Shaw stood in the damp morning mist, hands shoved deep into his tactical vest pockets, watching Zarek’s silhouette dissolve into the gray horizon. The shipyard was silent, heavy, broken only by the distant, rhythmic clink of metal links fading with every step.He glanced down at Gia, wrapped in a thermal blanket from his kit. Her color was returning, but she remained deep in the stabilizer’s pharmacological sleep.“You see that, kid?” Shaw muttered, his voice losing its playful edge. “That’s what happens when you poke a hurricane. He’s out there ready to level half the city just to make sure a man stops breathing.”He let out a long, weary sigh and adjusted the oxyge

He gripped the edges of his throne, knuckles white.“Of course you look different!” the Accountant screamed into the storm. “A boy who escapes, who is fed, who gets strong and stops being beaten every day… his face is going to change!”He paused. “But the soul, the soul is supposed to stay broken! How are you standing there looking at me without crying? How are you not screaming?!”Zarek’s grip on the Accountant’s throat tightened just enough to turn the man’s face a deep, mottled red.“That’s where your ledger failed,” Zarek whispered. “You think a soul is like a bone, that once it’s crushed, it heals crooked. But you didn’

Dawn cut the sky in jagged streaks of grey and gold as Zarek reached the outskirts of the residential district. He didn’t head for a safe house or a hotel. He went to the one place that would calm him down, the renovated Riggs manor. He stood before the heavy door, breath hitching in his chest. Before touching the handle, he paused, eyes sweeping the perimeter with the cold gaze of a predator. Shadows beneath the sycamores, reflections in neighboring windows, the silent, dew-drenched lawn, all accounted for.Satisfied he was alone, he pressed his thumb against the concealed scanner.Fingerprint Recognized. Access Granted.He punched in a twenty-dig

Shaw didn’t answer immediately. His eyes stayed on the road, knuckles tightening around the wheel until they were ghost-white. Neon lights smeared across the rain-slicked windshield, streaks of blue and red blurring into the night. Gia pressed on, leaning closer, her gaze searching Shaw’s profile for any crack in his professional armor. “And why are you so protective of him? You act like he’s more than a partner. Like he’s… fragile. But he’s a Sullivan, isn’t he?” Shaw’s jaw clenched. “He’s Zarek, kid. That’s all you need to know.” “No,” Gia whispered, the truth she had been holding back for weeks rising to the surface. “It’s not all I need to know. The Accountant called him Grisha. My mother… she talked about a boy who died in the fire. But Zarek has the scars. He has the eyes.” Her breath trembled. Her heart hammered against her ribs. “He’s the one, isn’t he? He’s my missing brother. He’s part of the child. He’s Grisha Sullivan.” Shaw didn’t offer a witty remark. He didn’

Though Shaw pleaded with him, Zarek’s eyes remained blank, deaf to his friend's voice.The grip tightened. Shaw’s vision grayed at the edges. He could feel the raw heat radiating from Zarek’s skin, a fever burning through his body. Just as Shaw’s strength began to fail, the central monitor behind them unleashed a piercing, high-frequency alarm.The sound was a jagged electronic scream that tore through the heavy air of the sanctuary.THERMAL PURGE INITIATED. 120 SECONDS TO CORE OVERHEAT.The pitch acted like a physical blade, slicing through the violent trance that gripped Zarek. His pupils, once blown wide and vacant, suddenly constricted. The dark voids of his eyes snapped back into focus, landing on Shaw’s purple, straining face.Zarek recoiled as if struck by lightning. He released Shaw’s throat instantly, hands trembling as he scrambled back. His boots skidded on scattered ledgers until his back hit the whiteboard.Thud!It went, smearing the names of the Fifteen Families wit