Selene
Lily didn't look like the kind of woman people feared at first glance. She was lean rather than striking, built for movement instead of attention, every line of her body quiet and delicate. Her skin held a muted warmth, she was fair skinned Her hair fell loose more often than not, dark and slightly unruly, like she never cared enough to tame it, strands slipping into her face only to be pushed back absentmindedly.
But it was her eyes that unsettled people. Lily's were softer at first look, almost distracted.
Lily was a perfect disguise of a woman who would want to be a housewife rather than a thief
The system flagged her before I saw her.
Underground sector.
Route C-7.
It had been Sealed. Inactive for eight years. There was no breach. No alarm went off. Fuck this.
Internal access isn't granted to anybody in this mansion unless me Marco, Victor and Lucien.
I didn't rush. I never rush.
"Keep the floor locked," I said into the comm.
Victor's voice came through immediately.
"Already done." I stepped into the corridor.
Dark green walls.
Muted gold light. Then I was walking towards the elevator, to get me to the basement tunnels faster, it was one of those elevators I rarely used. I hate basement smells. Victor always handles it but he goes through the staircase mostly. This elevator is built only for me
"Don't engage," I added.
A pause.
Then—
"…Understood."
Good.
At least one of them still followed instructions without asking questions.
Nothing had changed.
Except—
everything had.
She was exactly where I expected her to be. I reached the basement area, too shabby and smelt of dead rats, we rarely put drugs or coke in here, because I have phobia of confined closed places. Its mostly empty except rats obviously. I noticed Marco already arrived, one step behind me, ready to attack any second possible. And he does attack, everytime. But there she was...
Standing like she owned the structure.
Like she had never left it.
Her face wasn't conventionally perfect—sharp jawline, slightly hollow cheeks, and a small, straight nose. Her lips were naturally pale, often pressed into a half-line, like she was always holding something back.
"Breaking into my house again?" I said.
Lily smiled. Calculated.
She had a faint scar near her left eyebrow, thin and slightly faded, and another barely visible line across her right wrist—old, healed, intentional-looking.
"You make it too easy."
Lie.
It wasn't easy.
She just knew how to move inside systems she had already studied.
"You used Route C-7," I said.
"Sealed eight years ago. Access code was erased."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Nothing gets erased, Selene. You know that."
I stopped a few steps away from her.
Close enough to see every detail.
Far enough to keep control.
"You overrode the biometric lock," I continued.
"Only four profiles can do that."
Her gaze flickered once.
Interest.
"Mine. Victor's. Marco's."
A beat.
"And Lucien's."
Silence.
"You want me to deny it?" she asked.
"No," I said.
"I want accuracy."
Her smile didn't fade.
"Then be accurate," she said.
"I didn't override anything."
I watched her.
Measured her breathing.
Posture. Micro-movements. She wasn't lying.
Because she was once the only girl I talked to, at the age of 18 I had found her, studied in my school, but one year older than me, rebel, but not like me, I used to be the mute girl at high school years, Lily Bennet in the other hand, carried cocain in hers, a pure junkie once, said her head was swimming in all kinds of thoughts and she needed it to shut it up, I believed it because nobody was doing it. There were bullies in the high school, Lily didn't necessarily come from a privileged family like Lucien's and Mine's. She was rather a bastard born, father left, but mother was the Dean of the school, she had money, influence and luxury but not dignity to survive the bullies enough, so she starred behaving like a thug. Vigorous, volatile and demonic. She was aggressive, faster and smooth. She used to steel from her own bullies. But nonetheless they still laughed at her. But lily was never a killer just as I was. She wasn't. I was a murderer since perhaps 6 months. I didn't care much, had heard people vomit after their first murder because their mind scrambles in seeing the gore and darkness of their own minds. So I had once confessed to Lily, that I cut open a neck with a butter knife, instead of looking at me with disgust and abhorrence, she laughed, laughed until she didn't need drugs that day. She said she didn't have to be high enough to laugh with me. So we kept sitting beside each other, I studied microbiology, she did computer science so a few courses matched, not all of it. But then one day she killed one of her bullies who tried to gang rape, along with his mates. She stabbed a knife into his one eye ball, I helped her Bury a body and I guess became sort of friends. Didn't know the girl I once gave my entire affection to, would one day come back to bite me back. I should have known, she was always faster than me, always on action, always energetic. Whereas I always stayed silent much, merged in books. Or murder mysteries.
Which narrowed it down.
"You were in Lucien's house," I said.
"Front entrance. No forced entry."
"Yes."
"You spoke to him."
"Yes."
"You warned him."
Her eyes sharpened slightly.
"Yes."
"Then someone else hit him," I finished.
She didn't answer immediately.
Confirmation. How could everything escalate this much in my life after 4 fucking years.
"Name," I said.
"No."
My jaw tightened.
"Lily—"
"You're already late," she cut in.
I went still.
"Explain."
She took a step closer. Not enough to touch. Enough to challenge.
"They're not random," she said.
"Not outsiders."
I already knew that.
"Specifics."
"They knew his schedule," she continued.
"They knew your system timing."
Another step.
"They used your tunnels."
"Which means they had internal data," I said.
"Not just data," Lily corrected.
"Access."
Silence stretched.
Sharp.
"From who?" I asked.
She smiled again.
"There it is."
My patience thinned.
"Answer the question."
"I just did," she said.
No.
She didn't.
"You're protecting someone," I said.
Her expression didn't change.
But—
"Don't make this about me," she said.
"It is about you," I replied. I was getting irritated. But I hated expressing.
"You came into my system. You stood in his room. You didn't stop it."
Her voice dropped.
"For once, Selene, stop thinking small."
That—
annoyed me.
"I don't think small," I said.
"I eliminate variables."
"Then eliminate the right one."
"Give me a name."
"No."
Silence.
I stepped closer.
Now there was no space between us worth measuring.
"You don't get to walk into my house," I said quietly, "create damage, and leave without answering me."
"I didn't create it," she said.
"You allowed it."
Her eyes darkened.
"I warned him."
"You could've stopped it."
A pause.
"No," she said.
For the time being, I realised she wasn't even the woman I once friends with. Who would laugh at my sudden criminal endeavours.
"You couldn't," I corrected.
Her silence confirmed it.
That changed the equation.
"You were overpowered," I said.
A faint exhale.
Almost a laugh.
"Now you're thinking properly."
My mind recalibrated.
If Lily Bennet couldn't stop them—
then this wasn't a small breach.
"Numbers?" I asked.
"More than one," she said.
"Trained?"
"Yes."
"Internal?"
"Yes."
Clear.
Finally.
"Why warn him?" I asked.
This time—
she hesitated.
Interesting.
"Because he was the easiest entry point," she said.
Truth.
"And me?" I asked.
Her gaze held mine.
"You're the target."
No emotion.
No drama.
Just information.
Good.
That meant the structure still held.
The system wasn't broken.
"Objective?" I asked.
"Control," she said.
Of course.
"They got to Lucien," I said.
"They'll try again."
"They won't need to," Lily replied.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Clarify."
"They already proved what they needed," she said.
Which meant—
this wasn't the attack.
It was a message.
My fingers stilled at my side.
"Who are they connected to?" I asked.
Lily shook her head once.
"Not telling you."
I smiled slightly.
"Then you're staying."
That made her pause.
First real reaction.
"No," she said.
"Yes," I replied.
Behind me, I knew Victor was already moving.
Quiet.
Prepared.
"You don't get to disappear again," I continued.
"Not this time."
Her gaze hardened.
"You think you can hold me?"
"I don't think," I said.
"I prepare."
While Victor and Marco was tugging her and binding her with ropes. I said
" Lily, give me rational answers, who was it, you let it happen to Lucien means you work with them and you have it bad, Lucien is your weakness, so if they did blackmail you using Lucien's name, you wouldn't have let them hurt Lucien eventually. So why are you with them, who are they,? A new gang? International onces? Wrestlers? Or local Junglees. Why target me and Lucien isn't an easier target. We both know tackling Lucien is the hardest unless he did it on purpose to see the end of it. And the end of it was through my own fucking electrical vault which opened By Adrian, ME and Lucien. Why are you working for them-"
I couldn't finish as I found Lily laughing hysterical. As if fucking traumatised and didn't know If humour would save her.
Certainly I wouldn't.