Chapter 140 CHAPTER 140

Chapter 140 CHAPTER 140
Wolf Gang
The music under the mansion was violent, the kind that rattled the bones of the walls, the kind that swallowed voices whole and made the air throb like a heartbeat gone wild.
The basement club of Ares Langford’s Tokyo mansion was lit in deep neon blues and reds, lights slicing through smoke and laughter. It wasn’t a room, it was a world — underground, private, lawless, loud. A space he’d built years ago but rarely used anymore. At least not until Lila came back into his life and reminded him what reckless youth felt like.
Tonight, he let himself drown in it.
Ares moved through the space, a bottle in his hand, shirt unbuttoned halfway, the music vibrating against his ribs. His face was flushed with alcohol and exhaustion, but he was smiling, the lazy, untethered smile of a man pretending nothing in his life had fallen apart.
Lila danced in the center of the room, her mini dress glowing under the strobe lights, hair flipping over her shoulders like a golden curtain. She held a glass above her head, laughing, her voice lost in the loud bass. Her movements were wild, unrestrained, seductive in a way she knew Ares couldn’t ignore.
He didn’t ignore her.
She spun, threw her arms around his neck, and pressed her forehead to his, laughing as if this life, this chaos was the only real thing in the world.
“This is how we used to live!” Lila shouted over the music, sliding her hands down his chest. “No stress. No drama. Just us.”
Ares laughed breathlessly. “Feels like twenty one again.”
“Feels like freedom,” she whispered.
He didn’t deny it.
The door at the top of the basement stairs burst open.
Julian appeared breathless, eyes sharp then paused when he saw the chaos below. The lights, the liquor, the bodies moving like shadows around Ares and Lila.
Lila gasped in delight. “JULIAN!” she screamed, waving him over. “Wolf Gang is complete!”
Ares turned, eyes brightening when he saw his friend. “Get down here!” he shouted, lifting his bottle like a toast.
Julian hesitated only for two seconds, long enough for a thousand thoughts to pass through him, then he descended the stairs. The bass swallowed him whole. Lila grabbed his wrist the moment he touched the last step and dragged him to the center of the floor.
“You’re late!” she said dramatically.
Julian forced a smile. “You didn’t tell me we were having a reunion.”
Ares pressed a fresh drink into Julian’s palm. “Wolf Gang never dies,” he said. “Just sleeps.”
Lila laughed, throwing her head back. “But now we’re awake again!”
Julian exhaled through his nose, keeping the smile on his face. He let the rhythm move him, lifting his drink, blending in, exactly what he needed to do. He needed to be invisible enough to observe, friendly enough to belong, silent enough to not be suspected.
Ares threw an arm around both of them, pulling them into a group huddle as the music lowered for a few seconds.
“Tonight,” Ares declared drunkenly, “no sadness. No stress. No women crying. No drama. No kids. Just us. Wolf Gang.”
Lila raised her glass. “WOLF GANG!”
The music blasted again. They threw their heads back and downed their drinks.
The night spiraled.
Ares danced with Lila, bodies pressed together, arms wrapped around waists, drinking until the world blurred at the edges. Julian danced too, slower, more controlled but enough to look like he was part of whatever madness this was. Enough to keep Ares from suspecting anything.
They laughed, stumbled, cheered. Lila climbed onto one of the counters, dancing barefoot while Ares clapped off beat and encouraged her. Julian checked his watch repeatedly, then quickly pretended he hadn’t.
Ares didn’t notice. Lila didn’t care.
The basement pulsed with heat, sound, sweat, neon light.
No one heard anything from upstairs.

Lady Bianca had not expected the night to turn on her like this.
She had been walking out of her room heading to the kitchen for water when her vision blurred suddenly. Her head spun, a wave of dizziness sweeping through her so violently she had to grip the wall.
“What… what’s happening…” she whispered, touching her forehead.
Her fingers came away damp.
Sweat. Clammy. Wrong.
She tried taking another step, but her knee buckled, sharp, fast and she crashed onto the floor with a cry.
Her elbow hit the tiles first. Then her head.
The pain was immediate. A blooming, hot, terrifying pain.
“Oh—!” she gasped. “Oh God… oh—someone… help…”
Her voice echoed down the hallway, bouncing off marble and emptiness. She tried pushing herself up, but her left hand slid. Something warm and wet smeared under her palm.
She looked down.
Blood.
A deep cut on her forearm was leaking, dripping onto her nightgown, pooling slowly on the polished floor.
“No… no, no, no…” Bianca whimpered, the panic rising like a scream inside her chest.
She tried again to stand but collapsed a second time. Her legs felt heavy, her head spinning so violently her vision split in two.
She could hear faint music, deep, pounding, somewhere under the house.
The basement.
Ares’ basement.
She closed her eyes as the realization hit.
They couldn’t hear her.
She was too far. The bass swallowed everything. Her screams were silent against the roar of the party below.
She clawed at the floor, dragging herself inch by inch toward the staircase, but the pain clawed back harder. Her breath quickened into short, helpless gasps.
“Ares…” she whispered weakly. “Ares… help me…”
Another surge of dizziness struck her like a physical blow. Her head fell back against the cold tiles.
She tried to shout again, but her voice came out broken, too soft.
Her blood kept dripping.
The mansion stayed loud, deaf, indifferent.

In the basement, Ares was spinning Lila around, laughing like the world wasn’t falling apart above him.
Julian watched him, eyes narrowed. He had a glass in his hand but hadn’t sipped from it in an hour. His mind raced, his instincts triggered, something felt wrong. He didn’t know what, but he felt it.
Still, the music drowned every warning.
Lila screamed for the DJ to turn it louder.
Julian looked toward the staircase again.
Something wasn’t right.
But Ares was too drunk to notice anything besides Lila’s hands around his neck. Too lost in the music to hear the whisper of danger above.
“Come on, Jules!” Lila shouted, pulling him closer. “Dance like you used to! Don’t be boring!”
Ares laughed. “Yeah, Julian! You used to tear up the whole floor!”
Julian forced a grin.
Then the lights flickered, just for half a second.
No one but him noticed.
He glanced again toward the stairs.
His chest tightened.
But before he could move or speak or investigate, Ares shoved another drink into his hand, Lila jumped onto his back screaming “WOLF GANG NIGHT!” and the room exploded in cheers.
The noise swallowed everything again.
Upstairs, Lady Bianca’s blood continued to spread across the cold floor, her breathing turning shallow, her hand weakly reaching toward the empty hallway.
Her voice barely a whisper now.
“Ares… help… me…”