Elara stared at Mark in disbelief, her fingers trembling at her sides as she struggled to process what he had just said. “What do you mean by that?” she demanded, her voice breaking slightly. “You said if I signed those papers, Kade would be released. I did exactly what you asked. I ended my engagement with him, so why are you saying you never promised to let him go?” Her eyes moved from Mark to Vivian, searching for an explanation, but the satisfied expressions around the room only made the sinking feeling in her stomach worse. Mark, however, seemed completely unaffected by her distress. Instead, he laughed softly, as though she had simply misunderstood something obvious. “Don’t be in such a hurry, Elara,” Mark said calmly. “You seem to have forgotten one important detail. Your signature alone isn’t enough to nullify the engagement. Kade still has to sign the documents himself. Until he does that, the engagement remains legally recognized, which means I have no reason to release him.

The rest of the journey passed in an uncomfortable silence. After several more minutes, the van finally began slowing down. Through the small reinforced windows, the officers could see enormous walls rising ahead of them. The walls were constructed from thick layers of reinforced concrete and steel, stretching far beyond what the eye could see. Surveillance towers stood at regular intervals, while heavily armed guards watched every vehicle approaching the entrance.Tartarus.The sight of the prison caused even the officers who had been mocking Kade to become more serious. They had brought criminals here before, but every time they approached those gates, an instinctive sense of unease settled over them. Tartarus wasn’t simply a prison. It was a place designed to make escape virtually impossible.The massive outer gates slowly opened as the transport vehicle approached.The van entered the prison grounds before finally coming to a stop near the intake facility. The officers stepped ou

For several seconds, there was absolutely no response from the other end of the phone.Jeffrey Sky had been lying comfortably at home, enjoying the rare freedom that came with taking a break from Tartarus. But the moment he heard those two words, his entire body went rigid. The irritation disappeared from his voice as though it had never existed. His eyes widened, and he slowly sat upright, suddenly unable to believe what he had just heard. There were very few people in the world whose names could make Jeffrey Sky abandon his day off without hesitation. Kade Hollow was one of them.“What did you say?” he finally asked.“Kade Hollow, sir.”Jeffrey didn’t ask another question.“I’ll be there.”The call ended immediately.Back inside the intake office, the official carefully placed the phone back on the desk. He turned toward Kade and bowed his head slightly. “Warden Sky said he will be here shortly.”Kade simply nodded.The official quickly motioned toward a nearby chair. “King Kade, pl

The other two officers instinctively stepped backward the moment they realized that Jefferey Sky had no intention of letting the matter go. Their faces had already lost the confidence they carried when they first entered the room, and the authority of their uniforms suddenly seemed meaningless in the presence of the man standing before them. Jefferey Sky moved forward, his expression cold and his eyes fixed on the officers, he wanted to deal with the rest but Kade raised one hand.“Leave them,” Kade said calmly.Jefferey stopped immediately and looked toward him.Kade didn’t even bother turning fully toward the two officers. “Don’t pay attention to them. I already have a better way to punish them.”There was something about the casual way he said it that made the two officers even more terrified. They had expected anger. They had expected Kade to demand their deaths or perhaps order Jefferey to have them dragged away immediately. Instead, Kade stood there with the same calm expression

Immediately after Coal asked the question, his jaw dropped.For several seconds, he simply stood at the entrance and stared at the unbelievable scene before him, unable to understand what he was seeing. At the center of the enormous prison hall, surrounded by some of the most dangerous criminals in South City and Asheville, sat Kade as though he were sitting in the middle of his own palace. His posture was relaxed, his expression completely indifferent, and several terrifying inmates were gathered around him with an almost unnatural silence. Yet what truly stunned Coal wasn’t the prisoners surrounding Kade.It was the man standing beside him.Jefferey Sky, one of the highest-ranking authorities responsible for Tartarus, was personally serving Kade tea.Coal’s eyes widened further as he watched Jefferey calmly place the cup in front of Kade before stepping back with the respect one would normally show to a king. Coal had known that Jefferey possessed tremendous authority, but seeing hi