ZERO HE IS DARKNESS... I'm the villain in this story. Every tale needs one, and that's me. Call me Number Zero. Just Zero works fine. It doesn't matter to me either way. Born into brutality, I've earned the title "Killer Machine" in the underworld—that shadowy realm beyond what decent people acknowledge. Every epithet attached to contract killers? They fit. All of them. I won't pretend I strive for goodness or righteousness. That would be dishonest, and I see no point in lying now. I'm irredeemably corrupt. Don't waste time hunting for virtue—you won't find it. My corruption runs so deep that proximity to my thoughts will contaminate yours. This isn't a confession. I'm not begging for absolution, and I wouldn't accept it anyway. Redemption holds no interest for me. My transgressions belong to me alone. Then I saw her. One glimpse and everything shifted. My singular obsession. My one desire in thirty-three years. She'll be mine.