Confirmed

Chapter Five

The office carried the faint burn of cigar smoke and aged whiskey, soaked into the leather chairs and dark wood walls. Beneath it lingered tobacco, gun oil, and expensive cologne measured, calculating, and unforgiving, heavy as an accusation.

Isabella’s body awakened before her mind fully caught up. She rose, calmly lifting her eyelashes, when the scents of the office hit her nose like an unexpected blow. Her body surged back into reality.

Facing walls of dark luxury that screamed only ruin and revenge, Isabella walked forward. Her steps were graceful, yet she felt like a lost lamb in a wolf’s den, calm on the surface, chaotic at heart.

Despite this, the office carried a strange familiarity that Isabella couldn’t place. Her eyes scanned the pictures on the walls. Her head throbbed, aching bit by bit.

“What’s this place?” she whispered, bracing herself. She limped, almost falling, but a hand gripped her waist, keeping her from hitting the floor. Their eyes met. Isabella’s gaze was wary, foreign even, while Selena’s held the quiet loyalty of a servant saving her master.

SABRE MOORE. Isabella’s long-time confidant stood there, but this wasn’t the Sabre she knew. Viktor entered behind them, his boots silent yet deliberate, like a ghost. He paused, observing Isabella and Sabre, before breaking the silence that held Isabella frozen in place.

“Boss Eris, you’re…” His words faltered, cut off by Isabella.

“Boss? What the heck am I doing here? I’m supposed to be at the banquet with Aria.” She sank to the floor, kowtowing, her voice trembling. “Boss, please don’t kill me. I just got married yesterday, you can’t do this to me!”

Sabre and Viktor stared, disbelief and shock etched on their faces. Viktor grabbed Isabella’s hand, helping her up, and they moved her across the room, their footsteps heavy and rhythmic against the floor.

Once she sat, Sabre took a seat beside her, trying to calm her, while Viktor fetched a bottle of water.

After a moment of frantic questioning, Isabella grew calmer. Her eyes wandered the room, awe and confusion mixing in her gaze. Sabre and Viktor exchanged uncertain looks. Placing a hand on Isabella’s shoulder, Sabre spoke gently.

“Lord Eris, we failed to attack the Vandash family twice. We”

“What? Vandash what? You want to kill my in-laws? Grandpa must hear this!” Isabella’s eyes widened as she scrambled for her phone. Viktor quickly spoke.

“Boss, the phone is on the table.”

Anxious, Isabella dashed forward, stretching for the phone, but her left arm struck a picture on the table. She froze. The photo showed a little girl with her family, smiling happily. Something in the image struck a chord of familiarity deep within her. She picked up the picture, staring at it intently. Sabre and Viktor exchanged puzzled glances, trying to understand her reaction.

Suddenly, the flood of memories sharpened. The laughter, the warmth, the celebration, it all shifted.

The man in the memory picked up the phone, his voice tender yet distracted.

“Isabella, my darling, Dad’ll be back in a minute,” he said softly, stepping toward the little girl.

The mother tried to stop him, reaching out, tears welling in her eyes as she stretched her hand toward her daughter, desperate to hold her back. But he moved past her and went out the door. A fragile peace settled in the room for a few moments.

The mother, daughter, and grandparents resumed their celebration, the sounds of laughter and birthday cheer filling the space once more.

Then, without warning, a gunshot ripped through the air. Chaos exploded instantly. Both the grandmother and mother collapsed, blood spilling across the floor. Screams echoed.

Masked men in black stormed in, ruthless and precise. The killings began. Furniture overturned, screams multiplied, and panic consumed the room.

The mother, despite her injuries, reacted with instinctive courage. She pushed her daughter under the table, shielding her small body. Her eyes glistened with tears as she whispered, “Darling… Van… Van…” struggling to finish her words. Her hands trembled as she reached for her child, but a wet cough of blood stole her voice. She slumped, lifeless, before she could finish protecting her little girl.

The child, terrified, clutched an apple-shaped necklace tightly in her small hands, pressing it to her chest as tears streamed down her cheeks. She covered her mouth to stifle her cries, shaking under the table, witnessing the world fall apart around her.

Suddenly, Isabella gasped, ripped from her memory.

“Mom! Mom! Mom!” she shouted, her voice cracking with raw anguish.

Her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground as if fainting, consumed by the weight of the memory and the grief buried deep inside her.

Sabre and Viktor rushed toward Isabella, grabbing her arms. Sabre shouted at Viktor, “Go get the doctor, immediately!”

Isabella’s trauma continued until she finally fainted. Instantly, the office turned quiet and still like a graveyard, leaving Sabre confused as she sighed, staring at the door and anticipating the gang’s doctor.

After two minutes, there was no sign of Dr. Cole, nor Viktor. Uneasy, Sabre bent down and carried Isabella to the chair, attempting to wake her on her own. On a normal scale, Isabella should have been heavy, but Sabre, a woman raised in blood and weight, lifted her as if she were nothing.

As she laid Isabella on the chair, Sabre turned toward the door. With calm precision, she remained silent, though her thoughts were visible in her eyes.

At that moment, Dr. Cole and Viktor rushed into the office as if they had been running. Sabre instantly exhaled in relief, motioning Dr. Cole toward the patient.

Dr. Cole dropped his medical box and knelt to examine Isabella but her eyes snapped open.

The sudden movement startled him, sending him stumbling backward onto the floor.

Sabre and Viktor gasped in shock, their eyes meeting in the same calm, unbothered rhythm.

Rising, ghostly and eerie, Isabella instinctively grabbed Dr. Cole by the neck, squeezing hard. In his weakness, his voice barely escaped him.

“Boss Eris… I’m sorry.”

Sabre smiled. Now she knew Isabella had returned to the familiar self she knew.

“Eris, I’ve checked all his records. He hasn’t betrayed you, so he’s still of good use,” Sabre said.

Isabella’s eyes calmed, blinking like a savior sparing judgment as Dr. Cole struggled for breath. Viktor stood unmoved, as though nothing unusual was happening. It was obvious that human life meant nothing to them.

Isabella shoved Dr. Cole aside and looked away in disgust. Viktor led him out while Isabella opened a packet of cigarettes. She blinked slowly, biting her lip in irritation as her fingers twitched around a cigarette. Sabre lit it for her.

For a moment, they stared at each other in deliberate calm, the kind that meant real business was about to begin.

As Isabella filled the air with cigarette smoke, Sabre sat down calmly, picked up a wine glass, and poured alcohol with practiced precision, staring at the liquor as if something evil lurked within it.

“Samson Vandash,” Isabella said as she walked to her desk, taking the almighty seat that had once held power and the breaths of the dead.

She crushed the cigarette in her palm. Sabre stood, finished the last drop of alcohol, and turned to Isabella, ready to speak.

“Eris,” she paused, steadying herself. “You’ve been acting strange lately.”

She moved closer and sat down, laying out her thoughts.

“Samson Vandash’s actions are quite clear. I think he deliberately hid his son, Damian, from the wedding. Otherwise, killing him wouldn’t have been so difficult or so targeted.”

She paused before continuing.

“But that’s not the problem right now. You have to answer me first. Does Isabella know you exist?”

Eris coughed softly, calm and controlled.

“That weakling doesn’t know of my existence.”

She stood from her seat and faced the wall, where her reflection stared back at her like a mirror. Slowly, she loosened the hairstyle Isabella had worn earlier. Smiling with her eyes, she turned back to Sabre.

“This time, Isabella must know before she ruins our plans. We can’t risk it.”

Sabre rose calmly, absorbing every word.

“Maybe you should return to the Vandash family now. But if you do, you’ll look suspicious.”

Before Eris could reply, Sabre continued.

“Viktor arranged it. Don’t forget, the Vandash family is ours to claim.”

Ours to claim.

Eris smiled as she walked out of the office, Sabre following closely behind.

Outside in the corridors, Viktor stood with the other gang members, each of them radiating danger, no smiles, only readiness to follow orders at any moment.

“It’s almost dark. We should get moving, Boss,” Viktor said.

Eris needed no words. Like a programmed rhythm, Sabre and Viktor led the way as they walked through the vast wooden corridors, dimly lit and heavy with silence.

In a world where darkness suppressed light, just as the wealthy suppressed the poor, life itself was a game. Losing the left arm only meant the right would remain.

They descended in the elevator without smiles or frowns. When the doors opened, there was no speech, only the heavy sound of powerful footsteps, breathing secrets into the air and turning currency into survival.

Outside the most powerful building of all, Eris paused and turned back, the cloud dark as the and thundering.

It was about to rain and this was the perfect weather for the show to display.

“My Korneh Fortress.”

She turned to Viktor, her eyes asking the question her mouth did not. He nodded in alignment.

Without a word she got in the car, Viktor shut the door, as he got into the driver's seat, the rain already began. A show about to begin.

At the Vandash mansion, Aria and the others sat helpless, yet clinging desperately to hope as they waited for the police to arrive.

The storm outside raged without mercy, thunder tearing through the clouds like a cruel reflection of fate hanging over them.

Aria sat with her hands tightly clasped, her lips moving in silent prayers. Every second felt like a lifetime.

Across the room, old Mr. Samson stared out the window, his aged eyes fixed on the lightning that split the sky apart. The thunder echoed through his chest, stirring fears he dared not voice.

Gideon and Phyn sat close to each other, bound by the shared weight of dread. Though Phyn carried deep hatred toward Isabella, hatred born of influence and status she had never wished death upon her. Not like this. Not ever.

Suddenly, the heavy doors burst open.

The loud bang sent a jolt of fear through the room, making everyone flinch. The guard who had entered stood trembling, rain dripping from his uniform. Mr. Samson slammed his staff hard against the marble floor, rage flashing across his weathered face.

“Have you no manners?” he thundered, ready to unleash his fury.

But before he could say another word, the guard dropped to his knees, his voice shaking as he shouted,

“There's a lady approaching the mansion. The cameras caught her clearly. It’s… it’s the young mistress”

He couldn’t finish.

“What?!” Aria screamed, her heart leaping painfully into her throat.

She didn’t wait for confirmation. Panic seized her, and she bolted toward the door. The rest of the Vandash family followed in frantic confusion, fear driving their steps. Only Nathan managed to shield Mr. Samson with an umbrella as they rushed outside into the merciless rain.

They froze.

Standing there, soaked, swaying, barely standing was Isabella.

Or rather, Eris.

She walked forward slowly, each step uneven, her body moving like broken limbs forced to carry unbearable weight.

The rain poured down relentlessly, draining the last of her strength, plastering her hair to her face, washing away whatever dignity she had left.

Her eyes searched weakly, unfocused, yet filled with a quiet desperation.

Not far away, hidden by darkness and rain, Sabre and Viktor sat inside their car, waiting. Watching. When Eris turned her face slightly in their direction, her exhausted gaze meeting theirs for a fleeting second, they knew.

That was the signal.

Without hesitation, Viktor slammed his foot on the accelerator. The engine roared as the car sped forward violently. There was no pause. No mercy. The impact came fast and brutal.

Eris was thrown to the ground.

The car didn’t stop.

It vanished into the rain, disappearing before the echo of the crash could fade, leaving no time, no trace, no chance.

A scream tore through the night.

Aria and the members of the Vandash family watched in horror as Isabella’s body rolled across the rough road, blood trailing behind her, staining the rain-soaked ground. Shock shattered into chaos. They dropped their umbrellas, their pride, their composure, and ran.

Aria fell to her knees beside her, her hands trembling uncontrollably. Phyn rushed forward and gently lifted Eris’s head, cradling it carefully, placing it against Aria’s chest. Aria’s sobs broke free as she held her, rain and tears mixing freely.

Eris’s breathing was shallow now. Her body felt unbearably light, slipping away.

The only thing she heard before darkness claimed her was Mr. Samson’s voice, cracked, desperate, and full of fear as he called her name over and over again.

Then, silence.

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