Oliver's expression was stern as he listened to Arshad's fear-filled plea. He knew that Arshad had brought this predicament upon himself by attempting to carry out the contract on his life. When Arshad spoke of his fear for his life, Oliver's response was cold and pragmatic."Protecting yourself is up to you and not me," he said, his tone firm and unyielding. "You got yourself into useless problems, and now you must find a way out. Don't expect me to protect you. You have your own men; use them to find a solution.”With those words, Oliver ended the call abruptly, hanging up the phone. As Oliver hung up the phone, Zelda looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Hubby, is everything alright? Anything wrong?" she asked, sensing that the call might have been troubling.Oliver smiled warmly at her, his features softening. He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, a gesture meant to reassure her. "Don't worry, everything is fine," he said, his tone calm and soothing. "Just a mi

As they continued to discuss their strategy, a sudden sense of unease washed over one of the men. He stiffened, his eyes darting around the van as if searching for an unseen threat."Hey, did you guys see that?" he whispered urgently, his voice laced with alarm.The other men glanced at him, their expressions puzzled. "See what?" one of them asked, his brow furrowing in confusion."I saw something move," the man insisted, his voice rising with panic. "It was like lightning, but I couldn't see anyone.”His words hung in the air, the silence that followed thick with tension. The other men exchanged wary glances, their nerves on edge as they scanned their surroundings for any sign of danger."Maybe you're just imagining things," one of them suggested, trying to quell the rising sense of fear.But the man shook his head adamantly. "No, I'm telling you, something's not right. We need to be on high alert.”"Come on, nothing will happen," one of the men scoffed, trying to quell the rising te

Grimacing with agony, the man gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, struggling to endure the searing pain that radiated from his wounded thigh. Each breath was a struggle. With a steely glint in her eyes, Vespera withdrew the gun from the man's lips and aimed it at his knee with chilling precision. Without a moment's hesitation, she pulled the trigger, the deafening boom of the gunshot reverberating through the air as a bullet tore through the man's knee, shattering bone and tissue with brutal force. The man's scream echoed through the night, his body wracked with agony as he collapsed to the ground, his shattered knee rendering him utterly helpless before Vespera's merciless interrogation. "Where's the address?" Vespera demanded once more, her voice cold. Gulping hard, the man's eyes darted nervously as he struggled to compose himself through the haze of pain and fear. Finally, with a shaky breath, he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. "The address... it's..." he

An hour later, Vespera and her men pulled off the main road and into a desolate stretch of industrial wasteland far from the heart of town. The drive had been tense but uneventful; now, their headlights illuminated cracked asphalt and abandoned warehouses, all standing silent under the pale glow of a few flickering streetlights. The pavement was riddled with weeds poking through the cracks, and torn chain-link fences ran along the perimeter, giving the area a forlorn, almost post-apocalyptic feel.As they brought their vehicles to a stop near a rusted sign that was barely legible, the hum of the engines cut out, plunging the surroundings into an eerie hush. In the distance, the faint outline of the gang’s base rose against the horizon—a hulking, squat structure of corrugated metal and boarded-up windows. It was set back from the main road, hidden amid tangles of overgrown brush and twisted piles of scrap. An occasional burst of light from a flickering floodlight revealed hints of move

Boom!” Boom!”Gunfire thundered through the warehouse like a crack of constant lightning, echoing off the metal walls. Vespera crouched behind a stack of crates, breathing heavily as she surveyed the confusion erupting around her. Across the open space, several of her men darted from cover to cover, exchanging bullets with the entrenched gang. The flickering overhead lights and the fading daylight outside cast strange shadows on everyone’s faces, making it hard to tell friend from foe at a glance.A sudden movement drew Vespera’s eye—a gang member peering out from behind a barrel. He was angling his rifle around, clearly targeting one of her flanking teammates. Vespera exhaled slowly to steady her aim. Boom!” With a single, crisp shot, she put a bullet through his chest. He staggered, eyes wide in disbelief, then collapsed to the concrete floor. His rifle clattered away from his limp fingers.No sooner had she taken that shot than chaos erupted on her left. Two of Vespera’s men work