Phyna’s stolen military SUV skidded onto the gravel lot of the abandoned port, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust as it slammed to a halt behind a row of rusted shipping containers.Clara stepped out of the vehicle.Her leather jacket was torn, her hair was disheveled, and dark blood was dried along her temple from the highway crash. But her face was devoid of fear, pain, or exhaustion. Her eyes were hollow, burning with a lethal, single-minded focus.She held a handheld tracking scanner in her hand, watching the glowing red dot pulse steadily on the screen. It was locked onto the GPS signal of Fatso's phone—the exact coordinates she had memorized from the monitor back in Thomas's custom truck before it was destroyed.Clara walked across the empty dock, her heavy boots making no sound against the gravel.She looked around at the towering, rusty containers, the desolate warehouses, and the grey, empty sea stretching out behind the pier. Anyone watching her would see a woman standing e

Colton opened the small partition window separating his rear luxury cabin from the driver's seat.Warren was sitting in the front passenger seat, holding a tactical tablet displaying a red pulsing map of Pier Nine. Behind their vehicle, a convoy of eight heavy, pitch-black military troop transports rolled down the highway in total blackout formation."Boss," Warren said, turning his head slightly. "We have his exact location. Pier Nine, northern storage sector."Gerald Colton nodded slowly."Roll out," Colton said quietly.His voice carried no anger, no panic, and no hesitation. It was the calm, absolute tone of a apex predator moving in for an inevitable kill.Jackson thought he was playing a simple blackmail game for money and respect. He had no idea the terrifying carnage he had just brought down upon his own head.Just like Clara, Gerald Colton had renounced his old, blood-soaked ways years ago. He had retired from the street violence, built a legitimate corporate empire, and dedi

Through the thick morning mist, a bloody figure was slowly crawling toward the dock on its belly, dragging its body across the sharp gravel like a wounded worm.Jackson stepped down the wooden stairs, his brow furrowed in irritation. As the figure crawled into the light, Jackson froze in absolute disgust and shock.It was Fatso.His face was barely recognizable—swollen, covered in dark purple bruises and dried blood from his shattered nose. His clothes were torn to shreds, and he was leaving a thick, dark trail of blood across the dirt floor."Fatso?!" Jackson gasped, crouching low as he looked at him with sheer disdain. "What the hell happened to you?!"Fatso reached up with a bloody, trembling hand, grabbing the hem of Jackson’s leather coat. His breathing was shallow, wet, and rattling in his chest."M-Master..." Fatso wheezed, his blood-shot eyes wide with pure, unadulterated terror. "You... you need to leave the girl... and run for your life..."Jackson stared at him, his mouth a

The heavy iron rod felt like a mountain in Nancy’s small, frozen hands, but every ounce of fear, confusion, and raw terror she had suffered inside that dark box flared up into a blinding wave of rage.Jackson lay unconscious on the frost-coated floor, but Nancy didn't stop. She couldn't stop."You bastard!" Nancy screamed, her raspy voice breaking into a harsh, ragged sob.She raised the solid iron bar and brought it crashing down onto his chest!THWACK!"You monster!" she shrieked, swinging the bar again, striking his shoulders, taking out every second of horror, every bite of the freezing air, every drop of blood she had lost on the man who had treated her like trash to be bought and sold!THWACK! THWACK!Her shoulders heaved, her chest burning as she struck him over and over until her arms went completely numb and her lungs felt as if they were bursting with fire. Tears burned down her blue-tinted cheeks, freezing as they hit the collar of her shirt. Jackson remained motionless on

"She's alive!" Clara said aloud, her voice filled with a wild, desperate energy as she burst back out into the morning fog. "She made it out! She can't have gone far!"Clara began running down the gravel alleyways, screaming at the top of her lungs!"NANCY!" Clara shrieked, her voice echoing off the corrugated steel containers! "NANCY! IT'S MOMMY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! NANCY!"A few hundred yards away, inside the ruined office building, Gerald Colton stepped past the shattered door frame.His chief bodyguard and two heavily armed operatives flanked him, their weapons raised as they scanned the room.Colton stood in the center of the office, his expensive leather boots stepping over shattered glass and pool-stained floorboards. He looked at Vane’s unconscious, broken body on the floor, then looked out the ruined window where Fatso had been hurled through the glass.Colton’s dark eyes searched the scene, a flicker of genuine surprise passing through his cold expression. The sheer, brutal ef