The Investigation Division

Rain returned before dawn.

By morning,

Aurelian Tower was already surrounded by reporters again.

Questions about Victor Hale’s murder spread faster every hour.

And somewhere inside the city—

someone was clearly enjoying that fear.

---

Deep inside Aurelian Tower,

far below the executive floors,

rows of surveillance screens glowed against dark walls.

Security footage.

Police reports.

Financial records.

Crime scene photographs.

At the center of the room stood Silas.

--- 

This was:

Aurelian Security & Intelligence Division.

A private investigation division owned by the Aurelians.

Officially,

it handled:

corporate security,

crisis management,

surveillance,

internal investigations.

Unofficially—

people in Edevane whispered that the division could erase almost anything.

--- 

The room itself felt colder than the rest of the tower.

Dim silver-blue lights reflected across black marble floors while analysts worked silently behind layers of glowing monitors.

No unnecessary conversations.

No wasted movement.

Everything inside the division operated with unsettling precision.

Beside Silas stood Damian Cross.

Senior investigator within the division.

Quiet.

Professional.

Constantly exhausted.

--- 

DAMIAN: Cathedral cameras were erased remotely.

SILAS: Before or after the murder?

DAMIAN: During the blackout.

SILAS: Professional?

DAMIAN: Extremely.

SILAS: Meaning this wasn’t random.

DAMIAN: Not even close.

 ---

Damian placed another file onto the table.

Victor Hale.

Financial records.

Archived legal files.

Missing documents.

--- 

DAMIAN: Victor handled legal work for several elite families.

SILAS: Including ours?

DAMIAN: yes.

SILAS: Convenient.

DAMIAN: You think this is personal?

SILAS: I think someone wanted him terrified before they killed him.

--- 

Silence settled heavily across the room.

One analyst quietly approached Damian with another tablet before immediately leaving again without speaking.

Even the staff inside the division looked tense this morning.

The crescent symbol found inside the cathedral had already spread across internal intelligence reports.

Rumors traveled quickly inside Edevane.

Fear traveled even faster.

Outside the reinforced glass walls of the division,

thunder echoed across Edevane again.

Rainwater slid slowly down the tower windows while emergency news broadcasts continued repeating Victor Hale’s murder across multiple screens inside the operations center.

Then one of the surveillance monitors flickered briefly.

Static crossed the screen.

For less than a second—

a silver crescent symbol appeared across the footage.

Then vanished.

Damian froze instantly.

--- 

DAMIAN: …did you see that?

SILAS: yes.

 ---

Meanwhile… 🌃

Several floors above,

Vespera arrived inside Aurelian Tower carrying merger documents beneath one arm.

The moment she entered the executive floor,

employees straightened automatically.

Ashford Holdings had recently become one of Aurelian Group’s largest partners after the engagement announcement.

Meaning Vespera now spent almost as much time inside the tower as Silas himself.

Beside her,

Rhea scanned the hallway carefully while adjusting the earpiece hidden beneath her dark hair.

Still working security.

Still watching everything.

 ---

RHEA: this building genuinely feels cursed.

VESPERA: That’s just the lighting.

RHEA: no, i’m serious.

VESPERA: i know.

Before Rhea could answer again,

Damian approached from the opposite hallway.

DAMIAN: Miss Ashford.

VESPERA: Mr. Cross.

DAMIAN: Mr. Aurelian requested your presence upstairs.

RHEA: Why?

DAMIAN: merger discussions.

RHEA: right. the legal answer.

 ---

Damian looked mildly confused.

Vespera sighed softly.

“Ignore her.”

“Trying to,” Damian replied.

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