VEIL OF DESTINY :THE HIDDEN HEIR ASSERT

Gunfire still echoed through the Devil's Club.

Bodies littered the floor. The Phantom King had escaped.

But Ochieng's attention was now on the figure in the shadows.

A slow, measured clap.

The sound too deliberate.

Too calm for someone in a warzone.

Ochieng turned.

His sharp eyes met hers.

A woman.

Dressed in all black, a slit dress revealing the curve of her leg.

Her presence commanded the room—like a queen among corpses.

She smiled.

Not with amusement, but with certainty.

Like she had already foreseen this outcome.

Ochieng knew better than to be deceived by beauty.

And she was stunning.

Long, ink-black hair. A face carved with precision. Eyes dark enough to drown men.

But what caught his attention most—

Was the silver ring on her finger.

The mark of a Grandmaster.

And not just any Grandmaster.

One from the Silent Order.

---

She took a step forward.

The dying lights flickered around her, as if afraid to touch her presence.

"You should have taken the shot," she said.

Her voice was smooth, but there was steel underneath.

Ochieng wiped a splatter of blood from his cheek.

"You seem disappointed."

"I am." She stopped just a few feet away. Close enough for him to smell the faint trace of jasmine and gunpowder.

"The Phantom King was never your real opponent," she continued.

Ochieng's jaw tightened.

"I know," he admitted.

Her smile deepened.

"But you still walked into his trap," she mused. "How… reckless."

Ochieng's patience thinned.

"You talk a lot for someone who hasn't introduced herself."

She tilted her head. "And yet, you already know who I am."

Ochieng's fingers twitched.

He did.

This woman…

She was known by many names.

But the world whispered only one.

"The White Widow."

--

"Tell me," Ochieng said, voice unreadable. "What does a Grandmaster of the Silent Order want with me?"

She ran a finger along the rim of an abandoned glass.

"The same thing everyone else wants."

Ochieng exhaled through his nose.

"My head on a platter?"

Her smile returned.

"Close. I want your loyalty."

Silence.

Then—Ochieng laughed.

A low, dangerous sound.

"You must be crazy."

"Perhaps." The White Widow's expression never wavered. "But you have a choice to make."

She leaned in slightly.

"Serve me… or be hunted."

The air between them thickened.

Ochieng's hand itched to reach for his gun.

But even he knew—he wouldn't be fast enough.

Not against her.

Her fingers tapped the silver ring.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

A silent countdown.

Time was running out.

Ochieng narrowed his eyes.

Then, he smirked.

"I don't bow to anyone."

The White Widow sighed.

"A shame."

Then—

The entire building exploded.

---