There, a closed suitcase waited.
Vella didn't move. Instead, the stones at her feet floated, carrying the suitcase to her like a servant obeying its queen.
She glanced at it briefly, then turned her gaze back to Rapi, her eyes now cold enough to freeze the air.
"So you're saying this is all Kaivan's fault?"
Rapi swallowed hard.
She nodded, slowly, fearfully.
A thin smile returned to Vella's face, though its coldness never faded. "So… it's my fault, then? Because I removed Kaivan's handcuffs?"
Rapi shook his head quickly, his face drained of color, cold sweat trailing down his temples. He didn't dare blame her, not when there were no words that could save him in front of Vella.
Vella let out a small laugh, amused for a moment. But the amusement vanished just as fast, replaced by a sharp, suffocating intensity. "You said it's not my fault?"
Suddenly, the chains wrapped around Rapi tightened and lifted him into the air. His body trembled violently, his face frozen in fear.
"YOU SAID THIS WAS ALL KAIVAN'S FAULT. WHICH MEANS IT'S MY FAULT TOO, ISN'T IT?!" Vella's voice split the room, echoing deep into the bones of everyone present. The entire ballroom fell silent.
Rapi only shook his head, unable to speak. His eyes were squeezed shut, swallowed by terror.
Slowly, Vella lowered him back to the ground. Her expression returned to calm, yet the silence she carried felt far more painful. "Oh… so it's your fault?" she whispered, her tone dripping with irony.
Rapi nodded instantly, desperate not to provoke her again.
Vella grinned, then shifted her gaze toward the ballroom doors. Panic rippled through the crowd; some people tried to run. With a flick of her finger, massive stones crashed down on their legs without mercy. Screams erupted. Cries and groans tangled with the metallic scent of blood.
A few of her subordinates staggered forward, their faces pleading. One of them whispered, barely audible, "Please… help us, Miss…"
Vella stared at them, emotionless. Her head tilted slightly, a cruel smile touching her lips. "Don't say strange things," she replied softly, yet the rejection hit like a bullet.
From the air, gasoline began to fall, soaking the room. Walls, floors, everything glistened with the poisonous liquid. Vella walked toward the exit, pulling out a small lamp from her pocket, a tiny flame, deadly in her hands.
Without hesitation, she tossed it.
Fire swept across the floor in an instant, then rose into a violent explosion. Flames roared, consuming walls, devouring bodies trapped without escape. Screams drowned beneath the thunder of burning air.
A second blast erupted as the fire reached the kitchen and the generator. Cracks, explosions, destruction, all merging into one apocalyptic roar.
Outside the building, Darius arrived, only wanting to retrieve the phone he had left behind. But what greeted him was a tower of red flames, thick smoke curling into the sky. He froze, breath caught in his chest.
His eyes emptied. His body stiffened, rooted to the ground as the ballroom slowly collapsed, swallowed by merciless fire. The sky above glowed red, as if burning with it. In his chest grew a hollow silence, not grief alone, but a loss too deep to name.
He pressed the brake. And he could only watch… as the place where his friends had been moments ago vanished in a sea of fire left behind by Vella.
Meanwhile, in a car speeding down a quiet road, Vella sat in the back seat. She gazed at the city lights through the window, her face calm yet unyielding as stone. She drew a long breath, then murmured, "Kaivan, huh… That boy is troublesome. Maybe I should talk to his parents."
Her tone was flat, but the cold hidden within it was sharp enough to cut.
Rapi, who was driving, stayed silent. His fingers trembled on the wheel, too afraid to even glance at the rearview mirror. He knew, one wrong word could be fatal.
Across the city, Kaivan and his friends, Zinnia, Radit, Felicia, Frans, Raphael, Ethan, Thivi, and Isabel, stood in front of a warm, spacious house. They had just escorted Livia home. Her parents welcomed them at the porch, relief softening their faces.
Livia hugged each of them one by one, her eyes swollen, unwilling to let go. Kaivan stepped forward and spoke softly to her father.
"Sir… I think you and your family should leave this city for now."
Her father looked at him quietly, then nodded. The look in his eyes carried a wordless understanding.
"Yes. We'll leave," he replied. He placed a firm, reassuring hand on Kaivan's shoulder.