UNKNOWN

The rooftop figure was just a puppet.

It was all so easy, manipulating someone into thinking they were the one with power. The man Mae had met—the one who made her feel like he was pulling all the strings—was nothing more than an intermediary, a pawn in a much larger game. He believed himself to be in control, but the truth was far more sinister.

The real force behind Hell's Angels had never been seen, never been touched. Only whispered about in the darkest corners of the city, the unseen hand that guided everything from the shadows. It was a delicate balance—letting others think they held the reins, while all the while, the true mastermind watched from afar, every move calculated, every outcome already determined.

But now, things were shifting. Pieces were moving on the board faster than anticipated. And that presented a problem.

Frank had been useful for a time, his loyalty bought with promises of power and wealth. He was supposed to keep Mae in line, to ensure she stayed on the path laid out for her. But somewhere along the way, he'd started asking too many questions. Started digging where he didn't belong.

And now Frank was gone.

The last anyone had seen of him was at the club a few nights ago. Since then, he had vanished, leaving nothing behind but a trail of uncertainty. But it was what came after his disappearance that had set off alarms in the shadows.

The club was a mess. Blood stained the floors of the VIP lounge, dark and sticky, seeping into the cracks between the tiles. No one had seen who had done it, no one had heard the screams. It was as if the world had swallowed him whole, leaving behind only the evidence of violence. The staff was buzzing with rumors, terrified of what was to come. They all knew something bigger was happening, but none of them could grasp just how deep the corruption went.

But I knew.

Watching from a distance, it was clear that the delicate facade of control was starting to fray. Frank had been a liability, and now he was out of the picture. Whether he had fled or met a more grisly fate didn't matter. His time had come to an end, and that was just part of the plan. But the chaos his disappearance had sparked was a loose end that needed to be tied up.

Mae would be next.

She was too smart, too determined to stay in line for long. The spark of defiance I'd seen in her at the club was enough to prove that she wouldn't simply roll over. She'd fight back, she'd question, and that made her dangerous.

The time for games was coming to an end. I had let her play her role for long enough, watched her struggle and flail as she tried to make sense of the world she had been thrust into. But now, with Frank out of the picture, there was no one left to shield her from the truth.

It was time for her to learn who was really pulling the strings.

I allowed a small smile to curl at the corner of my lips as I leaned back in the darkness, watching the events at Hell's Angels unfold from the safety of my unseen perch. The blood would be cleaned up, the whispers silenced. But Mae would soon know that this was far bigger than she could have imagined.

She thought the man on the rooftop was the one behind it all, but she was wrong.

And when the time came, she would find out just how wrong she had been.

The night after the discovery of the blood, Hell's Angels was eerily quiet. The usual thumping music was subdued, and the patrons who normally filled the club with their carefree laughter seemed more reserved, their eyes flickering to the shadows as if expecting something terrible to emerge.

Mae hadn't been back to the club since her last performance. No one had heard from her, not even Layla, who had been growing more nervous with each passing day. Everyone was on edge, and it was only a matter of time before the cracks in the club's carefully crafted facade would start to show.

I watched from a distance, my presence invisible to those inside the club, but always felt. The staff whispered about the man from the rooftop, the one they thought was behind everything. They had no idea how small a player he really was in the grand scheme of things. He had served his purpose, creating the illusion of control, but now he was just another piece on the board, easily discarded when the time came.

The truth was, Frank's disappearance had been inevitable. He had started asking too many questions, started to doubt the promises that had been made to him. He had been growing paranoid, checking over his shoulder at every turn, looking for shadows that he couldn't escape. In the end, his fate had been sealed the moment he tried to dig deeper into the workings of Hell's Angels.

Now, the message was clear. Anyone who questioned, anyone who tried to break free, would face the same fate.

The club's management would cover up the blood, of course. They would spin it as some drunken fight that had gotten out of hand. They were good at that, at maintaining the illusion that everything was under control. But the people working there knew better. They could feel it—the weight of something far darker lurking just beneath the surface.

And Mae?

She was teetering on the edge of something she couldn't understand. She had tasted power, seen glimpses of the world behind the curtain, but she had no idea how deep the rabbit hole went. She thought she could fight her way out, that she could resist the pull of the darkness that surrounded her.

But she was wrong.

She was already in too deep, and there was no way out now. Not for her. Not for anyone.

I leaned forward, my eyes narrowing as I watched the club from the shadows. It was time to take the next step. Time to tighten the leash and remind Mae exactly who held all the power. She wouldn't see it coming. None of them would.

As the night wore on, I moved silently through the city streets, a ghost among the living. The plan was in motion, and soon enough, Mae would learn the truth. She would learn that the man she thought was in control was nothing more than a puppet, and that the real power had been watching her all along.

And when the time came, she would fall in line.

Or she would disappear, just like Frank.