All Chapters of They Buried Me Alive, I Rose As A King: Chapter 41
- Chapter 50
95 chapters
41. Small margin
Election Day finally dawned and the city was tense with voters, every thing not minding the look of the sky that seemed to rain but held back. Polls opened at 6 a.m., and by 6:15, lines had formed in every borough, in Manhattan, doormen were in wool coats shuffling forward, in Brooklyn, families with strollers in tow, in Queens, commuters were clutching coffee cups, in Bronx, residents were chatting in Spanish, and in Staten Island, homeowners were debating local issues under overcast skies. The mayoral race had dominated the headlines for months with Lucas Stevens as the polished Democratic nominee backed by legacy money and the Jordan alliance, versus Isaac Jones, the reformist challenger who had risen from a primary underdog to a serious threat. The Republican nominee trailed far behind in polls, making this effectively a two-man showdown.Bradley Turner woke up at 5:30 a.m. on election day in his bungalow with the system interface already glowing in his vision with real-time upd
42. Comeback plan
The morning after the election results were certified, Isaac Jones gathered his core team in the back room of a modest Brooklyn community center away from the cameras and away from the chaos of headquarters. The space was simple with just folding tables, mismatched chairs, a coffee urn bubbling in the corner and a whiteboard still scrawled with precinct targets from the final days. There was neither champagne nor confetti, just the people who had bled for the win.Isaac stood at the head of the table, his sleeves were rolled up and his tie loosened, even his eyes were tired but still bright. Around him sat the key players of his team, his campaign manager, Sarah Kline, with her ever-present tablet, his communications director, Mike Torres, the data analyst, Priya Singh, who had run the turnout models that sealed the victory, Elena Vargas, the tech mogul whose digital push had mobilized young voters, Alex Lynch, the Queens council member who had locked down the borough and Bradley Turn
43. The Private Investigator
Lucas Stevens sat in the private study of his Upper East Side penthouse as the city skyline glittered beyond floor to ceiling windows like a kingdom he had once ruled and now intended to reclaim. It was three weeks after Isaac's inauguration, it was three weeks of quiet regrouping, of meetings in dimly lit restaurants and of phone calls to old allies who still owed him favors. The sting of losing to Isaac Jones by 1.3 points had not dulled a single bit, if anything, it had sharpened into something colder and more focused.The election post mortem had been brutal but brief. His campaign manager, Carla Esposito, had laid it out plainly to him that the outer borough turnout had been unexpectedly high, that Isaac’s youth mobilization had flipped key precincts and the Grayson corruption leaks that were amplified in the final days had eroded trust among independents. Also that the Jordan family’s $500,000 last minute super PAC injection had helped in Manhattan and Brooklyn but it hadn’t bee
44. Promise kept
Bradley stood in the dark living room of the Astoria bungalow, the burner phone was still warm in his hand from the just-ended text exchange with Isaac about the quiet threat that had just landed in his lap concerning Nick Payne, his inside man in Lucas’s camp who was just compromised and Victor Kane, Lucas’s Private Investigator, was closing in. The Jordans and Stevens were sniffing for blood and if they flipped or eliminated Nick, the whole operation could unravel his survival, Maya’s safety and Isaac’s administration which was all tied to one man in Staten Island who had trusted him enough to dive back into the world he hated.The system interface flickered in his vision like it was sensing the shift.[New Quest Unlocked: Protect the Insider][Objective: Ensure Nick Payne’s safety and extraction from Lucas Stevens’ campaign without exposing your survival or the network.][Purpose: Preserve intelligence flow and prevent retaliation from Lucas and Jordan alliance.][Difficulty: High
45. Prey and hunter
Lucas Stevens stood alone on the private terrace of his Upper East Side penthouse, contemplating over the message he had just read.Then the terrace door slid open and Carla Esposito stepped out with her coat pulled tight against the chill and her tablet glowing in her hand. She looked tired, but her eyes were still looking sharp as always.“You’ve seen the latest,” she said as though she was asking a question but he knew it wasn’t one.Lucas didn’t turn around and replied. “Victor Kane’s report.” That was the message he was just contemplating over before she arrived.Carla nodded. “He reached Nick Payne’s house this morning only to find it empty. There was no sign of struggle and no forwarding address. The neighbor said Payne left in a hurry around midnight in a black van with no plates so we can't track it. Kane swept the place for information but the burner phone was gone and the laptop he found was wiped clean. Even there were no fingerprints other than that of Payne’s. I was a
46. We end it
That night, after Lucas had left the Jordan estate and they've all retired to their bedroom, Leo Jordan’s phone vibrated against the polished marble of his nightstand, the screen lighting up the dark bedroom with a cold blue glow. He had been lying awake for hours, staring at the ceiling with a half-empty bourbon bottle on the floor beside him. The primary loss still burned within him and Victoria’s silence since the results had been louder than any lecture. Even Lucas’s concession speech had been gracious on camera, but Leo knew the truth that the Stevens-Jordan alliance had cracked, and he was the fracture because they sideline him in most of their plans and meetings.The caller ID read “Private.” so Leo answered on the third ring, with a voice that was thick with sleep and alcohol.“Yeah?”A low, gravelly voice that sounded familiar due to the handful of jobs he had outsourced over the years came through, saying. “It’s done. We've found her.”Leo sat up, in haste as he was instantl
47. Last piece of the puzzle
Bradley closed Maya's door softly after checking on her while she slept. He was kind of becoming troubled after the latest message he received from Nick. The Jordans and Lucas hunt was becoming desperate and dangerous even though they were chasing ghosts, and if they keep up at that pace, they will be getting closer to knowing the truth. He walked back to the kitchen table where his laptop sat open with a dimmed screen and encrypted alerts from the network. The system hummed in his mind, it was a constant companion at level 9 that kept feeding him patterns and probabilities without prompt.He sat down and opened the dashboard. Although Nick was secure in Brooklyn under a new ID, he was still feeding scraps of intel from his final days in Lucas's camp. Although the PI, Victor Kane, had hit the empty Staten Island house and found nothing but dust and echoes. Kane's movements were still tracked via Elena Vargas's cybersecurity net, he was already digging deeper, pulling Rikers visitor
48. Threat to Marcus
Victor Kane sat in a nondescript sedan outside a Staten Island diner, the rain pattering on the roof with his laptop balanced on the passenger seat. Payne's house had been a bust, empty and scrubbed, like the man had vanished into thin air. Yet Kane had swept for bugs, by checking neighbors and even pulling traffic cam footage from the night before, looking for the black van with no plates that was gone in sixty seconds which was very Professional.He cross-referenced Payne's Rikers logs, his visitors were minimal from only his lawyer and a cousin who hadn't seen him since his release. But the prison block which was the same as Isaac Jones was no coincidence because Kane didn't believe in coincidence. So he dug deeper into inmate interactions, guard reports and release records. A name kept popping, the name Bradley Turner. But the official story says he died in a prison fight yet the details were thin and autopsy was sealed, the body cremated quickly because of the Jordan family invol
49. The inner circle
A few days after a fruitless attempt by the Jordans team to get Marcus, Isaac Jones sent a simple, encrypted message to Bradley’s burner. **I will be hosting a small house party this Saturday for my son who is turning 11. It will be a low-key one with just family, close friends and a few people who helped my mayoral position possible. You and Maya are invited. Even Alex is bringing his wife and son. The time is 6 p.m. at my place in Forest Hills so there will be no press.** Bradley stared at the screen for a long moment while Maya was coloring at the kitchen table as she hum softly, unaware of the quiet war raging around them. A personal invitation to Isaac’s home meant trust. It meant he was now regarded as family. It also meant risk. But refusing would look cold and Maya deserved normal moments with friends, cake and laughter. So he typed back: **We’ll be there. Maya’s excited for cake. Thank you.** Isaac replied. **Bring her favorite unicorn. My boy’s obsessed with unicorn
50. Surveillance
The small house party slowly came to an end with the bidding each other good nights in a gradual, reluctant manner. The compound was filled with lingering goodbyes and promises to “do this again soon.” Isaac’s son, who was still buzzing from sugar and bounce-house adrenaline, hugged Maya tightly at the door, whispering something about a unicorn playdate next weekend. Mateo waved frantically from the back seat of Alex’s SUV as Sofia buckled him in. Elena Vargas left first with her husband and teenage daughter but before that had offered Bradley a quiet nod that said more than words, *We’re still watching your back.* The other guests, council members and campaign veterans trickled out in ones and twos as headlights cut through the dark Forest Hills streets.Bradley carried sleepy Maya to the car with her head resting on his shoulder, her star dress now rumpled, yet the unicorn keychain dangling from her small fist. She murmured something about it being the best party she's ever witness