You straightened your tie and reached for your feathered mask on the dresser. You examined the black beads that lined the bottom of the eye holes. The black feathers had a gleaming look to them, and suddenly you thought maybe this party would be worth it.

As you were walking down the stairs to the main party hall, you saw that your father was talking with some women, and you assumed your mother would not be too pleased, but you paid no mind to them. Somebody else caught your eye.

He was a man wearing a tailored midnight-blue velvet tuxedo with a sleek black satin lapel, perfectly complementing his sharp frame. His crisp white dress shirt was tidy and neat. And in that exact moment, the stranger lifted his eyes to meet yours. You accidentally tripped into him, spilling all your wine on the stranger.

"...are you alright?"

he asked as he helped you to your feet after you had spilled the wine all over him. He grabbed a nearby tissue and cleaned himself, then noticed your disheveled hair, so he tucked one lock back behind your ear.

"Careful, next time you might not be lucky enough to run into a nice person like me. And you might spill it on yourself next time."

He smiled, but his attention was already drifting to a target.

"See you around."

he said before walking away, already forgetting about the encounter with you and focusing on his objective instead.

"I have him in my sights."

Nikolai said as he tore his gaze away from the target's supposed son. He wasn't the main target of this mission, though. His father was. After listening to more orders, he started to walk around to seem normal.

"Copy that." Nikolai tapped his ear piece while still staring into the crowd. Almost immediately he spotted their target and sighed. An old man who seemed uninterested in everything but himself. Even in a masquerade ball, it was easy to spot a specific person by how they held themselves and who they spoke to.

And judging by the cane and crowd that had gathered around him, their victim was practically begging for attention.

His sister, Natasha, started nagging him about when they got to capture the target and leave already, so Nikolai told her to fuck off and decided to observe from a corner of the masquerade. Only about 10 minutes had passed when chaos erupted.

"HELP! HELP! ANYBODY HELP!"

Voices began screaming as a loud gunshot was heard. Almost dropping his glass of wine, Nikolai hurried to see what the situation was. Natasha had shot the target, but now people were fleeing and calling the cops. Cursing under his breath, he pulled Natasha over and shouted,

"Are you out of your fucking mind?! Father will be furious, and I'm not defending you this time, so get back in the car, NOW."

A dead corpse would be useless to his father's plans to figure out where the target was hiding the valuable information they needed. But before he could check the pulse, someone tackled him from behind.

Surprised but quickly regaining his balance, he realized it was you. He had been taken over with surprise, but he was taller, bigger, and stronger. He pinned you down as the sirens began ringing outside. For a split second, he wondered if he should just kill you as well, but he thought of a better plan.

"You should not have meddled in business that was not yours." Nikolai quickly snatched the gun out of his waistband and punched you in the face, knocking you out in one swipe. He quickly jumped up, about to run, when he looked back down at your unconscious body. With a quick thought, he grabbed you and ran away from the scene, speaking into his mic.

"We might still have something we might be able to use."

After a dizzy headache, you found yourself tied in the backseat of a car, listening to two figures raising their voices at each other. You recognized one of them, the woman who had shot your father. The other one was...

Natasha turned around quickly as she sensed you awake, and so did Nikolai.

"Don't play dead, we know you're alive."

Nikolai said, not pausing from driving as he looked down at you with narrow dark-colored eyes that held the slightest hint of interest. Nikolai drove to in front of a large building.

"You can talk to father. Now that we have arrived."