The first man, a mountain of muscle with a scar slashing through his eyebrow, lunged forward with a guttural roar.He swung a heavy, calloused fist aimed straight at Zarek’s jaw.Zarek didn’t step back. He didn’t even raise his arms to guard.At the very last millisecond, he tilted his head. The fist whistled past his ear, the rush of air ruffling a stray lock of dark hair.Before the brute could recover his balance, Zarek’s hand shot out like a viper. It wasn’t a punch, but a precise open-palm strike to the man’s solar plexus.Whoosh.The air seemed to be forced out of his ribs.The giant collapsed instantly, his knees slamming into the floor with a heavy thud before he rolled onto his side, gasping for breath that wouldn’t come.“One,” Zarek said softly.The other thugs hesitated for a heartbeat, their greedy smiles faltering. But the lure of triple pay was too strong.Two more charged from either side, one wielding a broken bottle, the other a heavy wooden chair.Zarek moved with a

For a fleeting moment, it almost looked as though Zarek might show mercy.Then he straightened fully.He gazed down at the broken man at his feet with a look of utter boredom, an expression more degrading than any slap.“Then you’ve outlived your usefulness,” Zarek said, his voice flat and terrifyingly calm.He moved without warning.Zarek’s leg snapped forward in a blur. His boot slammed into Damien’s chest with the force of a battering ram.CRACK.The sound of ribs snapping echoed through the hollow bar.Damien was hurled backward, his body skidding across the floorboards like a stone skipping over water. He crashed into a stack of heavy wooden crates near the service entrance, the impact shattering the wood into splinters.Aurelia let out a strangled sob, clapping her hands over her mouth.Zarek did not spare her a glance.He walked toward the wreckage, each step measured and unhurried, his long coat swaying behind him. He looked like the embodiment of an approaching storm, beautif

Malina Darian’s eyes sharpened into icy daggers as she turned slowly, her silk gown trailing across the marble floor like a serpent’s tail.The hard face she had worn coming off the helicopter was replaced by a stillness far more terrifying. The guard stumbled back a step, the air in the room suddenly feeling twenty degrees colder.“Explain,” she commanded. “Now.”“The report came in just minutes ago, Madame,” the guard stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. “A man. A stranger. He took down the Elder’s son’s men in seconds. Then there was a grenade. The entire back of the bar was leveled. We sent a recovery team, but there was nothing left but ash and a signet ring.”The woman walked toward him, her movements so elegant that it looked like she was dancing. She stopped inches from his face, her presence overwhelming.“A stranger?” she asked softly. “A stranger walked into my territory and erased my son from the earth?”“He was not alone at the end, Madame,” the guard added, his vo

The silence that followed the shattering of bone was absolute.The guard on the ground was a thrashing mess of crimson, but Zarek didn't spare him a glance. He stood in the center of the floodlights, his shadow stretching long and jagged toward the mansion. He looked entirely too calm for a man surrounded by rifles.The remaining five guards stood frozen. The transition from mockery to visceral horror had been too fast for their brains to process.‘What is he doing?’ Aurelia ducked, pressing herself against the floorboards to escape the line of fire."Kill him!" the guard on the ground wheezed through a mouthful of blood. "Kill this bastard!"The spell broke. The guards scrambled to raise their weapons, but Zarek was already moving. He didn't run… he blurred. To Aurelia, it looked as if the air itself had rippled.Zarek closed the distance before the nearest man could find him in his sights. With a hand as fast as a striking cobra, he seized the rifle barrel and wrenched it upward.

The blinding glare continued to pour over them, a searing wall of white that turned the world into a flat, featureless void.Zarek kept his hand raised, fingers splayed to block the worst of the radiation, but his vision was still a mess of swimming black spots and jagged light flares.He could hear them clearly now.Four sets of boots.Four different weights.‘Idiots, Zarek thought, his lip curling into a faint, arrogant sneer. ‘They think because I cannot see, I am a corpse.’He had spent his life dismantling the best the underworld had to offer. To him, these Shadows were likely more of the same overpaid thugs in expensive gear who relied on gadgets and lights because they lacked real skill.He stood his ground, intentionally keeping his posture relaxed, almost bored. He was counting on his superior speed to overcome the disadvantage. He was waiting for the first one to get close enough to kill.“Hey, handsome man, they’re coming! I can hear them!” Aurelia shrieked, her voice muff