Viper didn't usually linger.
He'd show up, crack skulls if needed, hand down silent orders that moved millions, and vanish before the shadows remembered he was there. But this time, he hadn't left. Not for a week. Not for two.
Because of her.
The girl Daniel had sold to him was different.
She didn't beg. Didn't break. She sat in the garden sometimes, legs curled beneath her, eyes watching the wind like she was listening to something only she could hear. She walked like she didn't fear the hallways. She didn't flinch when spoken to.
It was the silence that caught him. The strength in it.
Viper wasn't a man haunted by many things, but he found himself watching her like he was trying to remember a dream long forgotten.
Then, one night, while pacing the old wing of the estate, he entered a rarely used study. The dust had thickened on the books, and the air smelled like age and memory. He reached for a journal tucked inside the lowest drawer of a chest. A faded black leather book—his once-upon-a-time confidante.
Inside was a photograph, tucked between pages inked with long-abandoned thoughts.
The image was yellowed with time. Curled at the corners.
A woman. Sharp brown eyes. Hair in wild coils. A smirk that had once made him feel human.
Elara.
He hadn't seen her in more than two decades. She'd left him without a word. One moment she was there—fierce, brilliant, stubborn—the next, she was gone. Whispers said she was pregnant, but Viper had never confirmed it. He didn't believe in rumors. Only proof.
Until now.
He stared at the girl who now wandered his halls in his mind's eye, comparing her to the face in the photo.
The resemblance was terrifying.
Same eyes.
Same set of the jaw when she was angry.
Same stillness that cloaked fury like a weapon.
His breath came shallow. For the first time in years, something unsettled him.
Could she be…?
He closed the journal gently, as if afraid to wake the past. Then rang for his most trusted man.
"Find Elara," he said quietly. "I want to know everything. Where she went. Who she became. If she had a child."
"And the girl, boss?" the man asked cautiously.
Viper didn't look up.
"She's not to be touched."
"Yes, sir."
He waited until he was alone again before he whispered to the darkness.
"If you're her daughter… then the game has already changed."