Page 22 of Veil of Secrets

“What the hell is this now?” he asks, voice tighter than before. “This isn’t cleanup. It’s a message.”

“Exactly.”

I crouch. Flip the kid’s body to his side. His eyes are still open, wide in surprise.

He didn’t think it would end this way.

They never do.

Luca doesn’t move.

“You think Marco sent him?” he finally asks.

“No,” I say. “I think the first guy did. And I think this one followed without knowing how deep he was.”

Luca swipes a hand through his hair. The wind keeps pushing at us. It cuts harder now, but I barely feel it.

He shifts his feet like he wants to say more.

I don’t give him the space.

“We’re being tested,” I say. “They want to see if we’ll fold.”

“And you think this proves we won’t?”

“No. This proves I won’t.”

He looks at the blood spreading toward the edge of the pier.

“You’re escalating.”

I nod. “Good.”

Luca’s quiet again. He doesn’t argue. That’s why I keep him around. He questions. But when it matters, he follows.

The bodies are laid out in a line now. The first one neat, throat to gut. The second, brutal—head cracked like glass. No blade involved.

It’s worse that way.

I know that.

I let it happen anyway.

The truth is, I wanted to feel it.

Not the kill. Not the victory.

The after.

The quiet.

That strange calm when everything’s been stripped away. When the blood's cooling and no one else is breathing but you.

It doesn’t feel like power.

It feels like control.

And control is the only thing I trust.

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