Monsters
The silence in the room was heavy.
Maxwell Chen’s wife, Evelyn, sat trembling, tears streaming freely down her face. Her chest heaved in shallow sobs as she clutched her 13-year-old daughter with bound arms. The girl cried quietly, muffled by the gag in her mouth. The rest of the Chen children sat wide-eyed, petrified. Their lips trembled against their restraints.
The lights of the massive beach house flickered faintly. Shadows danced on the walls and every soldier in the room stood stiff, alert, waiting.
Adriano finally broke the silence.
“Maxwell…” he said calmly, like he was addressing an old friend. He took a few steps forward, gaze locked on the bound man on the marble floor. “I’m going to remove your gag now. But if you scream…” Adriano turned his head slightly toward Evelyn, “...your wife gets a bullet to the head. Understand?”
Maxwell Chen’s face was streaked with tears. His eyes glistened. He nodded slowly.
Adriano crouched and pulled the gag from Maxwell’s mouth. The moment it came off, Maxwell gasped and cried, “Please, don’t hurt them. Who are you people?!—What’s with the masks? What the FUCK do you want?! Is it money? I can give it to you. All of it. Anything. Just… please. Let us go.”
His voice cracked. His entire body was shaking.
“Shut the hell up,” Alessandro snapped, his voice sharp and emotionless. “We’re the ones asking the questions here. You only speak when spoken to.”
Adriano didn’t even look at his brother. He sat down on a nearby leather chair, crossing his leg slowly. He twirled his silenced pistol around his finger once before setting it on his thigh.
“Maxwell,” he said again, quieter this time. “What do you know about The Gilded Veil?”
The change in Maxwell’s expression was immediate.
He froze. Lips parted slightly. Shoulders stiffened.
Adriano watched him like a hawk and smirked. “Ah… So you do know something.”
Maxwell’s eyes darted from Adriano to Alessandro, to the masked men surrounding him.
“I don’t,” he stammered. “I don’t know what that is. I swear—”
“Liar,” Alessandro said coldly, stepping forward.
Adriano uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “I’ll only ask nicely once more,” he said, voice still dangerously calm. “What do you know… about The Gilded Veil?”
Maxwell opened his mouth—then shook his head. “Nothing. I swear, I don’t—”
Alessandro stepped forward without warning and shoved the gag back into Maxwell’s mouth. Then, without breaking stride, he pulled out his sidearm and shot Maxwell in the leg.
The suppressed gunshot cracked through the room like a whisper of death.
Maxwell screamed into the gag, eyes bulging, convulsing in pain as he collapsed to his side. Blood gushed across the white tile, a dark stain rapidly spreading beneath him.
Evelyn screamed against her gag. The children sobbed and jerked against their restraints, muffled cries filling the room.
Adriano waited.
He let the pain settle in.
He watched as Maxwell's body trembled, the agony reducing his sobs to shallow wheezing.
Then he stood, walked over and crouched beside him again.
“You ready to talk?” he asked, voice flat.
Maxwell, still writhing, nodded rapidly, desperate.
Adriano gestured with two fingers.
Marco moved forward and yanked the gag down.
Maxwell choked on his breath, spitting blood, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. “Please… please don’t do this. You don’t understand… They’ll kill me if I talk.”
Adriano tilted his head. “Oh, so now you do know what I’m talking about.”
Maxwell groaned, head falling back.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes. I’m a member… I’ve been with The Gilded Veil for over fifteen years.”
Alessandro stepped closer. “Have you been invited to the upcoming auction?”
Maxwell nodded weakly. “Yes. Less than two weeks from now. I… I have clearance.”
Serena, standing near the tech table with her laptop open, looked up. “Perfect. What biometric scans do you use to gain entry?”
Maxwell hesitated. Adriano raised his pistol slightly.
“Fingerprint and retina scan,” Maxwell replied.
Serena turned to her team of four technicians and nodded. “You heard him. Get the scans. We need perfect copies.”
The techs moved immediately—dragging Maxwell toward the corner where their gear was set up. He screamed again as they forced him to lie down. One technician held his bleeding leg still while the others began scanning his eye and hands, collecting detailed biometric data.
Just then, one of Adriano’s soldiers entered the room holding a laptop.
“Boss,” he said. “Found this in his office.”
Serena stepped forward. “I’ll take it.”
The soldier handed it over. Serena sat, plugging in her portable drive, typing rapidly as her fingers danced across the keyboard. The fan on the machine whirred to life.
She didn’t look at Maxwell as she asked, “You know, I’ve been wondering. What exactly is La Rosa Nera selling to you that costs so much?” She glanced up. “What could you possibly be buying from them that costs you millions of dollars for every purchase?”
Maxwell said nothing.
Adriano was beside him in an instant. He pressed his fingers into the bullet wound in Maxwell’s thigh, hard.
Maxwell screamed into his gag—until Adriano clamped his hand over his mouth, muffling the sound.
“Never mind,” Serena said, eyes still locked on the screen. “I’ll find out myself.”
She opened a hidden file directory.
The room grew silent again.
Everyone watched as she scrolled through files—video after video, each with generic names and encrypted extensions. She decrypted the first.
A few seconds of loading…
Then the screen lit up.
Serena’s breath hitched.
Her face changed.
Adriano noticed immediately. “What is it?”
Serena sat motionless. Her eyes went wide with horror as tears started to form.
“I can’t… I can’t watch this,” she whispered. She stood, stumbling away from the table.
Diamond, unsettled, followed her.
“Serena? What did you see?” she whispered. “Are you okay?”
But Serena didn’t answer. She just turned toward the wall, hand pressed to her mouth, eyes glistening with hot tears.
Adriano, frowning, walked to the laptop. Marco and Alessandro followed.
The screen showed Maxwell—clear as day—In a sterile, dimly lit room. With a girl.
A child.
She couldn’t have been more than ten.
The footage was graphic. Undeniable. And deeply, deeply sickening.
Adriano’s jaw clenched.
He clicked the next video.
Maxwell and Evelyn together with a young boy, committing horrible acts on him.
Adriano clicked the next video.
This time, the children—Maxwell’s children—were participating in these evil, horrific acts.
Adriano clicked on another video.
This time it was Maxwell with a group of men his age. They were all laughing, mocking these victims as they committed horrible acts on them.
The folder’s size was listed at the bottom.
30.41 GB.
Dozens—hundreds—of videos.
A whole archive of hell.
No one said a word.
Even Alessandro looked shaken.
“I knew La Rosa Nera was trafficking,” he muttered. “But children? This is just…”
Adriano stared at the screen, fists clenched.
He turned to Maxwell.
“You filthy, evil, worthless piece of shit.”
Adriano kicked Maxwell in the gut, then kicked him again across the face causing him to fall flat on the floor. Adriano dropped to his knees and punched him in the face—over and over—until Maxwell’s face was a shattered, bloodied pulp.
“Where are they?” Adriano growled. “The kids. Where are they!”
Maxwell sputtered, dazed, blood pooling around in his mouth. “I don’t… I don’t know… They don’t tell us. The Black Rose rents them out to members of the Veil that make requests but only for short periods of time.”
Adriano grabbed his chin. “Look at me.”
Maxwell blinked, barely able to focus.
Adriano pulled his mask off and spat on him.
“You’re evil,” he said, his voice deadly quiet. “And I hope you burn in hell.”
He didn’t wait for a reply.
He pulled the trigger.
A single shot.
Straight through Maxwell’s forehead.
His body dropped like a sack of meat, face-down in blood.
Evelyn’s eyes widened in shock. Her children whimpered behind her.
Adriano turned to her and yanked her gag down.
“Please,” she sobbed. “Please, I’ll give you anything. Any amount. Please, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt my children.”
“I don’t want your fucking money,” Adriano said.
She trembled. “Please… just let us go. I’ll do anything—”
Adriano’s eyes narrowed. “You’re crying and begging the same way those children begged you to stop. But you didn’t listen, did you?”
Evelyn broke down into quiet, hopeless sobs.
Adriano looked at her children.
“You’re not kids. You’re monsters.”
He raised his gun.
“Burn in hell with the rest of these demons you’ve raised.”
He shot Evelyn in the head.
Then her children—each one, clean, emotionless shots. One after the other.
The room was dead silent.
No one moved.
The smell of gunpowder hung thick in the air.
Adriano turned to the laptop and emptied the rest of his magazine into it.
The hard drive sparked, smoking.
He turned to the room.
“Burn this place,” he said coldly. “To the fucking ground.”