"Let me stay here, watching in the shadows. Here, this obsession feels safe. Here, it's mine without ever needing to know I exist."
↷✦; w e l c o m e ❞
The sharp smell of antiseptic assaulted Mathius' senses as he struggled to sit upright in his exclusive bed at the Berlin Medical Hospital. The dim light in the room added to the tense atmosphere of the night.
Around him, his four best friends—Ale, Yunus, Kevin, and Juanda—gathered, their expressions even more tense than usual. The atmosphere in the VIP room felt tense, as if the walls had ears.
"Mat, this is beyond normal," Ale began, turning the chair beside the bed. "Those seven professionals with daggers didn't come to rob you. They came to erase you from this world. But the person who saved you... he was more demon than human."
Matius nodded, his fingers tracing the bandage on his chest. The memory of the red rose soaked in blood continued to haunt his sleep. "He killed them silently, without hesitation. Then he left that rose as a token, as if he owned my life."
Yunus, who had been busy with his laptop, shook his head in frustration. "I've hacked the CCTV network around the alley near Amora's house. Everything is gone, Mat. Professionally erased seconds after the white SVJ sped away. This person has technology far beyond the standards of the Berlin police."
"We can't just sit idly by," Kevin added, his voice heavy. "Whoever this 'protector' is behind the scenes has access to your life. We have to find him before he decides to use that dagger on you, not your enemy."
Juanda, who was standing by the window, overlooking the hospital parking lot, turned with a sharp gaze. "We have to use the underground connections in Binatara to track down the owner of that Lamborghini SVJ. Not many people have a car of that class with such formidable combat capabilities. We will bring him out of the shadows, Mat."
A few kilometers from Medical Berlin, inside the private control room of the palatial Delton residence, Zevanya Caroline Amor Delton sat gracefully in her leather chair. The blue glow from the giant monitors reflected off her porcelain face, creating a deadly coldness. In her hand, a crystal glass of alcohol swirled slowly, creating a small, alluring vortex.
The micro camera her men had placed inside a flower vase in Mathius's room transmitted crystal-clear audio and visuals. Zevanya watched their every move. She saw the fear masked by false bravado on the faces of Ale, Yunus, Kevin, and Juanda.
A sinister grin slowly spread across her beautiful face—the grin of a predator watching its prey strategize inside a cage.
"Looking for your protector, Geo?" Zevanya murmured softly. Her voice was sweet yet venomous.
She took a sip of her drink, then her slender fingers danced across the keyboard. In an instant, the screen beside her displayed the personal data of Mathius's four friends. The dark secrets of Kevin and Juanda's families, then the big secrets of Ale and Yunus's families, all laid bare.
"Go find them, honey. Deploy all your smart friends," Zevanya chuckled coldly, her eyes gleaming with obsession under the monitor's light. "The harder you search, the deeper you fall into my web. You don't realize that the protector you seek is the one who most wants to imprison Geo for eternity."
Zevanya zoomed in on Mathius's expressionless face, which was clearly troubled. She stroked the screen as if touching his wounded cheek.
"You're just a minor nuisance," Zevanya whispered into the screen. "And if you dare touch my secret, the next red rose will be placed on your gravestone, not Geo's chest."
Zevanya's grin widened as she saw Mathius on the screen staring into the hidden camera, as if he could sense her obsessive gaze. At Medical Berlin that night, Mathius and his friends felt like they were on the hunt, unaware that the true hunter was watching them as he sipped his victory drink.