The night air was thick with tension as Ethan and Mia crept through the abandoned industrial district. Shadows clung to every corner, broken glass crunching underfoot, echoing like a warning. Even in the chaos of escape, Ethan’s focus never wavered. Every muscle tensed, every sense alert.Mia struggled to keep up. Her wrists still throbbed from the binds, and fear clung to her like a second skin. But every time she glanced at him, her pulse steadied. His crimson aura had faded to a faint glow, but the intensity in his eyes never wavered.“We need to move,” Ethan whispered, keeping his voice low. “They’ll know we escaped within minutes. Hale won’t waste time.”Mia nodded, gripping his arm. “Where do we go?”“Somewhere we can regroup. I need to see Cole again. He knows the hidden routes—he’s the only one who can guide us safely to a place Hale won’t find immediately.”They navigated the labyrinth of rusted machinery and decaying warehouses, each step bringing them closer to the heart of

Mia didn’t look back.Her breathing tore from her lungs as she sprinted through the corridor, boots pounding on cold metal floors. Sirens screamed overhead, red lights flashing in rapid, dizzying bursts. Every corner felt like a trap, every shadow like a hand reaching to drag her back into darkness.But Ethan’s voice echoed louder than her fear:I’ll find you. Run.So she ran.She pushed through a half-open door, stumbling into a long hallway lined with pipes and flickering bulbs. The air reeked of dust and oil. Somewhere far behind her, she heard fighting—blows landing, bodies hitting steel, the low, savage grunt of Ethan fighting like a man possessed.Her heart squeezed.“Please be safe… please…”Footsteps thundered behind her.Mia spun, panic slicing through her chest—only to see a guard lunging at her from the intersecting corridor, gun raised.“No—!”He grabbed her arm, yanking her back—Mia screamed—Then he froze.His eyes rolled back.And he collapsed at her feet with a heavy

Ethan had been warned his whole life about the Hale methods — the way they stripped a person down, layer by layer, until even their silence broke. He just never imagined he’d hear Mia’s voice echo through that same darkness.He crouched in the bunker’s surveillance alcove, fists clenched as Cole replayed the intercepted feed.There it was again —Mia’s scream.Raw. Forced. Tortured.Ethan’s vision wavered, fury sparking at the edges. He dug his nails so hard into his palm that blood pooled in crescents across his skin.“You need to breathe,” Cole said quietly.“I am breathing,” Ethan snapped.“No, you’re detonating.”Cole killed the audio and turned, his face pale beneath the bandage wrapped around his side. “Hale wants you unstable. You go in like this, you’ll die before you even reach her.”Ethan didn’t respond.Because all he could see — all he could feel — was Mia tied to that chair, trembling, struggling to breathe while Hale’s men circled like wolves.He pushed away from the con

The room tightened around Ethan like a closing fist.Adrian Hale stepped forward, his polished shoes clicking against the concrete as if he were entering a ballroom instead of a battleground. Cole held his gun steady, but Hale didn’t spare him a glance. His eyes were fixed entirely on Ethan.“I must say,” Hale mused, “I expected you to arrive in pieces. Instead, you walk into my den as if you own it.”Ethan didn’t blink. “Let Mia leave. Then we finish this.”Hale chuckled softly. “You still think you’re the one negotiating.” His head tilted, and his gaze sharpened with amusement. “You came here driven by love. Noble. Predictable. Pathetic.”Mia tensed behind Ethan. He felt her trembling, sensed her fear like it was wired into his bones.Ethan stepped forward once, blocking her from Hale’s view. “Talk while you still have breath.”Cole whispered from the door, “Ethan… something’s wrong.”He was right.Deep beneath the foundry, a vibration pulsed—steady, mechanical, growing. Like a hear

The Foundry shook as if it had a pulse of its own, steel beams groaning under the heat and force of unleashed power. Smoke curled along the floors and walls, catching in every corner, lit by the flickering blaze. The air was thick with electricity and fear.Adrian Hale stumbled backward, eyes wide, mouth open in disbelief. Every step he took left scorch marks on the concrete. For the first time in his life, the calculated, cold predator felt vulnerable.“You… you can’t…” he spat, voice shaking. “I’ve built—control, power, fear! I’ve survived everything!”Ethan stepped forward, blade raised, shoulder still bleeding, but his posture radiated something Hale had never encountered: absolute dominance. He moved like a shadow given life, precise and unstoppable. Behind him, Mia pressed close, holding his uninjured arm, her trust and fear melding into something protective, sacred.Evelyn Rose’s voice rang out like a bell: “Hale, you underestimated the bloodline. You underestimated all of us.”