BOUND BY SIN SWORN BY BLOOD ( The Devil Who Claimed Me)

The First Test

The storage room was silent except for the low hum of electricity and the soft scraping of our breaths. Jonah crouched beside me, wiping sweat from his forehead, eyes darting toward every shadow. Mila remained at the edge, her tablet now dead, wires disconnected.

“We can’t stay here,” Jonah whispered. “They’ll find us eventually.”

I nodded, trying to steady my shaking hands. “I know. But we need a plan. One wrong move, and Matteo’s men—”

“They’ll kill us,” Jonah finished grimly.

“Yes,” I said flatly. The truth stung, but denial was a luxury we couldn’t afford.

We had little time. The vent we had used to escape the server room led to a service corridor, but the layout was foreign and twisted. Security cameras blinked red above us, and I could hear distant footsteps, muffled but deliberate.

Mila whispered, “Split up. Two of you distract, one goes for the transfer room. The EMP can still finish what we started.”

I shook my head. “No. Together. We move together. We survive together.”

Jonah sighed. “Then lead the way.”

I swallowed my fear and took the first step. The corridor smelled faintly of cleaning chemicals and polished concrete. It was eerily quiet for a building that usually roared with life. But I knew better: silence was the calm before the storm in Matteo’s territory.

A shadow detached itself from the darkness ahead. Two men in black suits, weapons casually resting at their sides, blocked our path. Their eyes scanned the corridor, trained to notice the slightest deviation from routine.

I held my breath, trying to calculate the distance. Fifteen feet. Enough for a quick dash if we timed it perfectly.

But the men spoke.

“Stop right there,” one said. His tone wasn’t loud, but it carried authority.

Jonah stepped forward instinctively. “We’re just—”

I grabbed his arm, shaking my head. “No. Wait.”

The guards’ eyes narrowed. Their hands twitched toward their holsters.

I had to act. Desperation sharpened my reflexes.

I pulled a small smoke pellet from my pocket—one of Jonah’s last-minute additions—and tossed it at their feet. A cloud of dense gray smoke erupted instantly, filling the corridor.

Chaos followed.

I grabbed Jonah’s hand, Mila’s shoulder, and we bolted down the side passage, breathing in the acrid smoke, listening to shouts behind us.

We ducked behind a stack of crates, gasping for air. My heart thundered so loud I was sure Matteo could hear it from wherever he was.

“Are you insane?” Jonah hissed, coughing. “That was too close!”

I shook my head. “We don’t have a choice. Every second counts. Get ready to move again.”

Minutes—or maybe hours—later, we arrived at a wide room filled with crates, laptops, and secured cabinets. This was the backup transfer hub Mila had located during her reconnaissance.

“Plug this in,” I said, handing her the EMP device.

She connected it, and the device hummed, lights blinking green. “This should finish the transfer. But…” Her voice faltered. “It’s going to trigger an alert once it’s done. We’ll have seconds to escape.”

I swallowed. Seconds to save everything—or lose it forever.

The EMP device buzzed softly, and the progress bar on the tablet crept forward.

Thirty percent… fifty… seventy…

Then came the sound of footsteps, rapid and precise, echoing in the distance.

“They’re here,” Jonah whispered. “We need to move—now!”

I nodded, but before we could react, the door to the storage room swung open violently.

Matteo stepped inside, alone. His eyes locked onto mine, cold, unreadable, and terrifying.

“Impressive,” he said quietly. “But not enough.”

I froze.

He didn’t raise a weapon. He didn’t call for guards. Yet the air around him felt heavier, charged with danger. His presence alone was a weapon.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

I swallowed hard. “I… I need the money. My parents are dying. We don’t have any other choice.”

Matteo studied me, his eyes narrowing. For a moment, I thought he would laugh, or scoff, or kill me on the spot.

Then he smiled. A slow, dangerous smile.

“Desperation,” he said. “It’s the most entertaining thing in the world.”

My chest tightened. “I’m not here to entertain you. I’m here to survive.”

He tilted his head. “Survival? Interesting. Most people running through my halls would already be dead. Yet… you persist. You’re reckless. Bold. Annoyingly… alive.”

I realized then that Matteo didn’t see us as ordinary intruders. He saw us as a puzzle. A challenge.

The EMP device beeped—transfer complete.

I exhaled sharply. “We did it.”

Mila whispered, “Get ready. Alert’s going off. We have… maybe thirty seconds.”

Matteo’s gaze flicked to the blinking lights on the EMP. “So, you’ve won a small victory. But little victories don’t mean much in my world.”

He took a step closer. “Time to test your true value.”

And just like that, the first test began.

We were trapped in the heart of the Black Crown Syndicate, surrounded by deadly enforcers, and watched by the devil himself.

One mistake would cost us everything.

One move—one wrong breath—could end our desperate mission before it even truly began.

But if we survived… we would learn what it really meant to fight the devil.