Ethan had sensed the setup the moment the lights cut out.Too quiet. Too clean.Then—the explosion.The front door blasted inward, a shockwave ripping through the safe house. Glass shattered, furniture splintered, smoke curled through the air like a phantom’s breath.Ethan was already moving before the dust settled.They were here.The Dominion’s kill squad—The Reapers.Silent. Precise. Deadly.Dark figures poured in through the smoke, rifles raised, laser sights flickering like red stars in the haze.Ethan ducked, rolled, and fired.A single headshot took out the first.A knife to the throat silenced the second.Malik was beside him, a shadow of destruction. A brutal strike to the gut, a bullet between the ribs—two Reapers fell instantly.But they kept coming.Ethan’s mind worked ten steps ahead.They didn’t just want him dead.They wanted him contained.Cut off. Cornered. Executed.Too bad.They had underestimated the wrong man.Ethan moved like a ghost through the gunfire, slipping

The Burj Dominion towered over Dubai, a fortress of wealth, power, and secrecy. A structure built on the backs of the world’s most corrupt elites, designed to withstand anything.Anything but him.Ethan was coming.Inside the penthouse, Emery Calloway stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, the city sprawling beneath him in a tapestry of golden lights. He swirled the whiskey in his glass, watching the skyline with an air of amusement.Behind him, a war was brewing.Guards flooded the lower floors, rifles loaded, body armor strapped on, comms crackling with rapid orders. The entire tower was on lockdown.But Emery wasn’t afraid.He had been waiting for this."Sir, we should evacuate," one of his lieutenants suggested, nervous.Emery smirked, tilting his glass to his lips. "No."The man hesitated. "With all due respect, sir, Elliot is—""Exactly where I want him." Emery placed the glass down with a deliberate clink. "Let him in."The lieutenant paled. "Sir?"Emery turned, his

3:00… 2:59… 2:58…The countdown blazed across the massive penthouse screen.Ethan’s fingers tightened around Emery’s collar."Where is it?" His voice was a low growl, lethal.Emery coughed, blood staining his teeth. "Wouldn’t you like to know?"2:30… 2:29…Ethan yanked him forward, shaking him violently. "Tell me where the bomb is, or I swear I will—""Kill me?" Emery smirked, weak but smug. "That’s what I want, Ethan."Ethan’s breath came sharp. Every fiber of his body screamed to end him.But the clock was running out.Lisa’s voice echoed in his head."Don’t become them…"2:00… 1:59…Ethan dropped Emery.He turned on his heel, ignoring the bastard’s laughter as he scanned the penthouse for any sign of the bomb.Then—he saw it.A black case embedded inside the structural framework of the tower, wires running across the walls like a web of death.The fail-safe was wired into the building itself.Emery had planned this well.There was no stopping the countdown.1:30… 1:29…He had to ge

Ethan stood on the edge of a glass-and-steel monolith, looking down at the city that had both made him and tried to break him.Dubai stretched out in all directions—a kingdom of glass towers, neon reflections, and wealth built on power and silence.Once, he had owned this world.Once, he had believed he could shape it.But now, as he stood above it all, the question that had haunted him since the beginning refused to be ignored.Did I win? Or did I just survive?He exhaled, the wind pulling at his coat, sending strands of his hair whipping against his forehead.The streets below were alive—cars honking, people moving, deals being made in hushed conversations, just another night in the empire of the rich.None of them knew what had happened.None of them knew how close this city had come to burning with The Dominion.They only knew the headlines:“Ethan Elliot Destroys Global Crime Syndicate.”“The Fall of The Dominion—A Power Shift in the Underworld.”“The Most Dangerous Man in the Wo