VENETO DISTRICT, VENICE IN ITALY,CASTELLO TERRAZZA ESTATE. THE VELVET VIPER'S DOMAIN... Shante's Private Suite.
The atmosphere in her room had never felt this heavy before.
Not during the raids.
Not during the coldest orders.
Not even when they'd thought Madam Te was going to die.
But tonight, the silence had weight...and it hung thick over Julian and Mae like fog over a graveyard.
The grand lounge was dimly lit, candles flickering against obsidian-glass walls. Wine-red velvet draped the space like blood-soaked silence. Above, the chandelier, serpentine and elegant, barely moved, yet shadows swayed like nervous dancers.
Mae leaned against the marble table, voice hushed, eyes on Julian. "She really did it."
Julian didn't answer, didn't stop pacing. Her arms were folded tight across her chest, jaw clenched like she was chewing down rage.
"She knew what the girl meant." she finally said.
Mae swallowed. She wasn't sure she believed that,wasn't sure she even understood what the girl meant... until her throat was slit and her body laid out like an offering no god would claim.
The girl had arrived without ceremony.
No emblem.
No confirmation.
But they knew.
So did Shante.
Julian stopped pacing. "This wasn't just bloodshed. This was... a provocation."
Mae's voice cracked as she replied,her voice hushed in a whisper."And Archon doesn't get provoked."
Julian's gaze snapped to hers. "No...He burns."
Behind them, the soft clack of bare heels echoed on the marble.
Shante emerged slowly from her walk-in closet...moving like a queen too elegant to rush. Her black robe trailed behind her like smoke, hair piled in strategic, effortless chaos.
A cigarette burned between two fingers, its glow the only fire in the room.
Her face was unreadable.
Mae straightened. "What do we do?"
Julian didn't even ask. She already looked like she'd surrendered to what was coming.
Shante met their stares with calm indifference. "You do nothing."
Mae's eyes widened. "Shante, that girl..."
"...had no identity," Shante cut in smoothly. "No credentials. No information. Nothing."
"She was Archon's show," Julian muttered. "And now we're the target."
Shante didn't blink. She exhaled smoke like someone shedding weight, even if she didn't carry any.
"She was a warning," she said. "And I returned it."
Julian stepped forward, brows furrowed. "And what about Madam Viv?"
"She'll call." Shante dropped the cigarette into a crystal ashtray. "And I'll answer."
Mae's voice was tight. "Are you going to tell her the truth?"
"I always do..." Shante began, then rolled her eyes. "...but word has already reached her, obviously."
Before they could respond, a sharp vibration cut through the tension.
The phone.
On the antique table.
Buzzing like a death bell.
Shante didn't need to look. The name glowing on the screen carried more weight than most cities.
Mrs. LaRue.
She picked it up, pressed it to her ear, spine straightening like she was about to be knighted...or executed.
"Ma'am."
Vivian's voice was quiet, too quiet. "Tell me I didn't just get word that you killed the girl Archon sent."
Shante's tone stayed soft. "I didn't know she was sent."
"Didn't know, really?" Vivian's voice iced over with fury. "My sources say the scroll was in Drex's pocket. You didn't think to check?"
"Why the fuck would you kill a newblood?" Vivian suddenly roared.
Shante winced. Not visibly, but deep in her skull, the decibels scraped.
"I assumed she was dangerous," Shante answered carefully.
"And if she was?" Vivian hissed. "It still wasn't your call."
There it was. Cold truth. No escape.
"Shante." Vivian's voice sliced now. "You don't kill tests. You study them."
"Yes, ma'am."
Julian and Mae stared at her like she'd grown another head.
Did she just... take the blame?
Wait, what did Madam Viv even say to her?
They looked at her in curiosity.
"You think that's enough?" Vivian snapped. "Do you even understand what you've done? You made it look like we're not aligned. Like I don't have control over my circle."
Shante's voice turned silk, soft but sharp. "That was never my intention. I understand how it looks. I made a judgment call to protect the club."
"You believe a lot of things," Vivian spat. "But your instincts just risked the entire Veneto region if Archon retaliates. And you know he won't come gently."
"I understand." Shante's eyes drifted toward the dark window. "And I'll accept whatever consequence you deem fit. But respectfully… it's already done."
Vivian's breath crackled with restrained venom. "Because of your failure in judgment... and don't call it instinct...it wasn't instinct, it was ego."
"You and I both know you were aware that girl was his test. You just didn't care."
Shante said nothing,silence was safer now.
"You've complicated everything," Vivian growled. "The others obeyed,even Greta, even Kolly. You were the only one who drew blood."
"I've never been like the others," Shante said quietly.
Vivian didn't argue. "No. You haven't."
"And because of that, you'll watch them rise...watch them build their own clubs, become their own kingpins...while you remain the exec of a fallen one."
"Madam Viv..."
"Don't," Vivian snapped. "Don't feed me anything. You know your actions affect this club. You know damn well."
"You don't just answer to your own ego, Te," her voice slithered through the phone. "You answer to me."
Shante took the venom like a blade, sharp but familiar. "I do," she said softly. "Always."
"You're a liar," Vivian hissed. "Even to yourself."
She wasn't done.
"First, you provoked the daughter...and now, the father." Vivian let out a hollow, humorless laugh.
"You think you're a damsel always worth saving, don't you?"
A long beat.
"You'd better fix this."
The line cut.
Silence fell like snow.
Cold.
Heavy.
Shante lowered the phone gently,set it down like glass.
"She's angry," Julian said, her voice low.
"She's right." Shante corrected, calm.
Mae stepped forward. "What do we do now?"
Shante turned to them. For once, she looked neither cruel nor untouchable...just precise. Unflinching.
"We wait."
Julian blinked. "Wait for what?"
Shante walked past her, lifting the hem of her robe as she disappeared into her walk in closet.
"For my trial." she murmured.
Then she shut the door.