Shadow Contract: The Bodyguard’s War
He was trained to kill, but now he’s got to protect the one person who could bring him down.
Damien Cross is a former black-ops operative who has lived in the shadows ever since a mission went horribly wrong. He’s haunted by betrayal and loss, and now he works as a private security specialist. He is quiet, precise, and a bit cold.
When billionaire Adrian Vale approaches him with a discreet job to protect a civilian woman named Sophia Reed, Damien doesn’t ask questions. That’s just not his style.
But Sophia isn’t your average target. She’s the key to Eclipse, a rogue AI surveillance program that’s buried deep in Vale Industries… and someone powerful wants her dead.
Now, with assassins on his tail, betrayed by his team, and cut off from every ally he ever had, Damien has to do something he’s trained to avoid: trust someone.
With Sophia’s life and the truth hanging in the balance, Damien is plunged into a brutal fight against hidden enemies and the very system he once worked for. Every move he makes brings him closer to danger.
And this time, failure isn’t just about losing his life.
It’s about being silenced.
Forever.
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Chapter: Refusal LoopThe first sound was static.Then silence.Then breathe.Ash was the first to hear it.She stood at the edge of the ridge, watching the clouds fold over each other like algorithms struggling to complete.The air had weight again.She turned to Damien and Sophia.Said:It’s back.A panel rose from the ground beside them.No mechanism.Just smooth metal sliding out of nothing.On it: a screen. No border. No buttons.Text appeared.SELECT A REPLACEMENT.Damien approached.Reread the line.Sophia stood behind him, hands folded.Ash stayed back.No timer. No instructions.Just the sentence.Then a second line appeared.THE SYSTEM REQUIRES AN OBSERVER TO MAINTAIN BALANCE. ONE OF YOU MUST STAY. ONE OF YOU MUST WATCH.Damien stepped away.Ash asked: What happens if we don’t choose?The screen responded instantly:Then all outcomes collapse. Including you.Sophia spoke next.Quietly.She said:It doesn’t want to kill us. It intends to stop disappearing.Damien nodded.It’s afraid.Ash crossed h
Last Updated: 2025-07-12
Chapter: The Core PatternThe field was white. No grass, no dirt, no horizon. Just a space pretending to be something real. Sophia felt the air but couldn’t quite smell it. She felt warmth but cast no shadow. This wasn’t a dream. It was a carefully constructed place, built with a purpose—like a lab experiment. A container. She walked for what felt like hours, even though her internal clock refused to keep time. Then she saw the girl. Small. Still. Standing about thirty meters away. The child looked around eight. She had dark hair and eyes that seemed to know too much. She wore a patchwork outfit: Ash’s woven vest, Damien’s recon jacket with torn sleeves, and a pale coat stitched with a crooked ID tag—S. Ramat. Sophia froze. The girl smiled before Sophia even reached her. Not nervous. Not exactly welcoming. Just… prepared. “You found the center,” the girl said. Her voice was soft but not childish. It had a calm precision that echoed in the air. Sophia stepped closer, not asking who the gi
Last Updated: 2025-07-12
Chapter: The Dead Man’s DoorThe lights came on slowly.Not like a room awakening.Like something remembering it was supposed to be seen.Damien stood alone in a circular chamber, surrounded by monitors — thirty, maybe more. Each screen faced inward, each showing different versions of the same scene: Sophia in distress.Some showed her unconscious in the train car.Others had her inside a sealed room, banging on glass.One showed her bleeding out beneath a red light.None were real.But all of Damien stood in front of the console, still reading the same sentence over and over.Sophia is non-terminal. You may end her thread. You may stabilize her. You may wait.End. Stabilize. Wait.Each a decision. Each one meaning something else in the hands of a system that didn’t bleed.He stared at the keys.They looked clean, unused.Too perfect.Like they were designed to trap guilt under fingertips.Damien backed away, paced slowly along the chamber’s edge.The monitors shifted again.Now a version of Ash was displayed.In
Last Updated: 2025-07-11
Chapter: Ash vs. AshThe rifle felt heavier in her hands.Ash stared across the stark white room at another version of herself. Same stance. Same breathing rhythm. Same scar under her left eye.But something was off about this mirror Ash.Her grip was too steady.No sign of hesitation.Ash shifted her footing.The other one mirrored her move a moment later.That tiny delay was telling.She wasn’t seeing herself; she was being copied.Eclipse wasn’t just reflecting her; it was studying her reactions.A voice echoed from above.Not spoken, really.Just hung in the air.You are the baseline. She is the divergence.Ash responded silently.No microphones in the room.Just her will.Prove it.The ceiling lit up with two heart rate readings.Both the same.Then one started to climb.The other stayed steady.Ash watched closely.The climbing heart rate suddenly dropped.It matched hers again.Then the mirror Ash took a step forward.Ash raised the rifle.The other didn’t move.Instead, it spoke.In her voice.Sam
Last Updated: 2025-07-11
Chapter: Ash vs. AshThe rifle felt heavier in Ash's hands.She stared across the bright chamber at another version of herself. Same stance. Same breathing. Even the same scar under her left eye.But something was off with this mirror Ash.Her grip? Too perfect.No hesitation whatsoever.Ash shifted her footing.The other Ash mirrored her exactly a moment later.That slight delay? It told her everything.She wasn’t looking at a reflection; she was being mimicked.Eclipse wasn’t showing her her true self.It was learning from her reactions.A voice echoed from above.It was not spoken exactly—it was more like it was just hanging in the air.You are the baseline. She is the divergence.Ash responded silently.No microphones in here. Just her will.Prove it.The ceiling lit up with two heart rates.Both were identical at first.Then one started climbing.The other stayed steady.Ash watched closely.The climbing rate dropped back down.Matched hers again.Then, the mirror Ash took a step forward.Ash raised
Last Updated: 2025-07-10
Chapter: Known ContactThe coordinates were already there.After the reset, Ash handed Damien a note.It wasn’t sent through a message.She had tucked it away in her left boot.No time stamp.No signature.Just numbers.Damien read the numbers twice, keeping quiet.Sophia glanced at them and nodded.She said she recognized the pattern from her dreams.Claimed she had walked through that place before in silence.Ash said she didn’t recall being there.But her heart raced when Damien mentioned the name.Grey Hollow Substation.Abandoned since Eclipse Phase One went dark.Officially decommissioned.But really? It might as well have never existed.They drove through the rain.No radio.No map.Just their instincts and the sound of silence.Ash kept her gaze fixed ahead the whole time.Sophia sat in the back, resting her hand on her chest like waiting for something to kick back in.Damien gripped the wheel tighter than he needed to.They stopped about five miles from the site.Ash marked the perimeter.No guards
Last Updated: 2025-07-10
