A thick fog covered Alfonso, hiding the streets, houses, and trees. The town was quiet and old. Most people worked for the Alfaro family, the richest and most powerful in town. Everyone respected them, but behind their wealth, there were secrets people were afraid to talk about.
For months, disappearances had followed a pattern. Not random, not careless. Each vanishing was precise, deliberate.A landlord who abused his tenants. A corrupt councilor who embezzled public funds. A thug who preyed on the weak. Fear had come first, creeping into homes and marketplaces. Then came something darker. Relief. Some townspeople dared to feel it, though none would admit it aloud. It was as if someone, unseen and unstoppable, was delivering justice from the shadows.
Inside the Alfaro mansion, Drake moved like a ghost. At twenty-three, his presence was quiet but heavy, a silent assertion of control. His body was strong, his gaze sharp, and his eyes held a depth that few could read. Behind locked doors in the mansion lay a hidden room, always disinfected and spotless, yet faintly stained with echoes of blood. This was the place where Drake's true self lived, away from polite smiles and whispered respect.
Another "project" was just finished. His latest victim, a ruthless loan shark who ruined families, had been erased from the world. Drake felt no remorse, only the cold satisfaction of purpose fulfilled. He remembered his first kill, a violent laborer who tormented workers in the family lumber mill. He had been nineteen then, and that night, something inside him had awakened. A rush he could not name, a power he could not resist, a path he could no longer leave. Love, friendship, ordinary emotions, they were distractions. Control and precision were the only things that mattered.
From the balcony of the mansion, Drake looked out at Alfonso, shrouded in fog. The town seemed peaceful, but he could feel its tension, the uneasy balance between fear and secret relief. The corrupt were disappearing, and no one knew why. He knew their secrets. He could erase them all if he chose.
A sharp knock on the door broke the silence. Leandro, one of the Alfaro family's most trusted men, stepped in quietly.
"Drake," he said, voice careful, measured, "someone new has arrived. Elena Reyes, from Manila."
"Reyes?" Drake asked, his tone flat, cold. "Why is she here?"
"Her sister sent her after a scandal. She isn't a criminal, but she leaves an impression. Smart, bold. They say she might work at your eco-resort. People will notice her."
Drake's lips curved into a faint, calculating smile. "Intriguing… interesting."
Suddenly, static hissed through a small radio on the shelf. A voice emerged, tense, urgent. An investigator reporting patterns no one else could see.
"There is a pattern in Alfonso. A series of disappearances, all tied to corruption. Every lead points to one powerful family—The Alfaro's."
Drake's hand brushed over the thin scar on his palm, a remnant of old anger, now turned to instinct. He had known this moment would come. The fog outside pressed closer, damp and heavy, carrying the sense of unseen eyes searching for the truth.
"No fog," he whispered, voice low and deliberate, "can cover blood."
Leandro hesitated, reading the warning in Drake's calm. "Perhaps it is time to prepare."
Drake's smile is hardened, dangerous and confident. "This is no problem. This is a new game."
In the distance, the rumble of a jeepney grew louder. Someone had arrived in Alfonso. And with her arrival, the game of shadows, secrets, and silent power was about to begin.