Rule and Ruin

four; the lunatic's laugh

chapter four.

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SELENE DIDN'T TELL Dino about her encounter with Nix.

First of all, it was humiliating. Second, It's not like he could have done anything. Their men had scoured the entire city looking for him and had still come up with nothing. It disgusted her the way Dino held that much power only to waste it away and achieve nothing.

Nix's words rang in her head.

You know absolutely nothing.

It made Selene inexplicably angry. She knew everything. She had dirt on every single member here and had everyone at her beck and call.

That's how she knew where Jay Astor was hiding that dreadful night. She was irked in a way she had never been before and decided Jay Astor was going to pay for it.

The events from the file room raged in Selene's mind, and every time she caught herself thinking about it, she felt her murderous intent grow.

Selene decided to follow her own rule and ruin.

"It's getting bad," Jay was saying into his phone. "Dino's tightening security. It's not going to be easy."

Selene leaned against the wall, listening as she stood hidden around the corner.

"Listen," Jay hushed in a panicked tone, "there's not much I can do. It's too dangerous."

The voice on the other end was muffled.

"Nix, I'm sorry," Jay said before hanging up the phone. He sighed and walked around the corner, only to be met with Selene's leaning form.

His eyes widened as he froze in place. "Ms. Casey," he whispered. "H-How long have you been there for?"

The fear in his eyes made Selene sigh with impatience. She casually pointed her gun at him,

"Longer than the time you have left to live."

He was breathing heavily and backing away.

Selene followed, "I'm far more rational than Dino is. Maybe if you tell me what I want to hear, I can be kinder than he is too."

Jay opened and closed his mouth, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're a bad liar," she said plainly, "and very easy to read."

First, she shot his foot. When he screamed and fell to the floor, Selene towered over him and pointed the gun at his stomach. "Where is Nicholas Maddox?"

"Fuck," Jay panted. "I don't know."

"I think you do."

"I don't, I swear I don't!" he said. "All I know is he's trying to get into the Mermaid venue."

She nearly laughed at how easy it was to get information out of him. The pathetic man writhed on the floor beneath her, his brown eyes squinted in pain.

The Mermaid Venue? She had never heard of that before.

She lowered her gun and stepped back. "You know what we do to traitors, don't you?"

"Y-Yes," Jay whispered. "Please. Spare me."

"I said I was kinder than Dino, didn't I?" she said. "Tell me what the Mermaid Venue is and I won't kill you."

Jay sagged against the ground, curled in an awkward position as he held his injured foot. "The Mermaid Venue - "

"Selene," a familiar voice sounded behind her. She whirled around to meet Wang's calculating eyes. "What do we have here?" he asked, gazing down at the blood seeping out of a cornered Jay.

Wang's presence had always made her uneasy. If she looked into his eyes long enough, it felt like his madness was contagious. He smiled strangely at her.

"Nothing."

"Another traitor, it seems," he said.

There was no point in convincing him otherwise.

Jay squirmed on the floor, looking up at Wang with more fear in his eyes than ever. He looked over at Selene, silently pleading with her, as if she owed him mercy. She looked away.

She had not planned on killing Jay. She wanted to be smart about this and get more information from him, but the minute Wang stepped into the field, Selene could not protect him any longer.

Wang gestured two fingers at the men behind him to grab Jay. "What a good girl, you are," Wang said to her. "Sniffing out traitors for us."

She held her tongue.

"I'll deal with this," he grinned that distorted grin of his.

"I have it under control," she said quietly. It almost sounded desperate.

"So it seems," Wang said, that wicked smile of his never dropping, "but I'm sure you have better things to do. Unless...you have something else planned with him?"

Any further complaint and she would have seemed suspicious. She knew her place. Traitors were not hers to deal with.

"No."

Wang hummed in satisfaction. His men began dragging Jay away by the arms, who had stopped struggling by then and fell limp against their grip. He stared at Selene as they took him away.

There was nothing in those eyes. Not hate, not fear, not desperation. Just emptiness for the one who had sent him to his death.

She had seen that expression far too many times.

"Wang," she said absently.

"Yes, Selene?" he looked at her with those glitching eyes.

"What's the Mermaid venue?"

Wang just blinked before letting out a lunatic laugh, "How do you know about that?"

She clenched her jaw, "It doesn't matter. Tell me what it is."

Wang just laughed and laughed and laughed. Selene fucking hated his laugh.

"Somewhere I'd very much like to see you in someday," he mused before whistling offkey and walking away.