A spoiled, selfish brat from the mont he could walk. He thought he had the world at his feet, but he had one weakness. One thing he could never stand. Soone taking what was his. Touch his things, and it was like detonating a bomb inside him. And all I had to do was pull that pin. Make him snap."
A smirk curled at the edge of her lips. "So I did. I released the information about Cain and , all the details, the pictures, everything. Just as I expected, Noah couldn’t resist. He bit. He took the bait. But I underestimated him. I didn’t think he’d go this far. This cruel. He kidnapped Cain." Her fingers twitched slightly, recalling the mont. "I had already planted a tracker on Cain, of course. Finding him was a matter of seconds. As soon as he was taken, I saw the signal. The tracker led straight to the hotel. I could have stord in, saved Cain, but I wasn’t about to play the hero. No, I had other plans."
She paused, her gaze darkening. "I told my people to et at the hotel. Positioned them in the room next door. Everything went according to plan. I watched as Noah got more desperate, more enraged. But what I didn’t expect was how far he’d go. He killed Cain. Just like that. Without a second thought."
Her eyes flashed with the mory of it. "And then... it was ti for the show. Ti to be the heartbroken lover. Just a little act, a little tear, a little scene. And I did it. It wasn’t hard. And once I had Cain’s body, it was simple to take the suitcase. All I had to do was make sure no one was looking."
Es’s voice grew colder, more detached. "But now that I lost him... my lover, the one I’d played the part for... I needed to do what any broken lover would do. I needed to go insane. So, I locked myself away. I needed privacy. A place where I could open the laptop. Where I could find the truth. You see, that suitcase wasn’t just so trivial thing. It was everything."
She leaned back again, a dark satisfaction settling over her like a shadow. "And now, with all the pieces in place, I had everything I needed to move forward. "
Es’s voice trembled slightly, not from fear but from the sheer weight of the revelations she was recounting. "It took three days—three long days—to open Sumr’s files. Every folder, every encrypted docunt on that laptop, every drive. And the more I uncovered, the more I wished I hadn’t." Her tone turned grave, her eyes distant as though reliving the mont.
"I’d thought... maybe the people following were after because of my mother—her return, her enemies, or the Valhalla family’s past. That made sense, didn’t it? But the truth? The truth shook to my core."
She paused, her hands tightening into fists. "In those files were details that could dismantle the entire beast owners’ community as we know it. It wasn’t just information—it was the history, the secrets they’ve buried for decades. Nas of beast owners spanning nearly fifty years, their beasts, ages, families, and... their deaths. Even photos of their beasts—photos taken in secret, without anyone knowing. And what’s worse? The patterns."
Es leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper that dripped with dread. "The deaths. None of them lived past forty. Not a single one. Healthy people—people who trained like soldiers from childhood, disciplined, strong—dying of things that made no sense. Cancer, accidents, fires. One man, who had never touched a drop of alcohol, whose family had no history of illness, suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. The doctors said he could recover, but he didn’t. He died. Just like that."
Her eyes locked onto her audience, dark with unspoken emotions. "And it doesn’t end there. The graves—Sumr... he knew sothing wasn’t right. He made a video. A video of him digging up one of the beast owners’ coffins. And you know what he found? Nothing. Not a body. Not even ashes. Nothing."
She leaned back, her voice steady but weighted with conviction. "This is why Sumr was killed. He was uncovering sothing they didn’t want anyone to know. He died because he was close to exposing them."
Es’s recorded voice resonated in the dimly lit room, a haunting lody laced with revelations that none could have anticipated. Her expression on the screen was a blend of grim determination and the raw vulnerability of soone holding back the weight of an unbearable truth.
"In those files," she began, her voice low but deliberate, "I uncovered sothing I wish I hadn’t. An organization—no na, no face, no trace. Just whispers in the dark and trails that vanish into shadows. Their headquarters? Unknown. Their leaders? Invisible. But their influence? Everywhere."
The room was silent, every word pulling the listeners further into her web of revelations. Ray’s fingers tightened into fists, and the others leaned forward, their faces painted with disbelief.
"And yet," Es continued, her voice faltering slightly as though grappling with her own fear, "what little I found is enough to shake the foundation of everything we thought we knew. This isn’t just so random group ddling with lives. No, this is calculated. Precise. And it’s terrifying."
She took a sharp breath, her eyes eting the cara like she was speaking directly to them. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but... how could I? How could I look you in the eye and tell you that your father and mine—our fathers—were part of this? That they were entangled in sothing so dark, so vile?"
Ray’s gasp broke the heavy air in the room, but no one else moved. Es’s voice pressed on, each word a knife slicing through their composure.
"From Sumr’s final files, I pieced together their thods. This organization doesn’t bother with low-level beast owners. No, they let them live their insignificant lives. But the mont soone rises—becos powerful, influential—they mark them. And the tir starts ticking. Fifteen years. That’s all they get. Fifteen years with their beasts before death finds them. Every. Single. Ti."
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