Jason sank to his knees as smoke swallowed the sky, the color of it an angry crimson, like the world itself was bleeding. The house before him, her house, collapsed in slow motion, boards shrieking and crumbling as if mourning their own destruction.

His chest caved with a ragged sob, the kind that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than his lungs, deeper even than his body. Everything around him blurred—faces, sirens, flames—until all that remained was the ash.

He should have looked away. Should have closed his eyes.

But he didn't. He couldn't.
The paramedics moved solemnly through the smoke, their silhouettes stark against the firelit haze. The stretchers were draped in white sheets—too still, too final. He counted them without meaning to.
One... two... three.
Jason didn't flinch. His heart was hollowed out, like something had been carved from within him with a hot blade.
It should've been him.
Not Selena.
"No," he whispered hoarsely, his voice splintering. "No, it can't be."
He stumbled backward, eyes wide, brain refusing to bridge the gap between what he saw and what he believed. Reality came in slow waves, each one more unbearable than the last. And then he was moving, sprinting toward the stretchers with a desperate, raw urgency. A rescuer with no one left to save.
"Selena," he choked, reaching trembling hands toward the nearest form.
The heat of the fire still lingered in the air, as if the world itself was scorched. He lifted the sheet with shaking fingers. What stared back at him was no longer her face—just blackened skin, unrecognizable. His mind rejected it. It can't be her. It isn't.

The Black Marble Hotel gleamed under the harsh city lights a fortress of glass and steel that held more than just power; it held my legacy. Standing on the penthouse balcony, the cool night air whispered against my skin, but it couldn't chase away the fire burning inside me. The city sprawled beneath, a tangled maze of ambitions, fears, and threats. Every light was a reminder of a thousand eyes watching, waiting for me to falter. But faltering was not an option. Not for me.


I was the Queen Bee. The ruler of this jungle of concrete and corruption. And tonight, the weight of that crown felt heavier than ever.


The war with the Viper was no longer a distant storm—it was a relentless tempest, crashing against the walls of everything I had built. Her venom was spreading, striking at my allies, severing supply lines, and turning the city's shadows into battlegrounds. She was a ghost in the night, silent but deadly, and she had no intention of sharing the throne.


Chapter 88 - Queen of Shadows