The Underworld’s Favorite Toy
1423 Words
The silence after the call lingered like smoke.
No one in the communications room dared to speak.
The ticking of the antique clock on the wall sounded unnaturally loud.
Elena couldn’t stop hearing her father’s final warning.
Don’t open your mother’s letter.
The words repeated over and over in her mind.
Lucien finally broke the silence.
“Adrian.”
“Boss.”
“I want every camera, satellite feed, and informant focused on Marcus Carter.”
Adrian nodded.
“It’ll be done.”
“I don’t care what it costs.”
“It won’t matter.”
Lucien looked around the room.
“I want him found before sunrise.”
Every person immediately went to work.
Phones began ringing.
Maps appeared on the monitors.
Orders were relayed across encrypted radio channels.
Elena stood motionless, watching the empire move at the command of one man.
She had never seen power like this.
Not political power.
Not military power.
Something far older.
Far more dangerous.
Lucien walked toward the window overlooking the estate.
Rain had begun falling again.
It painted silver streaks across the glass.
“You should get some rest.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“My father is being held hostage.”
“And you’ll need a clear mind to help save him.”
“I don’t want sleep.”
“I know.”
“I want answers.”
Lucien turned to face her.
“So do I.”
Before either of them could continue, one of the younger technicians suddenly stood.
“Boss!”
Everyone looked up.
“I found something.”
The room fell quiet again.
The technician enlarged a surveillance image captured only twenty minutes earlier.
A black sedan.
Parked three streets away from the estate.
The image sharpened.
Inside the car sat two men.
Neither was armed.
Neither appeared to be speaking.
They were simply…
Watching.
Adrian frowned.
“Zoom in.”
The image focused on the passenger.
His face became clear.
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“I know him.”
Lucien looked at her.
“Who is he?”
“He used to visit my father.”
“When?”
“When I was little.”
“What was his name?”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
“It was… Uncle David.”
Adrian immediately began typing.
“No David connected to Marcus Carter’s known associates.”
Elena shook her head.
“He wasn’t really my uncle.”
“He was just someone your father trusted,” Lucien said.
She nodded slowly.
“He always brought me chocolate.”
The room remained silent.
Lucien’s eyes never left the photograph.
“Run facial recognition.”
The technician obeyed.
Seconds later, a profile appeared.
The room froze.
Real Name: Damien Volkov
Occupation: Unknown.
Affiliations: Multiple international criminal organizations.
Status: Presumed dead for eighteen years.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Lucien didn’t answer.
His attention remained fixed on the photograph.
Elena looked from the screen to Lucien.
“You know him.”
“I buried him.”
The words sent a chill through the room.
“What?”
“Eighteen years ago.”
Adrian looked equally stunned.
“I was there.”
Lucien slowly folded his arms.
“I watched him die.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Impossible.
The technician swallowed.
“Then who is this?”
Lucien’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“A ghost.”
Before anyone could process the revelation, another monitor suddenly flickered.
Static filled the screen.
Then…
A video began playing on its own.
No one had touched the controls.
The image cleared.
Elena gasped.
It was her.
She looked no older than six years old.
She was laughing in a sunny garden while chasing butterflies.
Beside her…
The same man from the locket.
He picked her up, spinning her around as she laughed.
The video paused.
Words slowly appeared across the screen.
Ask Lucien who really raised you.
The monitors went black.
Every technician searched frantically for the source.
“It’s gone!”
“I can’t trace it!”
“It bypassed every firewall!”
Elena slowly turned toward Lucien.
Her eyes searched his face.
He wasn’t looking at the screens.
He was looking at the floor.
As though he’d seen that memory before.
“Tell me,” she whispered.
Lucien closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them again, the calm mask had returned.
“The underworld has turned you into its favorite toy.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means everyone thinks they can use you.”
He stepped closer, his voice steady but grave.
“And before this is over…”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“…you’ll have to decide who has been lying to you the longest.”
Elena stared at him, unable to look away.
“The longest?” she repeated. “Are you saying everyone in my life has lied to me?”
Lucien didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he walked to the monitor and rested one hand against the dark screen.
“The most dangerous lies aren’t the ones people tell.”
She frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“They’re the ones you’re taught to believe.”
The words settled heavily in the room.
Adrian dismissed the technicians with a nod.
“Everyone out.”
Within moments, the communications room emptied until only Lucien, Adrian, and Elena remained.
Adrian closed the door behind the last technician.
“They won’t overhear us.”
Lucien nodded.
“Good.”
Elena folded her arms.
“I’m tired of secrets.”
“I know.”
“Then stop keeping them.”
Lucien met her gaze.
“I can answer one question.”
“One?”
“Only one.”
She took a slow breath, weighing everything racing through her mind.
Who was the man in the photograph?
Why did Viktor want her?
What was Project Lycan?
Who had raised her?
There were too many questions.
Finally, she spoke.
“Was Marcus Carter really my father?”
The room became unnaturally still.
Even Adrian held his breath.
Lucien’s expression didn’t change.
“Yes.”
Relief washed over Elena—briefly.
“But…”
Her voice was almost afraid to ask.
“But what?”
“He wasn’t the first man to call you his daughter.”
Her heart skipped.
“What?”
Lucien looked toward the rain-covered windows.
“When you were very young, another man loved you as though you were his own.”
“The man in the locket?”
“Yes.”
“Who was he?”
Lucien’s jaw tightened.
“I can’t tell you yet.”
Anger flashed across her face.
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I know.”
“You said you’d answer.”
“I did.”
“You twisted my words.”
For the first time, Adrian smiled despite the tension.
Lucien ignored him.
“There are people listening who shouldn’t hear certain names.”
Elena looked around the room instinctively.
“What do you mean?”
Lucien tapped the monitor.
“If they can break into my surveillance system…”
His eyes hardened.
“…they can listen, too.”
A chill ran through her.
“So we’re being watched?”
“We’ve been watched since the night I found you.”
She suddenly remembered the rooftop outside her apartment.
The motorcycle attack.
The sniper.
None of it had been random.
Someone had been tracking her long before Lucien arrived.
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen and frowned.
“Boss.”
Lucien looked up.
“What is it?”
“Our men searched Marcus Carter’s old office.”
“And?”
“They found a hidden safe.”
Elena stepped forward.
“What’s inside?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Almost nothing.”
Lucien narrowed his eyes.
“Almost?”
“There was only one item left.”
“What item?”
Adrian placed a small evidence bag on the table.
Inside it lay an old cassette tape.
Its handwritten label had faded with age.
But one sentence remained clearly visible.
Play only if Lucien finds her.
Silence swallowed the room.
Elena slowly looked at Lucien.
Her voice trembled.
“It has your name on it.”
Lucien picked up the evidence bag without speaking.
For the first time in years, something unfamiliar crossed his face.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Regret.
Whatever was recorded on that tape…
Marcus Carter had intended Lucien—and only Lucien—to hear it.
And judging by the look in Lucien’s eyes…
He already knew it would change everything.
- Writer
