The investigation unit stood in formation inside the council chamber.
No music. No ceremony. Just the low hum of tension and the smell of ink, steel, and old blood money decisions being made.
In front of them, a wide wooden board had been set up. It was covered with parchment reports, charcoal sketches, and pinned fragments of evidence pulled from my remains. Red ink marked key details like battlefield targets. Silver needles held everything in place like it was a war map.
Because in the mafia, that’s what a murder case was.
War.
“One more time,” one of the enforcers said, voice steady. “Her blood profile doesn’t match any known rogue affiliates. No ties to smuggling rings, no contract history, no flagged movements.”
Another file was flipped open.
“We checked all allied territories,” another added. “No report of a missing pregnant woman matching her description. No requests. No claims. No searches.”
A silence followed that felt heavier than the reports themselves.
A younger operative frowned. “So she just… disappeared and no one is looking for her?”
Another scoffed under his breath. “In this city? Everyone belongs to someone. Someone would’ve spoken up.”
No one had an answer for that.
Kaelen stood in front of the board, silent, hands in his coat pockets.
His eyes tracked every detail like he was reading enemy movement patterns on a battlefield.
Then he tapped a note pinned near the center:
PUP.
“We don’t have her identity yet,” he said calmly. “But we trace the fetus, we trace the father. Blood inheritance records. Hospital cross-links. Family syndicates. Someone will surface.”
His voice was clinical. Detached.
Like it wasn’t a child.
Just evidence.
My throat tightened as I stood near the table where the pieces of my body had once been examined.
The crafted fetus—the one they’d dismissed as fake—had already been discarded into an evidence bin.
Like trash.
Like nothing.
Like me.
Kaelen turned back to the board.
“Dismemberment site,” he said, circling it with charcoal. “The tunnels were only the dump point. The actual killing happened elsewhere.”
A senior enforcer nodded. “No blood pooling there. Clean transfer. Professional handling.”
“Then find the primary location,” Kaelen ordered. “That’s where the scent trail will be strongest.”
Another report was pinned.
Left ear: missing.
A man at the back muttered, “They kept parts of her. That’s not random.”
“Maybe identification mark?” someone else suggested. “Tattoo, scar, implant—something valuable.”
Kaelen’s eyes lingered on the note for a second too long.
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Because I knew exactly why they couldn’t find it.
That tiny mole.
Left ear.
A stupid little thing he used to touch absentmindedly when he pulled me close in private moments—like it meant something only he could read.
Now it was just another missing piece in a case file.
“Womb was opened while she was alive,” one investigator said flatly. “Then filled with unknown chemical residue. She survived after. Estimated duration: three days.”
The room went quiet again.
“Who does that?” someone muttered. “That’s not just killing. That’s message work.”
“Could be retaliation,” another said. “Someone targeting the Family through a civilian link.”
A third glanced at Kaelen. “Captain… any enemies capable of this level of precision?”
Kaelen didn’t answer immediately.
For a brief moment, his eyes shifted—just slightly—as if something in the pattern almost aligned.
Almost.
Then it slipped away.
“No confirmed link yet,” he said. “But whoever did this knew anatomy. Knows territory layout. And knew how to leave a message without getting caught.”
He straightened.
“Split the teams. Territory sweep for missing pregnant women. Crime scene reconstruction. Medical archives across allied clinics. Anything that overlaps.”
Orders snapped into motion. Chairs shifted. Papers were grabbed. The room broke into controlled chaos.
Then his mindlink stone flickered.
Kaelen paused instantly.
Everything about him changed.
The cold commander softened—not much, but enough.
“Jay… I’m scared.”
Her voice.
Selene.
The woman who never needed permission to reach him.
Kaelen turned away from the board like the entire investigation no longer mattered.
“Where are you?” he said, voice lower now. “Stay inside. Lock everything. I’m coming.”
A beat.
“I’ll handle it.”
The link cut.
And just like that, the council chamber emptied of its most dangerous man.
No objections were raised.
No one questioned it.
Because everyone understood the hierarchy in this world.
Cases could wait.
But Selene couldn’t.
I stood there, watching the board.
Watching my name never appear.
Watching my body become nothing but clues.
And for the first time…
I understood exactly where I stood in his world.
Not beside him.
Not even below him.
Just… outside it entirely.
