Empire of Shadows
---
The chandeliers sparkled like diamonds, casting their glow across the vast ballroom of Hotel Le Magnifique, nestled deep in the heart of Paris's golden district — a place where kings vacationed, where CEOs signed secret treaties, and where no one dared speak too loudly about the men who truly ruled the world.
Tonight, a masquerade gala hosted under the name of a luxury tech brand was little more than a front. In reality, it was a meeting point for arms dealers, ex-intelligence heads, political traitors, and billionaires who moved borders with a phone call.
And at the very center of this decadent illusion stood Veeransh Thakur.
Not that anyone knew.
To the outside world, he was a charming Indian billionaire, soft-spoken and suave, dressed in a custom-tailored Brioni suit worth ₹9.2 lakhs (€10,000), with obsidian cufflinks from Tiffany & Co. (₹4.5 lakhs) and a black Rolex Daytona – limited edition worth ₹2.3 crores.
Behind the well-crafted mask stood a predator with no past, no country, and no mercy.
They called him Killer God.
The last name whispered before the lights went out forever.
---
The Room
The VIP floor of Hotel Le Magnifique was designed like an imperial palace — velvet drapes, ivory walls lined with 24k gold-accented frames, and Carrara marble pillars imported from Italy. The penthouse suite, rented exclusively for tonight, cost €27,000 (₹24.5 lakhs) per night and included triple biometric locks, a private butler, and military-grade drone jammers embedded in the ceiling — custom ordered by the host.
None of it mattered.
Veeransh stood by the glass balcony of the adjacent suite, armed with a custom LongSight X9 sniper rifle — silenced, tuned, and hand-forged by ValentTech, Switzerland, valued at ₹3.1 crores. Only five units existed in the world, all black-market acquisitions.
His suit jacket swayed gently as he inhaled.
His eyes were calm.
His heartbeat — unreadable.
Even his breath was slower than any normal man's.
Through the scope, General Enrique Marceau appeared — European arms baron, worth $2.4 billion, now lounging in a suite he thought was protected by five private bodyguards and a $400,000-a-month defense contract.
Veeransh exhaled and squeezed the trigger.
The bullet pierced the air with surgical precision.
0.7 seconds later, the General dropped. Dead. Silent. Clean.
Mission cost: One bullet. ₹4,500.
Damage: One billion-dollar betrayal ended.
---
The Shadow Behind the Man
Veeransh cleaned the area within thirty seconds, placed the rifle in its carbon case (₹14 lakhs) and exited through the back elevator, where Ivor, his personal bodyguard, awaited.
Ivor wore an Armani tactical coat (₹1.2 lakhs) and carried a hidden Glock 43X, legally untraceable. He nodded silently.
"Clean?" he asked in Russian.
"Sanitized. No trace," Veeransh replied, switching to English. "Fuel the jet. Wheels up in 40."
"Mumbai?"
Veeransh lit a Cohiba Behike 54 cigar (₹8,000) and replied, "Time to meet the Queen."
---
The Private Jet – KAAL
Veeransh's jet stood cloaked at Châteauroux-Centre Airport, a military-adjacent runway 90km from Paris. The jet: a customized Gulfstream G800, black matte-finish with stealth radar deflection — value: ₹680 crores ($82 million).
Features included:
Encrypted satellite systems (custom-linked to Raaj Sabha's shadow network)
Built-in weapons vault
Black silk bedroom suite with obsidian marbled floor (₹1.2 crores interior work)
Leather chairs stitched by Edelberg, Geneva (₹36 lakhs each)
Hidden biometric safe built into the bar with rare 50-year-old whiskies (collection worth ₹2.5 crores)
Veeransh unbuttoned his shirt slowly, revealing a torso sculpted from war, marked by inked Sanskrit verses, and a black dragon spine tattoo — the symbol of his family's dominion.
He poured a glass of Glenfiddich 40 YO Reserve Cask — bottle value ₹7 lakhs — and stared at the map.
Destination: Mumbai
Purpose: Erase a threat. Or fall for it.
---
Radhika Devraj — The Queen of Shadows
He pulled the dossier from his seat console.
Radhika Devraj, age 27.
Estimated net worth: ₹45,000 crores (legal + underground combined)
Owner of Devraj Holdings, with subsidiaries in:
Mumbai Royal Estate
Eastern Arms Logistics
Nightshade Smuggling Syndicate
OpalCore Cyber Security (front company)
Publicly, she lived in the Devraj Royal Palace, Udaipur, a ₹800 crore estate rebuilt over ancient Rajput ruins. Inside it: private tunnels, underground weapon chambers, and a vault room guarded by AI-driven biometric gates.
In the photo, she wore a crimson silk saree from Sabyasachi Couture (₹14 lakhs), heels by Louboutin (₹1.3 lakhs), and Zaveri emerald earrings (₹36 lakhs) shaped like serpent fangs.
Her waist… bare, tight.
Her lips… slightly parted, as if holding in a royal secret.
Her eyes… impossible to decode.
Her breasts… lifted beneath the silk blouse, not displayed but perfectly poised.
Her body… built like royalty, moving like sin.
She wasn't just dangerous.
She was divine.
And now, he had to bring her down.
---
Arrival in India
The jet touched down at Mumbai Black Terminal, an off-grid airstrip owned secretly by Raaj Sabha's offshore company Aadya AeroSystems Ltd., registered in the Caymans.
A matte-black Bentley Mulsanne Speed Armored Edition rolled forward — ₹12 crore custom build, V8 twin-turbo, bulletproof glass, with hidden blade panels under the seats and a mini-bar of Macallan 60 YO (₹1.1 crore bottle).
Inside, a letter awaited:
Invitation: The Night of Blood & Silk
Location: Devraj Royal Palace, Rajasthan
He read it slowly. Smiled.
Then said aloud, "Let's see what a Queen does when the God walks into her kingdom."
---