The Justice Minister’s fingers clenched around the docunt, the paper crumpling as her entire body trembled with rage.
She looked at the signature again, Vice President Alex Carter. Signed hours ago.
"That motherfucker!" She shouted.
Odin barely had ti to flinch before she grabbed the nearest lamp and smashed it against the desk.
"They actually did it. They actually fucking did it!" She scread, slamming her fists onto the desk. "Do they have any idea what they’ve just done?!"
She then looked at Odin. "How long have you known?!"
"Minutes before I walked in." Odin said quickly.
Her nails dug into her palms as she turned away, her entire body shaking.
"If Bellini finds out—"
"IF?" She let out a humorless, almost manic laugh. "Oh, he’ll find out. And when he does, there won’t be a governnt left to run."
She stord toward the wall, slamming her fist against a hidden panel. A section of the wall hissed open, revealing a secure red-line phone.
Odin’s eyes widened. "Who are you calling?"
She didn’t answer, but before she could call anybody the door burst open again.
It was Stephen, Director of ISB.
"Did you see that fucking order?" He didn’t need an answer. He saw the faces and the phone in the minister’s hand.
And with that, she dialed.
The line rang once. Twice.
Then a cold, clipped voice answered. "This is Carter’s office."
"Get the Vice President. Now!" She shouted.
A pause. "I’m sorry, but—"
She didn’t let him finish. "Listen to , you fucking intern. If you don’t put Carter on the phone in the next five seconds, I will personally ensure your entire career is erased, you will be jobless, naless. Do you understand ?!"
Silence for seconds.
"This is Carter." The Vice President’s voice ca through, annoyingly calm, as if he hadn’t just signed a death sentence for the entire governnt..
Her fingers twitched against the phone "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
"I don’t appreciate the tone—"
"Shut the fuck up." She slamd her hand against the desk again "Do you even realize what you’ve done? You just declared war on the most powerful man in the underworld?!."
Carter sighed "We had no choice. Bellini is a threat."
"A threat?!" Her laugh was sharp, unhinged. "You arrogant son of a bitch. The mont he goes down, the floodgates open, every bloodthirsty bastard he kept in check is gonna tear this country apart!" She shouted then continued. "Do you even have a fucking clue how many files do he have about the governnt?"
Odin and Stephen exchanged glances as the Justice Minister spoke with the Vice President like nobody.
Caret laughed and said "How many tis have classified files leaked, prompting calls for the governnt to step down? Countless tis. And yet, nothing changes. People have long realized that their voices hold no real power, that’s precisely why our governnt remains unshaken." He laughed again. "A gangster can do nothing, just die like a dog."
Silence.
Then, the Minister exhaled sharply, her hand trembling with pure rage.
"Then you better start writing your fucking will you arrogant son of a bitch."
She hung up and without warning, she started beating the shit out of the phone, then she looked at Odin and Stephen.
"Fuck...." She said, opening her desk drawer and pulling out a flip phone. "I call the President." She said and dialed a number.
After three rings he picked up.
"Do you even know what your idiot Vice President just did?"
"I assu you’re talking about the direct hit order on the Circle."
Her blood boiled. "You let this happen?"
"I didn’t authorize it." William said. "But Congress is backing it. If I try to withdraw the order now, I’ll be fighting a losing battle. Carter played his cards right. too many people want Bellini gone."
She slamd her fist on her desk. "Then we’re fucked!. Carter and Congress will be nowhere to be found!"
The President was silent for a mont. Then, quietly, he said. "But it will do good on our part."
"What?"
"If we can’t stop it, we work with it." William said, his tone shifting into sothing more calculating. "If Bellini survives, let him know exactly who ordered it. He won’t just go after Carter. He’ll go after everyone who had a hand in this. Which ans he’ll be eliminating the very people we can’t touch through politics."
"That’s a death sentence."
"Bellini isn’t just a killer. He won’t go on so blind rampage. He’ll pick his targets carefully. And if we make it clear we had no hand in the direct order."
"What happens after he takes out Carter and his allies?"
"We move forward with the plan we already made." William said without hesitation. "We make him the head of the DTA."
"So we go with that…"
"The DTA isn’t just an offer, it’s his best option. It gives him everything, immunity, resources, and most importantly, control."
She nodded, considering the angles. "And if he refuses?"
"Then we remind him," William said, his voice calm but firm, "that disappearing isn’t as easy as it used to be. Too many eyes are on him now. He’s no longer just a na whispered in the underworld, he’s a problem the governnt needs to handle. If he wants to survive, the safest place for him is with us."
She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "What about the dia? If Carter and multiple mbers of Congress suddenly drop dead, they’re going to ask why, and who did it."
"We control the narrative."
She scoffed. "You think the press is just going to look the other way while so of the most powerful people in the country end up dead?"
"They won’t have a choice." He said smoothly. "By the ti the story breaks, we’ll have already buried the truth beneath layers of misinformation. Carter was involved in too many shady dealings. We can pin it on a political power struggle, internal corruption, even foreign interference. The public doesn’t need the real story, they just need a convincing one."
"And what if soone digs deeper? Soone always does."
"Then we make sure they find exactly what we want them to find," William said. "We leak just enough information to satisfy their curiosity, but not enough to lead them to Bellini. We paint Carter as a man who had too many enemies, and Congress as collateral damage. We just need to shine the right light on the right ones."
It was a dirty ga, but one they had played before.
"What about the opposition?" she asked. "You really think our political enemies won’t use this against us?"
"They’ll try." William admitted. "But that’s where the chaos works in our favor. Carter had enemies on all sides, not just ours. If we play it right, both parties will be too busy blaming each other to co after us. By the ti anyone pieces together the bigger picture, Bellini will be in position."
She felt a chill run down her spine. "Okay, we’re walking straight into the biggest conspiracy in modern history. Anything else I need to know?"
William hesitated for just a mont before saying, "Yeah. Augustus Lucian’s death, it was ordered by Carter."
Her breath hitched. "What?"
"Lucian knew too much." William continued. "Even though he was locked up, he was still a threat. Carter made sure he was silenced, along with his entire organization, but they missed soone."
She swallowed hard. "What do you an?"
"They left soone alive, soone they can’t afford to ignore."
"Who?"
"Lucian’s daughter."
She felt her pulse quicken. "Wait. You an Charlotte? Bellini’s adoptive daughter?"
William’s silence was enough of an answer.
"They want to kill a little girl?"
William sighed. "She’s not just any girl. She’s the heir to whatever Lucian was hiding. And right now, she’s under Bellini’s protection."
Her heart pounded. This was worse than she thought.
"William." Her grip tightened on the phone. "If that girl dies, Bellini is going to burn down the whole capital."
William didn’t argue. He knew it too.
"This isn’t just about revenge for him." She continued, her voice low and sharp. "This is personal. Bellini may be ruthless, but Charlotte is the one thing keeping him tethered to sothing human. If she dies—"
"He won’t just kill the ones responsible." William finished for her. "He’ll tear down everything and everyone who had a hand in it."
A heavy silence settled between them. They had played dangerous gas before, but this… this was different.
William exhaled. "If that happens we better pray Bellini shows rcy."
But they both knew he wouldn’t.
"One more thing, who’s going to do it? The military?" She asked.
"No, the Capital Police. They want to do it during a traffic stop." William sighed. "A clean hit, close-range. No firefights, no dia circus. Just a simple stop, a gun to the head, and it’s over."
"The Capital Police?" Her voice was laced with disbelief.
"Yes."
Her jaw clenched. "And how long do we have before these idiots move?"
"I would say in a couple of days, the operation is still under planning." Then a low mumble ca from the background. "I have to go, get rid of the phone and get ready for what’s coming."
"I’ll handle it." She hung up, turned to them.
She laughed bitterly, stood up and throwed the phone with all her strength, watching as it shattered against the wall.
Odin and Stephen stood in silence, absorbing everything they had just heard, her conversation with the president still echoing in their minds.
With deliberate movents, she straightened her posture, adjusted her suit, and looked at them.
"We are about to carry out the biggest operation we ever imagined." She declared. "One that will shake the very foundation of democracy."
Nobody spoke, only exchanging tense, worried glances.
"So it was true." Odin finally broke the silence. "Carter is working with Takoi to take control of the capital and the drug trade."
"Yeah… and Takoi got beaten to a pulp." Stephen paused, his eyes widening. "Wait… it was part of their plan." He grabbed his head in realization.
Odin looked at him, and the truth hit him. "Fuck… they did it to create a reason to wage war against Bellini and the Circle."
"The most fucked-up governnt… and I’m a part of it." Stephen let out a shaky laugh.
"What do we do now?" Odin asked.
"We prepare DTA plan... then we wait and hope he survives. And if he does, that ans we just pulled off the biggest political cleansing in history and we will need to bury many bodies with the truth."
There was silence in the office, while outside the city bustled with life.
The city, which wasn’t ready for the amount of blood that would soon flood its streets.
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