All Chapters of The Shadow God Of War Returns: Chapter 221
- Chapter 230
343 chapters
CHAPTER 220
"I wanted to give her a proper funeral," Declan continued, his voice dropping into a tone of practiced melancholy. He reached out and touched the glass jar protecting the raven feather, his fingertips lingering on the surface."But my father... he said it was impossible. He told me she died in the center of the fire. He said the heat was so intense, the wreckage so absolute, that there was no way to retrieve her body. He told me she was turned to ash before the sirens even arrived."Zarek felt a cold, sharp jolt go through his system. His brow furrowed, a genuine frown breaking through his mask of confusion.The fire.Zarek remembered the night of the strike with terrifying clarity: the screams, the scent of burning oil, and the way the metal groaned as the carriage folded. But he also remembered the moments after the initial blast. He remembered the chaos, the shadows moving in the dark, and, most importantly, where Elara was.She didn't die in the fire.The realization hit him l
CHAPTER 221
Finnian flinched at the mention of the pavilion. He turned to face Zarek, his mask of the kind uncle finally crumbling to reveal the terrified man beneath. He looked at Zarek’s hands as if expecting to see blood under the fingernails."Moving. Yes. Quite," Finnian stammered, his chest heaving. "But Zarek is... he’s fragile, Declan. He’s had a long journey. He needs rest, not... not your dramatics."Zarek looked up, his eyes wide and watery, playing the part of the confused victim to perfection. "I’m sorry, Uncle Finnian. Did I do something wrong? Declan was just showing me the flowers."Finnian recoiled as if the word flowers were a curse. To Finnian, every moment Zarek was near Declan was a moment the past could be unburied. He saw Zarek not as a nephew, but as a ticking bomb, a creature that had survived a fire he was meant to die in."No, no, lad," Finnian said, forcing a gruesome, shivering smile. "No wrong done. I just... I worry. My son doesn't always know when to stop." He
CHAPTER 222
Downstairs, in the humid roar of the kitchen, the atmosphere hadn't improved. The head chef was still barking orders, and the steam was thick enough to drown in. Shaw stood at the massive industrial sink, hands submerged in gray, soapy water as he scrubbed a stack of heavy porcelain platters. His back ached, and his clumsy persona had earned him a dozen more insults since lunch, but he didn't flinch.Suddenly, a sharp, rhythmic vibration buzzed against his thigh.Shaw didn't stop scrubbing. Timing his movements to the frantic beat of the kitchen, he leaned his hip against the counter to mask the motion of reaching into his pocket. He glanced down through the steam, the text glowing on the small screen tucked in his palm.A slow, jagged grin spread across his face. It wasn't the smile of a servant; it was the look of a man who had just been permitted to start a riot."Rattled, are they?" Shaw muttered, the sound lost beneath the clatter of silverware. "Well, let's see how they ha
CHAPTER 223
Declan didn’t turn around. He remained as still as a statue, watching the shadows lengthen over the garden. A slow, mocking huff of air escaped his nose."A Riggs?" Declan repeated, his voice smooth and dangerously calm compared to his father’s frantic pitch. "Is that what you’re so terrified of, Father? A name?"He finally turned, leaning his hip against the heavy windowsill. He looked at Finnian with clinical, almost pitying detachment."Look at him," Declan continued, his lip curling into a faint, derisive sneer. "The boy is meek. He jumps at his own shadow. He stammers like a frightened child and looks at a silver fork as if it’s a piece of alien technology."His eyes narrowed. "He’s exactly what a Riggs was supposed to look like after ten years in the dirt… broken. Pathetic. A shell.""You don't understand!" Finnian hissed, slamming a fist onto his desk. The pens in the marble holder rattled like dry bones. "It’s not the boy, Declan—it’s the blood! That family... they don’t jus
CHAPTER 224
"Thank you," Zarek whispered, his voice trembling.The maid grunted and marched out, the lock clicking home behind her. Zarek waited until her footsteps faded into the silence of the manor before he reached for the tea.He didn't drink it. Instead, he turned his attention to the books: a collection of dry histories and genealogies. He opened the top volume, and his eyes narrowed. There, on the first page, was the Riggs family crest, defaced by a jagged, messy ink stain."You're right to be scared, Finnian," Zarek murmured, the hollow look vanishing from his gaze. "Because Declan is starting to ask the right questions... and I'm the only one with the answers."The tea was still steaming when the silence was shattered.Heavy, rapid footsteps thundered down the hall. The sharp clack of a master key preceded a violent bang as the door flew back against the wall. Declan stood in the threshold, his chest heaving, his face pale with a cold, simmering fury. Behind him, the maid cowered,
CHAPTER 225
He slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The car roared, pinning Zarek back against the seat.Declan didn't pull over at the industrial site. Instead, he swerved back onto the main road, the engine’s scream settling into a low, menacing hum as they surged toward the high-end district. He finally pulled up to a discreet restaurant nestled between limestone buildings, its entrance lit by a single, amber glow."My father wants us hiding in corners, Zarek," Declan said, his voice regaining its oily charm as he handed the keys to a valet. "He wants us to play the part of a tragedy. But I think it’s time we acted like normal people. We’re going to eat, we’re going to talk, and we’re going to forget he exists for an hour."Zarek followed him inside. The air was thick with the soft clink of silverware and the scent of truffles and expensive oak. They were seated in a plush velvet booth in the back, tucked far from prying ears."Is this... is this okay?" Zarek asked. He kept his voice s
CHAPTER 226
The cold night air hit Zarek’s face like a physical blow, a sharp, welcome contrast to the truffle-scented warmth of the dining room.He didn't waste time. Ducking into the deep shadow of a dumpster, he pulled the burner phone from his pocket. The screen flickered, casting a sickly blue light across his angular features.SHAW: Get out now. Finnian didn't send guards; he sent the Cleaners. The patient is being moved. We have 20 minutes before the trail goes cold.Zarek’s heart hammered against his ribs, not with fear, but with the cold adrenaline of a soldier receiving coordinates.The Cleaners. Finnian’s elite wet-work team.If they were moving the patient with no name, it meant Finnian was burning the evidence. It meant the sister Zarek thought was ash might be moments away from actually becoming it. He glanced back at the velvet curtains of the restaurant. He could disappear into the alley and meet Shaw, but the valet had Declan’s car, the fastest thing on the street, and Decla
CHAPTER 227
“Copy that, Boss,” Shaw’s voice crackled, devoid of its usual humor. “Targeting the lead car’s tires now. I’ve got two more coming up the alley. I’ll keep 'em busy. Go get her.”A muffled thwip sounded from outside, the unmistakable sneeze of a suppressed rifle, followed by the violent hiss of escaping air and the shouting of men in the street.Zarek snatched a heavy iron skillet from a stovetop as they sprinted toward the exit."Stay behind me," Zarek told Declan, his voice as cold as a winter grave. "And if you even think about slowing down, I’ll leave you for them."Declan stumbled through the swinging stainless steel doors, nearly tripping over a crate of produce. His heart hammered against his ribs, not just from the adrenaline, but from the jarring cognitive dissonance of the last sixty seconds.He stared at the man ahead of him. Zarek moved through the high-heat chaos of the line with the predatory efficiency of a wolf in a sheepfold. The line cooks, usually kings of their ow
CHAPTER 228
"That's Kedrin," Declan hissed, his eyes widening as he recognized his father’s lead enforcer. "He won't—he’s loyal to the family! Kedrin! It’s me!"Declan started to move forward, his hand raised in a desperate gesture of authority. He still believed the O'Shea name was a shield. He still thought the world obeyed the rules of a boardroom."Declan, get back!" Zarek lunged, grabbing Declan by the scruff of his expensive blazer and yanking him behind a stack of wooden pallets just as a series of soft, rhythmic phut-phut-phut sounds tore into the wood where Declan’s head had been a second before.An even more sound followed. Phut!Phut!Phut!Phut! Splinters sprayed like shrapnel. Declan collapsed against the brick, his face turning a sickly shade of gray. "He shot at me. He actually tried to kill me.""Your father doesn't want witnesses, Declan," Zarek said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "That includes sons who know too much."Zarek didn't wait for a second volley. He didn't have a
CHAPTER 229
After a moment of silence, Zarek shifted gears, the car surging forward like a launched shell. "You know who I am, Declan. You spent all evening telling me.""No. No, I don't." Declan shook his head, a hysterical edge creeping into his voice. "The Zarek Riggs I studied was a boy who liked charcoal sketches and old poetry.”“The Zarek Riggs I met two days ago couldn't look me in the eye without trembling. But this..." Declan gestured wildly at the Glock resting on Zarek’s thigh and the bruised knuckles gripping the steering wheel."You didn't just wander out of the woods, Zarek. You move like a ghost, but you hit like a goddamn tank.”His eyes narrowed. “That takedown in the alley... that wasn't a drifter fighting for his life. That was a professional execution. Where the hell have you been for ten years? What are you?"Zarek’s grip tightened, the leather creaking under the pressure. "I’m the person your father created when he burned that train," he said, his voice a low, vibrating r