CBI HQ – Swindon, England. Late Evening.
The hum of the fluorescent lights above flickered slightly as the sun dipped into the horizon, casting an amber glow through the wide glass windows. The usually bustling floor of the CBI headquarters had quieted down—agents were gone, computers put to sleep, lights dimmed… but Kiaan sat unmoved.At his desk.Buried under case files. Yet none of those papers really mattered right now.He wasn't flipping through them to crack a crime. He was looking for something else.A name. A shadow. A crack in the veil.He kept his elbows on the desk, fingers pressing into his temples, eyes scanning every sheet of data with a feverish intent. Every classified mission, every corrupt business tie, every black-ops record — all one objective burning in his mind: "Rex.""Reyaan Malhotra."
"The devil who marked him.""I will see your face," Kiaan murmured under his breath, voice cold and trembling with fire, "this time… I'll look the monster in the eye."
His mind flashed to that night.
The silk bed. The blindfold. The cuffs.
The injection burning through his veins.
The weight on his back.
The whispered voice in his ear.
The 8-legged spider crawling on his bare, exposed body while he bit his lips to stop from screaming.He clenched the edge of the table hard enough that his knuckles turned white."Devil can't be killed, little agent."
"You don't give orders, you take them."
Kiaan shoved the file aside, stood up abruptly, and paced near the window. His breath fogged the glass slightly. Outside, the wind carried the chill of English rain, but nothing matched the cold inside him.
Behind him, the door creaked open softly.
Tara peeked in, hesitant. "You're still here?"
Kiaan didn't turn. "I've got things to finish."
She stepped inside, her boots echoing softly across the empty floor. "You've been looking through the same stack for hours. What are you really searching for?"There was silence for a moment.Then he turned, eyes sharper than before."I want to see the face of the man who stripped me of everything — my control, my silence, my body." He paused. "I want to know if he looks like a god… or like the monster I remember from the inside of my nightmares."Tara swallowed. "Kiaan—"
"He marked me, Tara," he interrupted, voice tightening. "Not just on my wrist. He marked my memories. My spine still stiffens when I remember his voice. My body still shakes when I remember the spider on me. He made sure I would never forget him. And I won't. But this time…" he walked closer, "…I want him to remember me."Tara placed a hand gently on his arm. "You think you'll survive it?"Kiaan smiled—broken and burning. "I didn't survive it the first time… I just never died. Now I want to live — with vengeance."Suddenly, his phone buzzed. A secure channel.
UNKNOWN – LINE 4
He stared at it.Then slowly, almost eerily calm, he picked it up and pressed the line.A beat of silence.
Then…
Reyaan's voice.Silky. Sinister. Too
composed."Missing me already, little flame?"
Kiaan froze.He looked at Tara, who stiffened hearing that voice.Reyaan continued, "You've been looking. Like a good boy."
Kiaan's throat dried but he spoke, steady this time. "You'll meet me. Face to face. No blindfolds."A soft chuckle. "So you do want to see the devil's face. Curious, aren't you? Wondering if I wear the charm of an angel or the grin of a nightmare."Kiaan breathed hard. "This time… I'll be the one above you."
Reyaan's voice dropped, like a hiss against his soul. "Come then, my marked pet. Let's see how well the lamb learned to bare his fangs. But remember—"
"—your mark? That still belongs to me."
The line went dead.Kiaan stood frozen. Tara walked to him, her voice whispering, "He called you…"Kiaan didn't blink.He just whispered, more to himself than her:
"I'm coming for you, Rex. This time… eyes open."