Rule and Ruin

twenty-four; the same coin

chapter twenty-four.

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UPON SOME DIGGING, they discovered Dino was hiding in his penthouse way downtown.

They weren't exactly sure what was happening, but there were rumors of an underground rebellion. People were finally seeing Dino for all his incompetence and schemes to overthrow him had begun to hatch.

Nix was not about to let his prey get stolen from him.

After Ren disabled security, they easily broke into the penthouse. With the slow churn of revolt, they didn't anticipate Dino to have many trusted guards around him.

Nix whistled, "Imagining living like this." He ran his hand against the glass walls and antique vases.

Selene trailed behind him, eyeing every object that once might as well have belonged to her. Sometimes she missed the lavish life she used to lead. Penthouses, parties, private pools. Floor to ceiling glass windows. The grandest chandeliers. She once had it all.

But now, she lingered at the entrance, refusing to touch anything as if those shiny surfaces could cut her.

Nix threw himself onto the couch with a dramatic sigh, "I could get used to this." With his hands tucked behind his head, he closed his eyes with a satisfied grin.

"Get up," Selene snapped. Just being in the presence of Dino's wealth made her angry.

Nix ignored her and settled himself deeper into the couch cushions. She wanted to take back her words from a few nights ago because suddenly, she was thinking about killing him again.

"Why are we here?" she asked with exasperation.

"To kill Dino."

"He's not even here."

"He will be in about 5 minutes."

"So maybe we should get into position instead of..." she gestured at his negligence. With a scowl, she glanced around the room as if every household item was out to attack her.

"Relax," he said, peeking one eye open. "He's not getting away."

Gritting her teeth, Selene walked ahead to step past the couch he lounged on, but he darted out a hand and grabbed her arm. With a jerk, he pulled her down so she fell on top of him.

"As you were saying about getting into position..." he grinned, looking down at her sprawled form on his chest.

"You fucking pig," she snarled as she quickly tried to pull herself up. He chuckled and she felt his entire body rumble against hers.

And that was the scene Dino walked in on when the door opened.

Nix's eyes fixed to the front door behind Selene and smiled viciously. "Oh hey," he greeted the big bad man.

It took Dino two seconds to react, and he screamed at the bodyguard beside him. "Kill them!"

Without hesitation, Nix threw his knife. It zipped through the air with the whisper of a song and dug itself deep into the guard's left eye.

Selene rolled off Nix's body onto the ground and quickly aimed her gun at Dino before he could even think about escaping. "Don't move," she breathed, still rather flushed from what had just happened.

"Nix," Dino ground out, sidestepping the dead body of his bodyguard and into the light of the room.

Nix had another knife in his hands as he jumped to his feet. "How are you? I heard pretty Selene here stuck a knife into your fatass." He turned to Selene and trailed the tip of his knife down her chin. His eyes gleamed with dangerous delight.

Selene shivered but refused to acknowledge his taunt. She kept her focus on holding Dino in place with her aim.

The older man glared at the two weapons he had created and lost control of. Two shadows of the same coin. Yet even then, there was no trace of fear in those corrupted eyes of his.

"Oh Selene," Dino said. "How far you have sunk."

She clenched her fists and sneered, "Still six feet higher than you're about to be."

He threw his hands up with a laugh, "Your father would be so proud."

"You don't get to talk about him," she snarled as she stepped closer to him. "You are the biggest traitor of them all."

Dino just tilted his head, "If you truly understood this world, you would have known it was just business. The smartest move. The ultimate grab for power. As I said, your father would've understood."

Nix yawned behind her, "Don't bore me to death before I kill you."

Selene was sick of this shit. She was sick of Dino and his business crap. Sick of her father and his stupid dead entity. She was sick of this world of men who played useless games of power with each other.

She just wanted some sweet, goddamned revenge.

"Well consider it just business when I take everything from you."