LakeWood City in Barnovia, 7:30 PM...
The night was alive with the fury of the storm, with flashes of lightning, illuminating the dark sky.
The darkness pressed in, thick and suffocating, broken only by the occasional rumbling of thunder.
Inside the comfort of her sleek Lamborghini, Hiraya sat behind the wheel, tapping furiously on her laptop, her sharp gaze locked on the screen as she hacked into a system mainframe.
With her current task completed, she dialled a number on her phone, activating the bluetooth earpiece device attached to her right ear.
Immediately the call connected, she spoke in a sharp and icy voice.
"Get ready and stay on standby. I'm going in."
"Already ahead of you." An equal steely male voice echoed back to her before she ended the call.
Taking one last deep breath to calm the storm already raging inside of her, Hiraya slipped out of the car and disappeared into the stormy night, like a black panther.
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Inside the massive luxury mansion of a prominent figure of the underworld, hefty security guards prowled around the premises like watchdogs, their gaze murderous and alert.
They were armed to the teeth and built to kill. But not one of them caught scent of the snake which had slithered into their midst.
Wearing the darkness like a second skin, Hiraya moved like a shadow sharpened into a blade.
By the time the first guard caught her scent, his throat had already been slashed and his bulky body swiftly dragged into the shadows.
Then she moved on to the next, panting softly as she aimed with her silencer.
One shot was all it took and the unfortunate fellow body hit the ground.
In a heartbeat, nine more powerful men met their tragic silent demise, each one taken down in the more uncanny and vicious way.
Upstairs, the cry of a woman rang like a siren, screeching, and begging for mercy.
This was closely followed by the sick laughter of a predator, taunting and unforgiving.
"You think you can run away from me after everything I've given to you?"
"No... please..."The squeaky voice of a woman shrieked a pleading response, followed by another whipping sound.
With one single fierce kick, the bedroom door was forced open and Hiraya barged in on the couple, her eyes blazing with fury.
"Who the f*ck are you?" Draco Fincher growled, glaring at the slender figure of a woman standing by the door.
"An antidote to your sickness." Hiraya's fury was fuelled by the sight of the woman's bruised face. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Draco let out a grim throaty laughter, his dark gaze narrowing at the slender masked lady.
"They sent a broomstick to do their dirty work?" He growled, striking his belt on the floor.
"I'll show you what this broomstick can do."
In one swift ghostlike movement, Hiraya easily disarmed Draco, striking three different pressure points that sent him falling down like a log of wood, temporarily immobilised.
"Please don't hurt me." The bruised wife scurried to the corner of the room, crawling on her knee. "You can take all his money. It's in the wall." Her shaky fingers pointed to a huge picture frame.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Lucy. I'm here to save you." Hiraya said helping her to her feet. "Mia sent me."
"Mia! My sister!" Lucy's reddened eyes widened.
"Yes. But there is no time to talk. This place will be crawling with the police in less than an hour. Quickly change your outfit and leave. Do not bother taking anything along with you. Someone will be waiting to pick you up outside the gate."
"What about the bodyguards." Lucy asked in a trembling voice.
"No one will try to stop you. Trust me." Hiraya reassured her. "Now, go."
"Thank you." Lucy smiled between tears and hurried out of the room after sparing her husband one last spiteful look.
With Lucy safely out of the picture, Hiraya quickly got busy. She retrieved a flash drive from the vault, decrypted the ZTX Formula and made a copy for herself.
Afterwards, she shot Draco thrice–one, in the head and two on the chest.
Leaving her branded signature on his corpse, She left the mansion, slipping back into the darkness.
Moments after receiving payments, Hiraya made a single drop off without fore knowledge of her buyer's identity.
She made her way back to her car, and slipped in behind the wheels. She slid the key into the ignition and was about to start the engine when her phone started ringing.
A faint smile curled up the side of her lips as she swiped the receive button.
"Damian, what..."
"Raya, it's a trap, get out of your car."
The panicked voice of her partner, Damian, rapped in her ear at exactly the same time Hiraya turned the car ignition.
A spark followed by a bright light was the last thing Hiraya saw as the explosion ripped the night in half.
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Five kilometres away from the explosion, a young masked man, seated behind the wheel of a sleek exotic car smiled grimly as he spoke into his phone.
"It's done. Hiraya Chavez is no more."
*****
LampStone City in San Cabomine, 5:30 PM...
Smack!
The sharp crack of a slap sliced through the tense atmosphere like a knife, the lingering sound resonating in the four corners of the expansive sitting room.
Carmelita's head jerked violently to the side, strands of her ginger red hair falling across her face. Her cheek flared red and her body shook violently as she tilted forward to look at her enraged mother-in-law.
"I'm sorry." Carmelita's voice cracked, her chest heaving with so much grief and pain.
Today, which was supposed to be her late husband's burial ceremony, had turned into her worst nightmare.
It all started when a strange-looking man crashed the ongoing funeral ceremony, claiming to be her lover, while flaunting nude intimate pictures that left the crowd screaming in shock.
And to make matters worse, this stranger also took full responsibility for her mysterious pregnancy, claiming it was their proof of love.
"Lies." Carmelita had shrieked in horror.
Sadly, her voice was quickly drowned beneath the rising tide of her late husband's family's angry voices.
She was dragged away from the ceremony by her enraged in-laws like a criminal about to face the death penalty–eyes burning with shame as murmurs followed her like shadows.
"What a shame?"
"She is a disgrace."
"She has ruined the Mendoza family's good name."
"She ought to be flogged and ostracised."
"Could it be that her adultery pushed her husband to his untimely death?"
The taunting and speculation continued even way after Carmelita had been escorted out of the venue.
Back at the Mendoza family mansion, everyone wanted a piece of the adulterous widow. They all took turns; taunting, slapping and shredding her to pieces.
Carmelita was left with no other option than to beg for mercy since no one believed her. But her plea only made her more guilty.
"You worthless trash that my son picked from the gutters." Carmelita's mother-in-law, Rosella spat out between clenched jaws.
"You think you can bring shame and dishonour to this family?"
"I swear, mother, I didn't..."
"Shut up, you shameless wretch!" Rosella struck Carmelita a second time on the same stinging cheek, causing the latter, who was already on her knees, to fall backwards.