Frans stood still, weary. He rubbed his face before speaking, his posture steady but his eyes dimmed by sorrow.
"The problem is, Livia, there's evidence against him. He's accused of property damage, attacking a building... even murder. This isn't something small." His words cut gently, slicing away the thin layer of hope.
Silence fell. Even the world seemed to hold its breath. The fading sirens left behind an ache sharper than their sound. Rain continued to fall, echoing their grief.
Felicia stepped forward. Her black hair whipped in the wind, and her eyes, red beneath the rain, burned with emotion.
"I don't care. We're helping Kaivan, no matter what." Her voice crashed like heated steel, a flame in the frozen night.
Thivi moved beside her, brushing back her short black hair with a bold expression.
"Exactly! I'm not letting Kaivan go to prison. He's not a criminal. I know he's not!" she said, her voice ringing like a battle cry.
All eyes turned to Raphael. His silence was a hanging verdict. He lowered his gaze briefly to the mud at his feet, then lifted his eyes toward Ethan, a decision forming behind them.
Ethan stood with arms crossed, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his smirking lips. His eyes were sharp, assessing the moment. He tapped Raphael's shoulder.
"Alright," he said, flicking the cigarette into a puddle and crushing it underfoot. "We're rescuing Kaivan. We're taking him from that hospital." The decision cracked through the night like thunder.
From afar, Vella watched from within the dispersing crowd. Her gaze was sharp, almost amused, though shadowed by something unreadable. Her eyes drifted to Felicia and Zinnia, faces she remembered from a hotel event. Once just ordinary guests, now part of Kaivan's circle.
She murmured under her breath, voice nearly swallowed by the rain.
"So they're all here... ten of them, huh?" Her lips curved into a cold, calculating smile. "They're probably involved too. But not now... too many witnesses."
The siren lights reflected in her eyes, sharpening her features, a mask of doubt, restraint, and grim resolve.
Felicia, not far away, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. Instinct churned within her. She turned, and saw Vella through the curtain of rain.
Their eyes met.
Only for a heartbeat, but enough.
Felicia's breath caught. She shifted subtly, signaling the others to retreat. Her instincts screamed, danger was close.
The air shifted. Vella's flat laugh rang hollow before the reporters who still believed she was the victim. People's steps slowed as if time itself held its breath. The world froze between the two women.
And like the low rumble heralding a coming storm, a decision was born, one with no way back, no space for hesitation.
They would gather at Livia's house, a place once warm and comforting, now the stage for a plan that could burn everything down. Beneath the night's shadow, the fate of Kaivan and everyone around him was being rewritten, carved with blood, courage, and a promise not to break no matter the price. The night was merely the prologue to a long, shaking story.
Night spread its darkness like a spider's web tightening around hope. In the small house at the edge of town, Livia's home, usually filled with laughter, the air was heavy with tension. The hanging lamp swayed gently, casting shifting shadows across the once-warm white walls.
Everyone had gathered in the living room. The soft couch that used to cradle lazy afternoons was now crowded with tense bodies. Some leaned against the walls; others sat stiffly, fists clenched and legs trembling without realizing it. On the low table, the Tome Omnicent lay open; its pages quivered faintly, almost as if it were breathing, a symbol of hope and burden all at once.
Isabel stared blankly at the table, though her hand continued drawing a hospital map with near-military precision. Her soft rose hair fell over a calm face that hid a storm.
Beside her, Ethan leaned against the table, an unlit cigarette resting between his lips. He tapped a point on the map with his finger.
"We move tonight. The guards are lighter then." He tapped the sketch of the back door. "Felicia and Thivi, you go in from here. Pretend to be patient attendants. Get close to Kaivan."
Thivi, short-haired with playful fire in her eyes, grinned wide. Crossing her legs, she twirled a strand of hair around her finger.
"Easy. Just acting, right?" she said with a wink toward Frans, who only scoffed.
Felicia sat on the other side of the table, back straight, her red eyes glinting coldly. "And after that?" she asked quietly.
Ethan dragged his finger across the map, tracing an arrow with the ash-stained pad of his thumb. "Radit and Frans stay outside, near the parking lot. If anything looks suspicious, deal with it quietly. No noise, this is Bhayangkara Hospital. Cops everywhere."
Radit, hoodie loose and smile lazy, raised both hands as if giving up. "Relax, bro. I don't like trouble... unless I have to," he muttered with a yawn.
Frans stood near the window, phone in hand, eyes sharp as he watched the street. His tensed jaw said everything, he'd memorized every detail.
Ethan continued, his voice drawn tight like a cable ready to snap. "Raphael and I will handle the ER route. That's our exit. If the alarms go off, we act confused like everyone else, then we cut the power. The chaos will cover us."
Livia sat on the floor hugging her knees, eyes wide like a startled deer. Isabel looked at her, set down the marker, leaned forward, and gently touched her shoulder. Her gaze was warm, the way an older sister calms a younger one from a nightmare.
"Livia, you stay here. Your job matters. You're the coordinator," Isabel said softly. She placed a phone in Livia's trembling hands. "Use this. If anything, even the smallest thing, feels wrong, tell us first. Understand?"
Livia nodded slowly. Her body still trembled, but her grip on the phone was firm, as if the small device was her only anchor in the storm.
All eyes shifted to Raphael, who had been leaning quietly in the corner. His posture was steady, his silhouette carved sharply by the dim light. He stepped forward, each step landing with the weight of resolve.
"We can't fail. Once we go in, we bring Kaivan out. No matter what. Whoever stands in the way, we're not leaving him again."
Silence swept through the room, wrapping around them like a sacred tension. And then, click.
Isabel closed the Tome Omnicent with a firm motion. "It's a police hospital. Security's tight, especially with Kaivan as a suspect." The book shut with the finality of a sacred chapter sealed.
And the night bore witness to their vow.
Meanwhile, a black car cruised quietly along the Moh. Toha toll road, its dim headlights cutting through the night fog. Inside, a man in a suit sat calmly, a phone resting in his hand. His face was hidden in shadow, but his voice, cold and precise, filled the silence as he spoke in Georgian.
"Yes. The boy has been taken to Bhayangkara Hospital, TK. II Sartika Asih, Bandung. He will be detained soon."
He paused, lighting a cigarette, then added in a low tone, "Make sure the Indonesian authorities remain unaware of this matter."
Smoke drifted through the car, thickening the weight of the night. And somewhere far behind him, the plan to save Kaivan had begun to move, each step drawing them closer to a danger none of them could yet see.
The night sky glowed faintly, its stars swallowed by heavy clouds. In Livia's home, tension filled the room like a trapped storm. Everyone sat in a circle, eyes fixed on the TV screen showing Vella's interview, her face twisted with fear and anger. Beside her stood a scarred bodyguard with a cold expression.
"That's right," Vella said dramatically, gripping Kaivan's karambit as it glinted under studio lights. "It was terrifying. That boy killed several of my men. But my guard, Rapi, managed to save me. Explosions everywhere, we hid, but he came at us with this knife."
Felicia narrowed her eyes at the screen. "That's Kaivan's karambit? It looks… different," she murmured.
Zinnia scoffed. "Just turn it off. There's no point listening to that psychopath." She grabbed the remote and shut the TV.