Chap#7
1416 Words
The morning was not ordinary.
It was infected.
Rose — once brilliant, sharp, and untouchable — was now bound by a chemical thread to the very man she came to destroy.
Drew watched from his broken window, sipping black tea.
He whispered to himself,
"Even gold melts in the wrong fire. Even truth obeys chemistry now."
He texted her.
"You forgot your morning dose. I’ll prepare it. Come soon."
Within an hour, she arrived.
No uniform.
No badge.
Just a smile that didn’t belong to her.
That day, Rose erased everything.
Drew’s records vanished like ash.
Charges dissolved.
Paper trails burned.
But the agencies were watching.
They weren’t blind.
They weren’t fools.
Within hours, an official letter arrived.
Suspension under Section 14-A – a***e of Office, Compromised Judgment, Suspected Nepotism.
She smiled while reading it.
"I neither accept nor deny it," she said calmly. "But I’m leaving."
That evening, she returned to Drew.
Eyes glowing.
Heart enslaved.
But Drew — sitting in the dark, alone — didn’t smile.
He never wanted her to be his slave.
He wanted her to be herself.
Sharp. Strong. Whole.
Now, she was just another creation.
Another result.
And the fake love that once felt like power now tasted like guilt.
She’s not her anymore.
She’s mine. But not truly mine.
And nothing’s worse than that.
The gangs weren’t done.
Katherine’s death had triggered chaos —
A kingdom with no queen,
No money,
No orders.
And the traitor, Drew, was still alive.
They returned to the broken plaza, guns loaded.
But the car was gone.
The air cold.
Even the pigeons had left.
Drew had vanished.
But Drew hadn’t vanished.
He’d simply shifted houses — and hosts.
Rose, still under the grip of Drew’s formula, had taken him home.
She didn’t live alone.
Her mother — Lisa — was a sharp, traditional woman.
Her late husband? A decorated army officer.
Her son? A senior officer in the taxation department.
When Rose walked in with Drew, holding his hand, Lisa’s heart froze.
"Rose… who is this man?"
Rose smiled like a girl in love, not the officer she once was.
"Mom, don’t worry. He’s staying with us. I might marry him. Right, Drew?"
Drew, caught off guard, stammered, "Uh… yeah. Sure. I guess…"
Lisa’s tone turned sharp.
"This house is not yours, Rose. Your father — God rest his soul — built this home. I manage it. Your brother pays half the bills. We are a conservative family, not a hotel for strangers."
She turned to Drew.
"Sit. Don’t move. Your story starts in one hour — when my son arrives."
To Rose:
"And you — upstairs. Now. No more words."
Drew had survived poison, murder, and madness.
But he hadn’t prepared for John Faelix.
He thought Rose’s brother would be a harmless nerd —
A bookworm with taxes, not muscles.
He was wrong.
The thump of military boots echoed.
A shining blue state-issued jeep rolled in.
Out stepped a tall, well-built man with a sharp jawline, badge pinned to his chest —
John Faelix, Senior Taxation Officer.
"Mom? Where are you? And who the hell is that?"
Drew stood nervously, hands folded.
"I... I’m Drew. I... I love your sister."
John blinked once, expression frozen.
Lisa stepped in.
"Son, Rose brought him home — says she might marry him. I told them to wait for you."
"She what?"
John turned to Drew.
"You’ve got two minutes. Talk."
Drew tried to sound calm.
"I really like your sister. She’s kind. She brought me home because I had nowhere to go. She mentioned… maybe... marriage…"
"No more."
He shouted upstairs.
"Rose! ROSE!"
She walked down — confident, calm.
But inside, the formula’s effect was fading. Only an hour left.
"Yes, bro?"
John stared.
"You bringing random guys home and giving them my room?"
Rose chuckled.
"What? No! I was just being kind. He looked homeless. That’s all."
Lisa interrupted.
"Rose, you literally said you wanted to marry him."
"I never said that! Mom, maybe you’re tired. Please take your medicine."
John’s eyes narrowed.
"This guy says you do want to marry him. You say you don’t. So who’s lying?"
Drew:
"We just talked. That’s it. I didn’t mean we’re marrying tonight—"
Rose cut in coldly.
"We were never anything. Are you crazy? Kindness is not romance."
She turned to her brother.
"John, throw him out."
John didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Drew by the collar and threw him out the front gate, crashing into the pavement.
"Don’t ever step in here again."
Lisa stood by the window, confused.
She had seen them holding hands.
Heard Rose say “I’ll marry him.”
She frowned.
Something was wrong.
As Drew limped away, Lisa quietly took his number from the contact Rose had once shown her.
She needed answers — and Drew might be the only one who had them.
Drew wasn’t afraid of being homeless.
He was terrified of what Rose would become when the formula wore off completely.
She was brilliant. Unstoppable. And soon, she would hate him more than anything.
So he made a decision — a devil’s path.
He returned to City 48.
The air was thick with smog and fire — just like the day he arrived.
But this time, he wasn’t lost.
He came with a purpose.
Drew walked straight into the underground g**g base — the same one Katherine ruled once.
"Relax, RELAX!"
Before his voice could echo again — fists landed on his face, kicks to his ribs.
The g**g had found him at last — and they were furious.
"Bastard! You killed the boss!"
Blood dripping, Drew screamed through broken teeth,
"WAIT! LISTEN!!"
The punches slowed.
"What did Katherine ever give you? A few thousand per job? You all risked your lives for scraps! I’ll give you thirty-five percent of my entire empire. That’s not salary. That’s inheritance."
Silence.
A few eyes shifted.
Some doubtful.
Some tempted.
Drew stood tall, breath shaking but voice clear.
"I’m not like her. I was like you once. Poor. Used. Forgotten. But now I have 180 million in assets. You’re 130 men here. I know you’re a tech-based g**g. You don’t need an army — just brains and trust."
Someone yelled from the back,
"How much would that be for us? Each?"
Drew didn’t flinch.
He grabbed the g*n from a member beside him and without hesitation —
shot the questioner in the head.
The echo rang like final judgment.
Drew said,
"Rule number one — never interrupt the leader."
No one moved.
He tossed the g*n back and walked through the stunned crowd.
"Accept me as your new master… and I’ll change your generations."
Drew, once hunted by the gangs, was now their king.
The law couldn’t touch him.
He was hidden in plain sight — protected by the very monsters who once tried to bury him alive.
He signed the first cheque — the largest payment the g**g had ever seen.
"This... this is more than I made in my whole life,"
whispered one of the lieutenants, unable to believe the number.
Then Drew called for the Chief of Operations, a scarred man named Vico, and invited him for a drive.
Inside a black SUV, tinted windows down, Drew finally spoke.
"Tell me everything. What was Katherine running? What are we now?"
Vico lit a cigarette, paused, then started.
"Katherine built this empire on two foundations, sir.
First — drugs. Basic, but solid.
Second... the real horror. The one you don’t know."
Drew stared.
"And?"
Vico’s voice dropped.
"We kidn*pped people... young ones.
We took their blood, their organs, sometimes entire bodies.
We tried to build robotic humans. Cyborgs.
Machines that don’t die, don’t age — built from the bodies of real people."
Drew went pale.
He had feared it. But not this scale.
"How many?"
Vico looked away.
"Over 700. All your age.
Most died screaming.
You were... you were one of them.
You were brought here for the same fate."
Drew asked,
"Then why wasn’t I killed?"
Vico replied,
"Katherine. She ordered your name removed. Said no harm.
Louis and his wife were ordered to watch you.
But for some reason — they turned on you. Tried to finish the job anyway."
Drew remembered the jeep, the dead body, the girl with the taped mouth...
Louis was supposed to be dead. But he wasn't.
And Drew realized — this wasn't over.
He was never just a survivor.
He was a variable in someone else’s experiment.
- Writer
