Night fell over the Velletto estate like a cloak of ink.
Elara stood on the balcony, the wind tugging at her hair. The city lights glittered below like distant stars — beautiful, but untouchable.
For the first time since signing that contract… she felt restless.
Why did that name — Viper — feel like a blade pressed to her throat?
Why did Adrian look at her like he'd known her long before this life?
Footsteps approached. Smooth. Confident.
She didn't have to turn to know it was him.
"You're awake," Adrian said, stepping beside her.
"I don't sleep when the house feels… watched."
His gaze sharpened.
"You sensed him."
"The man from earlier," she replied. "Who is he?"
"Someone who thinks the past still matters," Adrian said coldly.
Then he looked at her — deeply, intently, like he was mapping her soul with his eyes.
"Tell me, Elara. Do you believe in past lives?"
Her breath caught.
"What are you trying to say?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled something out.
A silver insignia — sleek, sharp-edged, with a viper carved into the center, its eyes set with two red stones that glowed like blood under moonlight.
The metal felt hauntingly familiar.
Elara stepped back.
"Why do I feel like I've… seen this before?" she whispered.
Adrian's voice lowered, dangerous and soft — like a confession wrapped in sin.
"Because this—" he held it between his fingers, "—once hung from your neck… the night you slaughtered 12 men without blinking."
Elara stared.
Thunder rolled in the distance.
"You're lying," she said — but her voice trembled.
Adrian stepped closer, pressing the insignia into her palm.
"Your hands know the truth even if your mind refuses it."
Her fingers closed around it instinctively — and in that moment—
FLASH.
Blood splattering across white marble.
A masked woman dancing between blades.
A wounded man — crawling, looking up at her with obsessed devotion.
"Viper… if there's another life… find me."
Elara gasped, her knees nearly giving out.
Adrian caught her by the waist, steadying her.
"Easy," he murmured, voice strangely gentle. "Memories are like poison. Taken too fast, they kill."
Elara looked up at him — eyes wide, heart pounding for a reason she did not understand but felt deeply.
"Who… was I?"
Adrian's jaw tightened ever so slightly — like a man holding back a thousand confessions.
"You were mine."
And somewhere in the shadows below…
The golden-haired man watched them from a parked car, gripping his own matching insignia until his fingers bled.
"Viper… don't fall for him again."