Perhaps since I speak only of Kai, Sienna and me, it is strange to mention that we aren't the only ones here. There are hundreds of us, only half of them who are yet alive.

We all have accepted in some part of our minds that we are to die at some point. Except. . . that one guy a few years older than me who believes he has a chance to make it alive if he does their bidding, does everything those monsters ask him to without any objection.

For his sake, I hope he does survive. Because how terrible would it be to realize he'll die in the end despite having done every horrifying thing he's done to stay alive?

- from the journal entries of Daisy

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☘︎ Eᴠᴇ Kᴀᴠɪɴsᴋʏ ☘︎

There are eight of them scattered around the Hernandez estate; mini-houses made for different indoor sports, armed with the weaponry used for each skill.

After a thorough trip to the archery, pool and shooting range houses, I find Victoria in the fencing house in fencing attire, sans the mask.

The Épée slices through the air in a neat cut as she swings her fencing blade in a move so well coordinated, it leaves me baffled. The shock remains only for a second before I register this is the same teenager who'd invaded Maa's tech systems and made a whole report on me, when even experienced FBI teams weren't able to.

If Victoria notices me, she doesn't comment, so I venture to the weaponry shelf attached to the wall and pick an Épée for myself. Armed with the blade, I approach Axel's niece until I'm right there in front of her, "I thought fencing was a two-person sport."

"I prefer solitude, whether in companionship or sports." Despite her words, she doesn't object as I take position in front of her, keeping my feet shoulder width apart and raising my Épée in challenge.

Within seconds, her sword clinks with mine, the sudden blow surprising me but not catching me off-guard, "You're not the only one good at this, Vicky." I wink at her, parrying in time.

Victoria tilts her head to the side, "Are you self taught?" There isn't a single emotion on her face, but somehow it sounds like a trick question.

"Are you?" I dodge the question with another.

Because she doesn't have a fencing mask either, I spot the smallest of smirk appear on the corner of her lips before it disappears, "So your adoptive father is an ally too afterall. He taught you the martial arts. Hyeon Park, ex-general of North Korean army."

The kid is too smart to be true. There are only people countable on fingers, who know appa is from North Korea and not South Korea. And those few are all people we'd willingly told.

"Why spy on me for a year?" I jump to the issue at hand, there was no point dragging this.

Victoria doesn't know why I turned into a killer, she doesn't know what happened to me or the others in that place, but she knows way too much about my present. She knows about the people I'd killed, has an eerily accurate list of people I might kill, has a whole background information on my parents and me and the life we've currently built. It is as much spectacular as it is bothersome.

"If it's any consolation, it wasn't intentional." Victoria's Épée clinks with mine once again, almost cutting my cheek this time, "You just happened to be the enemy of an enemy."

"Let me guess." Curiosity takes over, urging me to counter a blow so hard, Vicky staggers on her footing for a second before her refelexes get her back to balance, "It's Michael Lee Voroski. Because of him, you found all about me. Because of his connection to the secret society."

I'm not sure whether the surprise flickering in her light brown eyes is from the realization that I was intentionally letting her attack me all this while in the fencing to learn her moves, or it is from the fact I figured out about the root of her source on me instantly.

However, she changes her tactic quickly, opting to parry instead of counter attack when I go for another blow, "Michael Lee Voroski had done some shady illegal things under-the-table, hiding it from the government. Uncle Xel couldn't dig into them without legal permission if he wanted to present it in the court, when he'll re-open all the closed cases against Voroski Pharmeucitals Co, after receiving the law firm in his inheritance. Which is why, he's been waiting. There's also the reason that Xel has too high morals to dig information through illegal measures."

A slow smile starts forming on my lips, "He does seem like the virtuous kind, despite trying to act otherwise."

Victoria observes my smile with a foreign intrigue, "True. But I am not, virtuous that is. Hence, I gathered every information I could dig in the past year illegally, hacking Voroski's computer systems and security cameras, which lead me to finding out that he's part of a secret society. Further digging led me to the knowledge that in the past two years, from the fifteen main members of the secret society, eight of them were killed. Albeit brutally."

Her head tilts to the side, her stance on guard, "I was curious. I looked into each of the presidential candidates who were killed and gathered background information on them. As I'd predicted, they were all revolting people who'd buried down various assault, murder, trafficking and rape charges. Someone had to kill them at some point, and you did."

Instead of being disturbed, Vicky seems awfully pleased by my act of murder, "My fascination made me access each of the murder cases thoroughly and carefully, making sure the government officials didn't track me as I invaded the systems of the FBI team in-charge of finding the killer. And in each of them, I recognized there was a similar kind of CCTV loop used. It's an advanced loop that doesn't freeze the camera but plays an artificial scenario with a moving person in it. Like the one used in yesterday's CCTV, because of which the officers thought you'd entered the main theater hall before Pierce Fangley fell off the balcony, when in truth you hadn't. There was darkness in the main hall for people to have missed noticing you, providing you the leverage to go with the story."

"But what you don't know is. . ." The next strike of her blade appears out of nowhere, knocking me off my feet from the force of it, "The CCTV artificial loop system was the first software I created. And I'd sold it to only one person. Sonal Singh. I knew it was her even though she tried to conceal her identity while buying the software two years ago."

This time I can't hold back the awe from appearing on my face, "You're a genius, Vicky, has anyone told you that?"

Victoria looks vaguely alarmed by my reaction, a flush tinting her cheeks for the briefest moment before she frowns, "What I am trying to convey is, I can help you track down the three key people of the secret society who I'm sure you haven't found either, because there's no one who can invade the secret society's technical systems the way I can. Because all I've focused on the past year is track each of the member's movement. I'd tried to approach you when I figured who you could be, although it wasn't possible for me to leave country without uncle Xel worrying. But then you married Xel and appeared here. I believe in seizing the opportunity when it strikes. So I'll help you, in return you have to make sure Michael Lee Voroski suffers."

I slump back against the floor, pointing the tip of the Épée sword at her nose while she watches cautiously, "Look, Vicky, I'll do what you asked. But you don't have to help me with anything. I can't let you. It's dangerous. Think of it this way, you're the only family Axel has left." I pause to reconsider, "Well except for the amoeba grandfather. But we don't consider him."

Victoria raises a single brow, the action so similar to her uncle's it makes me grin, "Good thing danger is my melofy of preference then." she says in absolute seriousness.

"I can't-"

"Michael Voroski and his connections to the secret society is what caused the murder of my parents." Victoria points her sword at my nose, "It is as much my revenge as it is yours."

So she does have an inkling that I'm doing all of this for revenge. But I hadn't known when Axel said Vicky's parents are dead, it had meant they'd been murdered.

I don't tell Vicky she can help me, don't tell her whether I'm willing to let her into the dangerous circumstances of my situation. Because I can't bring anyone else into this mess and put their life at risk. But I don't refuse her again either. Instead. . .

Smiling at the genius in front of me, I tell her a secret, "Here's a thing you need to know first, Michael isn't part of the secret society. He's working for them. He's their slave. As long as the secret society exists, he'll do anything for them, he'll go to any extent so that they keep him alive, he'd never dare to do anything of his own will. Which means, your parents' death must've all been orchestrated from their orders. So in the end of the day, Vicky, both of our enemies are the members of-"

"-the secret society." She retorts, never asking how I know about Michael, instead I can see her smart mind trying to piece things together.

Although Vicky might not figure this out; Michael was one of the many kids who was in that hell hole with me. He's a victim turned villain too.

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AXEL HERNANDEZ

There are consequences of not being prepared while facing an interrogation; such as ending up in unseemly situations.

Unseemly situation which begins with me being summoned along with Eve and Tori, to Arthur Hernandez's hundred acres golf-course on a bright evening the very next day of his party. The reason for this impromptu invitation being the signed inheritance papers he wishes to give me.

The sun blazes in the sky with a menacing vengeance, silence so far fetched a drop-of-a-pin wouldn't be hard to be heard. Tori and I stand on either sides of Arthur Hernandez in golf attires, holding our golf clubs, stoic expressions mirroring on both our faces.

My grandfather's ire is unmatched, the foulness of his mood evident in the deep-set frown between his brows and the way he clutches the golf stick with a tight grip. Arthur Hernandez swings his club, hitting the ball with precision as it flies through air to land accurately inside the goalie, "Where did you go for your honeymoon? My sources informed me you haven't left Paris ever since your marriage."

Grandfather's calculating grey irises flicker to me, the crow's feet at the edge of his eyelids deepening with the narrowing of his eyes, as though he knows Eve and my marriage is but a facade to acquire my inheritance. But it is the aura of absolute authority, the way he scrutinizes people like they are mere nothings in his eyes, the way he abandoned his family if it meant to benefit him, that has a feeling of numbness seep into my veins.

He'd been keeping tabs on me, as though I was some criminal he knew would go rampant eventually. He was trying to avoid handing me the inheritance my parents had rightfully left for me under his name-since I wasn't legal back then-before they were both arrested and taken to central prison. Arthur Hernandez doesn't want me to defend my late brother in court, doesn't want me to re-open the cases. Because he believes in the end of the day, I'd turn into my parents.

I maintain the expressionless mask on my face, focusing straight ahead on the red flag at a distance instead of meeting his eyes, "We-"

The sound of the tractor jeep halting next to us, cuts my excuse of a justification. The same tractor the runaway had hopped into earlier to cruise around the golf course.

Now she climbs down the jeep, her blue dress fluttering behind her. Approaching with a flourish to her steps despite those butterfly heels, "Honeymoon? We never had one." She almost sings the words, like a siren seizing the opportunity to acquire what she wants.

"What do you mean?" Arthur Hernandez was like a shark looking for his next prey, his attention shifting completely from me to the runaway.

My slow scowl is identical to Tori's. We both couldn't risk Arthur Hernandez denying to handover the inheritance, with how we aim to attack Michael Lee Voroski using the law firm I was to gain.

Eve catches my scowl and an apologetic smile starts to form at the corners of her lips, "Oh, Axel did plan a whole romantic honeymoon but you know how busy he is." She steps in front of me, extending a hand to brush away my hair from front of my eyes while discreetly easing the furrow between my brows.

I freeze on spot, confused by the sudden urge to lean into her touch, like the previous night when I'd wanted to remain a little longer in her embrace. But my grandfather's next words snap me out of my trance.

"You will pack your bags and go to a honeymoon tomorrow itself. No work is more important than a happy marriage." He must've seen the hesitation in my eyes, because he sternly adds, "I will give you the inheritance agreements after you return from the honeymoon."

Turning around to depart, he passes me one last warning look and then leaves.

I stand back stunned by the turn of events. How was happy marriage connected to going on a honeymoon, I couldn't fathom.

Tori, on the other hand, stops scowling and resorts to staring at the runaway with a detective's gaze, her head tilted to the side in observation, as though she's connecting some invisible threads. Eve catches her gaze and it's almost like they have a treaty, an understanding.

Turning back to me, the runaway smoothens my frown yet again, "Sorry, Charming. I just wanted to go on a vacation."

I sigh, not even surprised by the stunt she'd pulled simply to have a vacation. Perhaps I was sure there was no other way than to go about this honeymoon if I wanted the law firm soon enough, or perhaps something in me was tempted to grant the runaway whatever she wants.

Disturbed by the prospect of the second thought, I ask in the spur of the moment, "Where?"

Eve's smile turns into a fiendish grin, "Bali."

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

"I have returned."
*insert dramatic darkling background voice*

NOW LET'S GO TO BALI FOR A HONEYMOON AND A LITTLE MURDERING🏃‍♀️

Finally done with both my exams and stupid uni project, so it's about time I start compensating for all the tardy updates last month🏃‍♀️

I rewrote this chapter 4 times with different scenerios, before sticking to this one. Lowkey felt like I forgot english dictionary for a moment💀 Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Lemme know if you think anything is iffy with chapter or something! <3