. Who wants me dead?”

They answered in a chorus.

“I do.”

Except me.

I whispered, “I don’t.”

But I knew they’d heard me. Their eyes were on me now. Their expectations pressed against my skin.

So I said it again. Louder this time.

“I do.”

I stepped forward. The knife in my hand. And even then, he didn’t look away from me.

Because deep down, he was still trying to understand who I was.

Silence. That’s what filled the air after I killed everyone.

I turned to Kai. He looked stunned—frozen in place. I suppose I understood his silence. I had been quiet through the entire thing, after all. Diamond and Ellie stood behind him, equally flabbergasted.

She killed them. Every single one of them with no emotion in her eyes or her face.

The only ones left standing were Diamond, Ellie, and me. I looked at her—still, no emotion on her face. Nothing in her expression gave her away. I caught myself chuckling. Not because it was funny, but because it was unbelievable. Calculated. Exact.

I watched how she moved. Unbothered. Calm. And out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ellie and Diamond whispering to each other. I stepped closer.

“Which one of you disagrees with what just happened?” I asked.

Ellie raised her hand.

Of course she did. Ellie always had that moral line, that rigid sense of right and wrong—even though she’s killed more people than she wants to admit. But when it comes to others doing it, especially without permission, she can’t stomach it. Not even when it’s for safety. Not even when it’s necessary.

That’s what makes her dangerous.

But her... she's the most dangerous out of all of us.

You can never tell what she's thinking. Not really. That scares me—and I don’t scare easily. I don’t fear God. I don’t fear any man. But the one person who truly shakes something in me… is a woman.

Not because she’s fragile. Not because she’s weak. No, she’s neither of those things. I say it because I, Kai Black, am afraid of her.

I don’t think she’d ever hurt me. I believe that. Somewhere deep down, I trust she wouldn’t. But it doesn't matter. Because the truth is... she could. And the not knowing, that’s what eats at me. She is unpredictable.

And unpredictability is the closest thing to power that still makes a man feel helpless.

Half an hour has passed.

No one has said a word. The silence is deafening.

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