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Home / System / BANG BANG BANG / CHAPTER 116: SMOKE BEFORE FIRE
CHAPTER 116: SMOKE BEFORE FIRE
Author: Phanie O'Neri
last update2025-04-13 19:04:44

The Gale estate was quiet...too quiet. It was the kind of stillness that blanketed a place right before a storm broke, before sirens screamed and bullets ripped through the night.

Inside the war room, Carrick leaned over the city map, his palms pressed flat against the table. The flickering overhead light cast deep shadows across his face, sharpening the grim lines carved by sleepless nights and too many bodies.

Victor entered without knocking. His shirt was soaked from the rain, his brow furrowed.

“They hit the convoy outside Westbridge,” he said, tossing a blood-stained envelope onto the table. “Four of our men dead. One of the trucks burned. They left this behind.”

Carrick didn’t move at first. Then slowly, he picked up the envelope. Inside was a single black feather and a slip of parchment. On it, scrawled in crimson ink: ‘For Elena. For every name you buried beneath your throne.’

His jaw tightened. “Alessia.”

Victor nodded grimly. “She’s escalating. These aren’t just retaliatory
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