Victor snorted.“You chose to kill.”
Ivan didn’t look up from the tablet.“Confirmed victims include six human women, three children sold into trafficking rings, and at least four confirmed murders tied directly to your movements.”His voice was flat.“That’s the minimum.”
Silence settled, heavy and deliberate.
Dorian felt it then—the quiet internal shift.The moment when judgment locked into place.
The rogue sagged back in his chair, eyes darting.“They were nothing,” he whispered.“They didn’t even fight back.”
Malik hit him again.
This time the punch snapped the chair back on its bolts, metal shrieking against concrete.Blood sprayed from the rogue’s mouth, spattering the floor.
None of the E.S.E team in the room flinched.
The rogue laughed again, hysterical now, spit and blood slicking his chin.“You think you scare me?”he crowed.“You think this hurts?”
Jamal straightened slowly.“Oh, trust me, we are only just playing with you, when we get serious, you’ll fucking know.”
He drove his fist into the rogue’s face with brutal efficiency.Bone cracked.The rogue screamed, the sound high and animalistic.
Dorian pushed off the wall and stepped forward.
“Enough,” he said.
The room stilled.
He met Malik’s eyes, then Jamal’s.A silent exchange.Permission granted.
Dorian crouched in front of the rogue, close enough to scent the madness on him—ozone and rot and the sharp tang of fear that no amount of bravado could hide.
Dorian didn’t ask a question.
He leaned in until the rogue was forced to lift his head, until there was nowhere left to look but at him.
“You’re going to die today,” Dorian said, voice level, almost gentle.“That part isn’t negotiable.”
The rogue’s breath stuttered.
“There are two ways this goes,” Dorian continued.“You talk now, and it’s quick.Merciful.Over before your body figures out what’s happening.”He tilted his head, considering.“Or you don’t, and I take my time.”
He let a beat stretch.Let the room breathe.
“I know how to kill a man slowly,” Dorian said.“Kept alive for days, if I want them to be.Nerves lit on fire.Organs failing one by one.Pain so constant it stops feeling like pain and turns into something else entirely.”His eyes never left the rogue’s.“Unimaginable.That’s the word people use.Yet, it still falls short.”
The rogue shook, a thin, broken sound tearing out of him.
“Your choice,” Dorian finished.“Quick.Or thorough.”
The rogue broke.
“Two,” he babbled.“Two hybrid hubs.Not like before—these are stabilized.Cleaner.They hold.”His eyes were wild now, words tumbling over each other.“They’re learning how to keep them from burning out.”
Ivan’s head snapped up.
“One in the south of the city,” the rogue gasped.“Industrial sector.One in the east—old logistics routes.”He sobbed, shoulders hitching.“It’s bigger than us.Bigger than the drift.”
Rafe stepped forward, voice like cut steel.“Who’s running it?”
