brutal

Chapter 35

VERENA

The mission tonight was simple and required minimal effort. Yuna even said she could do it all with her eyes closed as Kai was going over the plan earlier.

Of course, tonight was not one worth approaching loosely, but I might've just agreed in silence.

An hour has passed since we arrived at one of Viper's hotspots, an underground club about an hour away from the mansion, and not much has happened yet. For a place meant to be kept secret, there was about two-hundred people that filled the dim space.

And contrary to prior belief, it wasn't just criminals present. There were celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and even some of my father's previous colleagues. I didn't know what he would say if I ever get around to telling him about them, but I guessed he left them in the past for a reason.

Lucky for us, Kai had the foresight to exclude himself from the limelight at the risk of being recognized.

He didn't need to explain himself when he told us so— we just understood. It mattered less about what it might do to his reputation, but more on the fact that a guy like him would be incredibly difficult to believe that he secretly deals with their rival weapons supplier and dabbles in illegal activities.

Not even the devil could be convinced that Malachi Deimos could play the bad guy.

Which was exactly why the entire mission banked on us four while Kai waited outside in the forest, armed with nothing but a pistol and a black mask over his face as one of the Viper soldiers standing guard at the entrance.

I didn't get to see him neutralize the guard he replaced earlier, but basing off the deadly silence on his end, I'd say he did pretty well.

From my booth, I watched Yuna swirl her drink around with her finger and look around the room as if she were waiting for someone. Supposedly, she was, but the seller she was meant to meet up with was late by twenty minutes already.

Alone in the corner, I could see Seth on his phone. It was far from Kai's orders of "blending in," but surprisingly a number of other customers found the bright lights and blaring music uninteresting enough to go on their phones instead.

And though none of us had any visual on him, I just knew Roman was bored out of his mind on the second floor. He assumed the identity of a VIP of the club in order to gain intel, but he clearly hasn't learned anything yet.

"So... how are you guys?"

It was Seth who answered shortly after, "Shut it, Scar."

"But I'm bored as fuck. I can't drink. I can't dance. I can't kiss my girlfriend. I can't do shit," Roman whined.

A sharp gasp through my earpiece made me wince a little, if only because it rivaled a whistle tone. "Did you... did you just call me–"

"My girlfriend?" Roman huffed. "Of course, love. It's about time they knew."

"Oh, we know. We've known the moment you two started fighting over toothpaste our first month in," Seth scoffed. My interest piqued even more when I saw him roll his eyes and shake his head in the distance.

"What? Bullshit."

"No. Just facts," Kai suddenly chimed in a low voice, as if he was meant to keep quiet but couldn't stand up the opportunity to go against Roman.