The package arrived wrapped in raven-black silk, sealed with crimson wax bearing a forgotten crest — a bleeding rose intertwined with a dagger.
Ochieng opened it with his gloved fingers.
Inside were six letters.
Each one written in blood.
Each one from someone believed to be dead.
The first was from Amanie, his childhood crush — the girl who vanished after the fire in Nyalenda ten years ago. Her words burned into his memory:
> "They lied to you. I'm alive. But I wish I wasn't."
"Tonight, don't go to the Glass Garden."
But it was already too late.
---
The Glass Garden was a dome of rare translucent obsidian nestled in the elite city of Valmora, surrounded by whispering waterfalls and invisible guards.
The event?
A union between two of the world's wealthiest feuding families: The Sorianos and The Vreks.
Inside, the elites gathered to watch the engagement of Lucien Vrek — 28, a cruel-eyed tech billionaire with a god complex — and Ivy Soriano — 22, an icy beauty whose smile never reached her eyes.
But as the orchestra swelled and Ivy stepped forward in a swan-feathered gown, the glass beneath her feet shattered.
A figure crashed through the ceiling.
Clad in all black. Twin daggers. A crimson rose mask.
Chaos erupted.
Screams. Smoke. Blood.
One target.
Lucien.
But he wasn't killed.
He was poisoned — a special concoction known as Silent Fire. Pain so intense, yet death never comes.
And the attacker? Gone in under ten seconds.
Only one word was left behind, burned into the floor:
"Debt."
---
Ochieng followed the coordinates hidden within the last blood letter. They led him to a coastal cave in Kebani, where the sea cried louder than the wind.
There, chained to a wall, wearing a torn school blazer from five years ago…
Amanie.
She was no longer the timid girl he remembered.
Now 24, with hair that touched her waist and scars all over her arms, her eyes burned with madness and beauty — and something else:
Revenge.
"You should've let me burn," she said softly.
And then, she fainted — revealing a mark on her back:
The symbol of The Devil's Harem — an ancient, forbidden organization known for breeding spies, lovers, and traitors.
---
Meanwhile, in a luxurious manor in Tivena, billionaire heiress Callista Dray — 27, seductive, unpredictable, and secretly in love with Ochieng — hosted a "Death-Themed Prom" for all elite university students.
Dress code?
Wear your worst secret.
Everyone thought it was fun and games.
Until Cameron Njoro, heir to East Africa's richest mafia syndicate, announced that someone at the prom had stolen his bride-to-be… and she was in the building.
And then he pulled out a golden pistol — aimed at Callista.
---