All Chapters of The Shadow God Of War Returns: Chapter 41
- Chapter 50
79 chapters
CHAPTER 40
“No,” Zarek repeated, the finality in his voice echoing off the kitchen’s marble surfaces.“Boss, please,” Shaw pleaded, his hands animated as he tried to bridge the gap between logic and Zarek’s sheer stubbornness. “Think about the logistics. DNA tests. Childhood memories. The way you move. You don’t look like a boy who went missing… You look like a man who’s conquered nations. You think the Sullivans are just going to open the door and offer you tea?”Zarek didn’t blink. He reached for a clean towel, drying his hands with slow, deliberate movements.“The wives are too busy fighting each other. Robert is too busy playing God. And Masha…” His voice dipped. “Masha is already lost. They aren’t looking for a lie, Shaw. They’re looking for a resolution.”“It’s a death sentence,” Shaw muttered, pacing across the tiles. “One slip-up. One detail you don’t know: his favorite toy, a teacher’s name, and they’ll have you executed in the basement.”Zarek turned his head slightly, his eyes boring
CHAPTER 41
None of them could believe what they were hearing.Grisha was alive?How was that even possible?“That’s impossible,” Giorgia hissed, her voice cracking. “Grisha is dead. He’s been dead for twelve years!”But at the far end of the table, the Mad Queen had stopped.Masha’s face lifted from the plate, soup dripping unheeded from her chin. The vacancy in her eyes vanished, replaced by a searing, terrifying clarity. Her pupils dilated until her eyes were nothing but pools of black.She rose to her feet.The movement was slow, skeletal, haunting. The maid who had mocked her scrambled backward, nearly tripping over the spoon she had kicked to the floor.Masha didn’t look at the maid. She didn’t look at the wives. She stared at the doors as if she could see through the stone walls of the mansion itself.“My boy,” Masha whispered.The voice wasn’t cracked or weak; it was the sound of a woman rising from a grave.“Masha, sit down!” Alessandra commanded, though her own voice trembled. “It’s an
CHAPTER 42
“That isn’t going to happen,” Alessandra snapped, eyes raking over Zarek with pure venom. “You don’t just walk into this house because a madwoman recognizes a silver trinket. We don’t know who this man is, and we certainly aren’t letting a stranger into the inner sanctum until Robert sees a DNA report.”“Step aside, Alessandra,” Masha said, her voice regaining a steel it hadn’t possessed in years.“Or what?” Giorgia challenged, crossing her arms. “You’ll splash soup on us? This Grisha looks more like a thug than a Sullivan. He stays at the gatehouse until morning.”The older man stepped forward, pulling a crisp, sealed folder from his inner coat pocket. He held it out like a shield.“I expected your obstruction,” he said smoothly. “Which is why I took the liberty of performing a preliminary DNA match using hair samples recovered from Masha’s vanity months ago. The results are inside. This man is a ninety-nine percent match to the Sullivan bloodline. He is, beyond any shadow of a doubt
CHAPTER 43
Masha didn’t let go of Zarek’s hand for a second. She pulled him into the grand living room, her steps light, almost dancing.Zarek followed, but his eyes weren’t filled with the wonder of a returning son. He scanned the vaulted ceilings and mahogany wainscoting with the cold, calculated precision of a predator marking his territory.He slowed, turning his head as if trying to recall the placement of the furniture.“Do you… do you want to look around, Grisha?” Masha asked, her voice trembling with hope. “Does anything look familiar?”Zarek gave a slow, stiff nod.In reality, he wasn’t searching for nostalgia; he was mapping the infrared sensors.He spotted a camera tucked behind a marble bust, another hidden in the crown molding. He noted the blind spots, the places where he could kill without being seen.“I’m just… trying to see,” Zarek rumbled.Masha beamed, her sunken cheeks flushing with color. “Of course! Take your time, my boy. Oh, I’m so happy you’re back. I knew you’d come. I
CHAPTER 44
Masha led him down the quiet, carpeted hallway of the West Wing to a set of double doors.When she pushed them open, Zarek stopped dead in his tracks.The room was massive, but it was a nightmare of frozen time.Colorful electric trains circled miniature tracks. Shelves overflowed with stuffed animals. High-end plastic robots stood frozen mid-pose, ridiculous in the presence of a man his size.The wallpaper was a soft sky blue. The air smelled of old lavender and cedar.It was a tomb for a twelve-year-old, preserved with obsessive care.Zarek stared at a miniature race track on the floor, his face a mask of disbelief.Masha noticed his hesitation and flinched. “I… I can change it, Grisha,” she said hurriedly, her voice shrinking. “I know you’ve grown. The bed is king-sized, at least. I replaced that five years ago because I knew you’d be a man when you came back. It will fit you.”She hovered near the door, fingers twitching.“You should freshen up. I… I’m sorry I couldn’t find any fo
CHAPTER 45
The transition from sleep to consciousness wasn’t gradual for Zarek; it was a violent snap.He didn’t wake to sunlight or a gentle alarm. He awoke to the sound of multiple footsteps mobilizing. Beyond the heavy double doors of the suite, frantic movement echoed: boots pounding against hardwood in a harsh, rhythmic thunder.“I don’t care if he has a signet ring or a piece of paper!” Alessandra’s voice shrilled through the wood, sharp enough to shatter glass. “Get him out of that room and into the holding cells!”“Now!” Giorgia screamed, her voice trembling with a volatile mix of fear and fury. “Before Robert gets back! If he sees this man, he’ll lose his mind. Drag him out!”Zarek sat up in the sky-blue bed, his eyes narrowing into cold slits.The king-sized duvet slid from his scarred chest as he swung his legs over the side of the mattress. He glanced toward the couch.Empty.A chill draft stirred the curtains where the window had been left cracked open.The sight triggered a memory
CHAPTER 46
Masha shoved past the guards with a strength fueled by pure, maternal hysteria. She had washed her face and looked slightly neater than the night before, but her eyes were still wild, her spirit visibly frayed at the edges.She threw herself in front of Zarek, her small, fragile frame acting as a shield for the giant behind her. Spreading her arms wide, chest heaving, she glared at the armed men and the two wives.“No one touches him!” Masha screamed, her voice echoing off the blue walls. “You will not lay a finger on my Grisha! I don’t care what they told you! I am his mother! I know the blood in his veins because it came from mine!”She turned her head slightly, looking back at Zarek with such fierce, protective love that it momentarily silenced the room.“Don’t be afraid, my boy,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “They won’t hurt you. Not while I’m breathing.”Zarek’s eyes widened a fraction, a rare flicker of genuine shock crossing his face.He looked down at the back of Masha’s
CHAPTER 47
Robert had been sitting in his high-back leather chair just hours earlier, the air in his private city office thick with the scent of expensive tobacco and fear.Three men knelt on the rug before his desk, their heads bowed so low their foreheads nearly brushed the floor.They were badly beaten, faces swollen, blood dripping onto the carpet, but Robert felt no pity.“Explain it to me again,” he said, his voice a low, dangerous purr. “Tell me how three of my most highly trained guards let an intruder slip past a multi-million-dollar security grid, enter this room, and place a document directly on my desk while I was at a gala.”“Sir, we… we checked the feeds,” one man stammered, his voice shaking. “There was no one. It’s as if the shadows moved on their own.”“I don’t pay you to chase shadows,” Robert snapped, slamming his palm onto the desk.The men flinched as if he’d fired a gun.“I pay you to ensure my sanctuary remains inviolable. If someone can leave a letter, they can leave a bo
CHAPTER 48
Silence stretched between them.Two predators stood at opposite ends of the room, measuring the air between them. Robert didn’t move. He held the relaxed posture of a man who controlled every string in his empire, yet his eyes were sharp enough to dissect a man alive.“Sit,” Robert commanded, gesturing to the edge of the bed.Zarek didn’t sit. He didn’t even shift his weight. He stood like a pillar of granite, his shadow stretching across the sky-blue wallpaper, making the childish décor look like a mockery.“I’ve spent the last three hours looking at data, ‘Grisha.’ Paperwork. Bone density scans. Blood types,” Robert began, his voice a low, melodic threat. “But paper can be forged. Blood can be manipulated. I want to know why a man with the hands of a butcher and the eyes of a ghost thinks he can walk into my house and claim my name.”Robert stepped closer, his gaze searching for a twitch, a bead of sweat, any sign of the bookish, sensitive boy he had lost.“What was your teacher’s
CHAPTER 49
He had expected a cold businessman or a distant father. Instead, Robert Sullivan was a monster, one who viewed his own son’s trauma as a successful upgrade.Zarek wiped the sweat from his brow and looked toward the window.Shaw was out there somewhere, but for the first time since this mission began, Zarek felt the true weight of the viper’s nest he had climbed into.He wasn’t just fighting for a seat at the table; he was playing a game with a man who found murder more entertaining than family.Now he had to control his instincts and keep himself from wanting to kill Robert.With a measured sigh, he headed for the bathroom.Since he’d been ordered to join them at the table, he intended to use the opportunity to learn exactly how this house was run.**Zarek didn’t want to be anywhere near Robert.He’d been in situations before where he wished men like Robert didn’t exist, but being forced to play the role of the man’s legacy was a special kind of hell.After dressing in the clothes Ro