?Chapter 137:


    The Scorpion King was a ghost of a poison, so rare and ancient that it had nearly faded into myth.


    Elliana’s only encounter with the Scorpion King was years ago when her mother, Rita, had studied it. Since then, Elliana hadn’t heard a whisper of it and hadn’t dug into it herself, the memory barely a flicker in her mind.


    She had always chalked up Rita’s work on the Scorpion King and her creation of the antidote, Venacure, as just a nerdy deep dive into some old toxin.


    But now, with Barbara poisoned by the Scorpion King, Elliana’s gut was telling her that Rita’s research might have been more than a hobby. What was Rita really chasing?


    The Scorpion King wasn’t a run-of-the-mill poison. Even back in the day, it was a weapon for the elite, far out of reach for the average person. Nowadays, anyone wielding it had to be a big yer. Who could have poisoned Barbara? And what tied Rita to the Scorpion King?


    Questions swirled like a storm in Elliana’s head as she buried herself in research, finally uncovering some solid leads.


    The Scorpion King went back two thousand years—a chameleon of a poison that shifted with dose and timing. A little at a time, it spread out. It was a slow, creeping killer—exactly like Barbara’s symptoms. But one big dose? Lights out—instant death.


    Its terrifying flexibility once made it infamous, but it eventually slipped into obscurity, thought to be extinct in the concrete jungles of today. Or so it seemed. It hadn’t vanished—it had been taken to the Delta by shadowy yers.


    The Delta was a strange ce, unlike anywhere else. It bowed to no nation, ruled instead by ancient, secretive dynasties with no government or sharedws.


    It was a wild mix of mercenary crews, martial arts ns, and groups so out there that they defied logic. The deals made there? Most people couldn’t wrap their heads around them. It was a boiling pot of crime lords, big shots, and those straddling both worlds, carving out a brutal code over time, far from the civilized ybook.


    Those ruling families kept their cards close. Books barely mentioned them, and the media wouldn’t touch their stories, leaving most people ignorant of the Delta’s existence.


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    Still, those families pulled strings across the globe, quietly shaping economies and power ys. Put simply, the Delta was their fortress, but their influence reached every corner of the world. Any random bridge, highway, skyscraper, or mega-corp could carry the shadow of their money.


    In essence, the Delta was a one-of-a-kind, shadowy, downright spine-chilling ce. It mixed ancient power with modern schemes. Legends were forged there, fortunes grabbed, along with blood and betrayal. Anyone or any group holding their own in the Delta was a heavyweight, a name that could make anyone flinch.


    Piecing this together left Elliana stumped. The Hendersons in Ublento ran a small-time coffee business, as local as it gets, with no global ties. How could they have crossed someone from the Delta?


    Those from the Delta were known for brutal, straight-to-the-point hits. Think knives or bullets. Poisoning a young woman like Barbara with a slow-acting toxin? That wasn’t their style. Since Barbara’s poisoning traced back to the Delta, could Cutler’s disappearance be their handiwork too?


    After chewing on the Hendersons, Elliana’s mind looped back to Rita. How had Rita even heard of the Scorpion King? Was her research tied to the Delta? And when Rita vanished from Ublento years ago, could the Delta have had a hand in it?


    These questions gnawed at Elliana, her brow furrowing in frustration. Growing up, she knew next to nothing about Rita’s roots, only that she wasn’t from Ublento. Nobody ever said where Rita came from.


    Elliana decided it was time to track down Darin and ask for answers about Rita’s past. Right as Darin crossed her mind, her phone buzzed with his call.


    Elliana answered, keeping her tone cool as ice. “Hello?”


    “Elliana!” Darin’s voice burst through, way too chipperpared to her chill vibe. “I miss you, kid. Want to grab dinner with your old man?” Elliana’s lips curled into a sly half-smile. “Yeah, sure.”


    She needed to grill Darin about Rita, and here he was, practically serving himself up on a silver tter!


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