Jet Zangi had been raised under the Ortega roof since he was a boy. Though not born of their blood, the family had shaped him, fed him, and molded him into the man he became. When he reached adulthood, he went abroad and spent three years in the fires of mercenary warfare, where survival was the only law. He fought in deserts, jungles, and war-torn cities, and by the time he returned, his name was whispered with respect in places most men feared to tread.Recognizing his talents, the Ortegas had funded him generously. With their backing, Jet built Incandescent Security Services, which quickly grew into the largest private security company in Ironvale City. His men were not ordinary guards; they were hardened veterans, killers who had seen blood and fire, disciplined and loyal to him alone.To Jet, loyalty was everything. And now, his loyalty demanded action. Lazarus Ortega had been crippled in his city. His city. To Jet, that wasn’t just a family insult, it was a personal stain on his

Nora carefully lifted the lid of the small box. For a moment, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Nestled inside was a necklace so dazzling that the lights above seemed to bend toward it.The chain itself was a fine weave of platinum, polished to perfection, and at its center rested a ruby of breathtaking size—at least seventy carats, its surface cut with immaculate precision, glowing with a fire as if it had trapped the sunset itself.Nora gasped, her hand instinctively covering her mouth. “It’s… beautiful!”Her eyes shimmered as she leaned closer, unable to pull her gaze away.Women, by nature, had an instinct for jewelry the way men had for cars. Even if they could never afford them, they knew the brands, the cuts, the sizes, the prices. And Nora knew instantly: a ruby of this weight, set on a platinum chain, would fetch well over a hundred million.Her heart trembled. But… how?Her husband only received an allowance of one thousand a month. Their financial struggles h

Jet curled his lip into a sneer, his tone dripping with venom.“You laid your filthy hands on Mr. Ortega. I’m here to even the score. Tonight isn’t about whether you lose your temper—it’s about how you’re going to deal with mine.”He barely finished speaking before the room shifted.A large shadow fell over him. In the blink of an eye, Jaden was no longer seated at the table but standing directly in front of him, his presence radiating like a thunderclap.That speed…!Jet’s pupils shrank, his instincts screaming danger. He had faced gunfire, explosions, and men who would kill without hesitation, but nothing had prepared him for this. His body tried to move, but it was too late.Jaden’s hand shot out, clean and precise.CRACK!The slap echoed like a whip across the room. Jet’s head snapped sideways, pain detonating through his jaw. His body staggered two steps back before he crumpled against the wall. A spray of blood and teeth burst from his mouth, staining the polished floor.The mig

There was an old saying: a general’s glory is built on a mountain of corpses.The Battle at Poison Alloy was proof of that. The war that determined the fate of Karethwyn.Jaden Rift had commanded one hundred thousand men on that frozen northern front, and against all odds, he had led them to annihilate half a million invaders. His strategy, his ferocity, and his unshakable will had carved his name into history. That victory crowned him the King of War.But every medal came at a price.Eight thousand soldiers of the North never returned home from that battlefield. The rivers had run red, the air choked with ash and smoke, and the screams of the dying still echoed in Jaden’s memory.It was both his greatest pride—and his deepest wound.Among the fallen was his most loyal subordinate, Captain Axel Storm. Axel had led a battalion of two thousand infantrymen with unbreakable courage. They had charged when others faltered, held the line when the flanks collapsed, and bought precious hours f

Inside the crumbling Storm household, the voices rose and cracked like thunder against the peeling walls.Jaden and Morix paused just inside the doorway. What they saw was not a grieving family bound by loyalty, but a battlefield of a different kind.Axel’s parents, Asher and Marian Storm, stood trembling with fury and despair. Their only child, their pride, had died with honor on the frontlines. His death had ended their bloodline, leaving them alone in their old age with no one to carry their name. Out of fear of being forgotten when their own time came, they had made a desperate choice—taking in their nephew, Bobby Storm, as a surrogate son.It should have been a comfort. Instead, it had been their undoing.Bobby was nothing like Axel. Where Axel had been disciplined, fearless, and loyal, Bobby was a parasite. A lazy, unambitious fool who spent his days gambling, drinking, and sinking deeper into vice.The fortune that had been meant to ease Asher and Marian’s final years—the death