Henry was behind the wheel, smoothly navigating the sparse late-night traffic while Beast rode shotgun. In the back, Talia leaned heavily against the window. After a grueling, seemingly endless stint at the hospital, they were finally on their way to her villa.
The heavy drone of the engine filled the silence until Beast broke it. "Henry, my man... I met him."
"Ethan?" Henry asked, keeping his eyes locked on the road.
Beast nodded, a faint, nostalgic smirk playing on his lips. "That kid is the spitting image of his old man."
"How so?"
"He's got that same cold, unreadable expression."
Henry fell silent, his grip tightening slightly on the steering wheel. "Was his old man a good guy... or wasn't he?"
"Well, to be honest, only a man truly knows his own heart, so I can't speak for him entirely," Beast said, turning his gaze to the passing streetlights. "But to me? Yeah. He was a good guy."
Henry nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right. A man knows his own nature. But there's always a catch." He glanced at the rearview mirror. "Sometimes, you're forced to be the villain."
"What do you mean?" Beast turned in his seat, curious.
Henry sighed. "Let me ask you a question. Why do you think villains are born?"
Beast thought about it for a second. "Honestly? Trauma. Something messed up happening to them early on."
"That's one reason," Henry agreed. "What else?"
"Ego? A superiority complex?"
"Keep going."
"Being raised by someone rotten, I suppose. Or just growing up surrounded by evil."
"Right. So we have trauma, ego, a type of complex, and a corrupt environment," Henry summarized. "Notice the common denominator?"
"Which is?" Beast asked.
Henry glanced back at Talia. She was sitting perfectly still, listening intently to their conversation as if she were dissecting a psychological thriller.
"What do you think, Miss Talia?" Henry asked.
Talia blinked, caught off guard. She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know."
"The common thread is that no one is ever born a villain," Henry said quietly. "They are molded by circumstances. By the very things Beast just listed."
"Damn, Henry." Beast said.
Henry looked at him.
"You are smarter than me." Beast said.
"Did you realized that just now?" Henry said and looked ahead.
Beast sat back and nodded grimly. "If you look at it that way... then yeah. It was bound to happen."
In the backseat, Talia frowned. Bound to happen? What on earth were they talking about?
Before she could process the thought, the car pulled up to the security gates of her massive estate. The tires crunched softly on the gravel as they came to a stop.
"We're here, Miss Talia," Henry said.
Talia opened the door, stepping out into the warm, heavy night air.
"We'll take our leave now," Henry added, leaning his arm on the open window frame.
"Can you—" Talia started, but Henry gently cut her off.
"I've already forwarded you all the evidence regarding what your cousin did," Henry said. "Hand that over to the police, and he'll be spending the rest of his natural life behind bars."
"I... I already sent it," Talia admitted, still shaking her head in disbelief. "But Mr. Henry, how did you even get those files? The details on the billions he embezzled, the blackmail, the abuse of power... it's completely airtight."
"The guy who used to do his dirty work," Beast chimed in with a grin. "He sang like a canary."
Talia nodded, stunned by their efficiency.
"Your cousin had a habit of outsourcing his worst crimes to an acquaintance of ours," Henry explained. "And that acquaintance gave us everything."
"Who exactly was this acquaintance?" Talia asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"The Shadow Syndicate," Beast said flatly.
Henry instantly drove an elbow hard into Beast's ribs. Beast gasped, shooting Henry a look, but Henry just stared back at him, his expression icy and warning. Message received. Beast offered a sheepish, apologetic nod.
Talia's eyes widened as a chill ran down her spine. The Shadow Syndicate. They were one of the most powerful, whispered-about organizations in the global underworld. Only the elite of the elite even knew they existed; she had only heard the name muttered once, in hushed, terrified tones at a high-profile gala.
"Thanks for hiring us," Henry said, shifting the car back into drive.
Talia managed a slow, respectful nod, looking at the two men with an entirely new level of deference. "Thank you for saving me, Mr. Henry."
Henry hit the gas, and the car swept down the driveway. Talia stood under the villa lights, waving slowly until the taillights vanished past the iron gates.
Inside the accelerating car, Henry let out a sharp breath. "Beast, you shouldn't have said that."
Beast rubbed his ribs. "My bad. It slipped. That's on me."
Suddenly, Beast's phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out to find a brief, encrypted text message:
I am leaving for Canada.
Beast typed back a quick thumbs-up emoji and locked the screen.
Henry glanced over at him. "Well?"
"He's heading to Canada," Beast said.
Henry simply nodded, his eyes fixed on the open road ahead.