Chains of Power

Chapter 5 — Hunted

The flash of cameras struck like lightning as Selene stepped out of Carter Global’s headquarters. She hadn’t wanted this. She’d begged her father to let a spokesperson handle the press, to let the lawyers craft a statement.

But Charles Carter believed in optics, and tonight, optics demanded her. The bodyguards parted the sea of reporters, but they couldn’t shield her from the barrage.

“Ms. Carter, did you know Edmond Welder was a general when you filed for divorce?”

“Were you aware of his military status?”

“Do you regret abandoning him now that the truth is public?”

“Is it true you paid him to leave quietly?”

Selene’s pulse hammered, but she forced her expression into the practiced calm of a corporate queen. No tears. No hesitation. She lifted her chin. “This is not the place for questions. A statement will be released”

“Answer us directly, Ms. Carter!” someone shouted.

Another reporter lunged forward, shoving a microphone so close it nearly hit her cheek. “Did you love him? Or was your marriage always for convenience?”

The question sliced through her composure. For a split second, her eyes betrayed her, widening, glimmering with something raw. Cameras caught it. The wolves smelled blood.

“Selene! Did you leave him for another man?”

“Was the marriage a cover-up?”

“Is your family involved in his imprisonment?”

That one hit like a blade between her ribs. She froze mid-step. Her guards shoved the crowd back, but the noise swelled, the questions morphing into accusations.

Inside the building, her family watched through the tinted glass windows. Vincent smirked, whispering, “She’s drowning.”

Her mother sipped champagne, cold eyes never leaving the spectacle. “Then let her drown. Perhaps then she’ll learn the cost of weakness.”

Charles Carter remained silent, jaw set, fingers drumming against the armrest of his chair. Edmond leaned over the steel table in Maddox’s safehouse, the faint hum of servers filling the room.

Screens flickered with tactical maps, intercepted communications, and surveillance feeds. A soldier entered, saluting. “General, we recovered two of the attackers alive. They’re not talking.”

“They will,” Edmond said quietly.

The soldier hesitated. “Sir, with respect… the Council may not approve”

Edmond’s stare silenced him instantly. “The Council put me in chains. I don’t need their approval.”

When the man left, Maddox leaned against the wall, arms folded. “You’re slipping back into old habits. You swore you’d leave interrogation work to others.”

Edmond didn’t look up from the map. “Old habits are what keep us alive. Whoever gave the kill order knows I’m free. They’ll move fast. I move faster.”

His finger tapped the map. “Three strike teams, unmarked gear, military precision. They weren’t mercenaries. They were trained. Which means they belong to someone in the shadows.”

Maddox’s eyes narrowed. “And you think you know who.”

Edmond’s jaw tightened. “I have a list.”

He slid a slip of paper across the table. Names. Council members. High-ranking officers. Industrial magnates tied to defense contracts.

Maddox exhaled slowly. “You’re not just hunting ghosts, Edmond. You’re about to make enemies of men who’ve toppled nations.”

Edmond finally looked up, eyes like steel. “Then let them come. I’ve already lived their worst.”

Selene stumbled back inside, heart pounding, the cacophony of reporters still ringing in her ears. She felt like every camera lens had peeled back her skin, exposing nerves and bones.

Vincent was waiting at the elevator, grin smug. “Nice performance out there. The part where you almost cried? Very convincing.”

She glared at him, brushing past, but he leaned in close, his whisper venomous. “Be careful, sister. Now that he’s a hero, you’re the villain in every headline.”

She spun on him, voice sharp. “You think I don’t know that?”

Charles’s voice thundered from the boardroom. “Enough.”

Both siblings froze. Their father rarely raised his voice. He stepped forward, gaze pinned on Selene. “We cannot afford weakness. Do you understand? This family’s survival depends on how you navigate this scandal. If you cannot control the narrative, you will destroy us all.”

Selene’s throat tightened. “And what about Edmond?” she whispered.

Her mother laughed softly, cruelly. “Darling, you made your choice. Now you live with it.”

Selene turned away, hiding the burn in her eyes. But deep down, a gnawing truth had begun to bloom. Had she made her choice, or had she been blind to his?

The interrogation room was dim, a single bulb swinging overhead. Edmond stood before one of the captured attackers, a young man with bloodied knuckles and eyes that refused to meet his.

“You were ordered to kill me,” Edmond said calmly. “Who gave the order?”

The man spat blood, silent. Edmond didn’t flinch. He leaned closer, voice low, intimate. “I buried men who died for me. Men who followed me into fire.

I know loyalty when I see it. But I also know fear. You’re not loyal. You’re terrified. Terrified of the man who sent you. Which means he’s worse than me.”

The attacker’s jaw clenched, but a flicker in his eyes betrayed him. Edmond straightened. “That’s fine. Stay silent. Silence has power. I should know.”

He turned to leave, then the man blurted, “Ravenshadow.”

Edmond froze. The man’s breath came fast, panicked, as though the word itself had summoned death. “That’s all I know. Ravenshadow. He, he’ll kill me if I say more.”

Edmond’s heart pounded once, hard. Maddox appeared in the doorway, face grim. “Ravenshadow,” Maddox repeated. “God help us.”

Selene stood by her bedroom window, staring out at the city. Somewhere out there, Edmond was alive, hunted, more dangerous than ever.

The man she thought was a stain on her life was now at the center of something vast and terrifying. And she, she was caught in the ripples.

Her phone buzzed again. Another message from the unknown number. You should never have let him go. Now they’ll use you to break him.

Selene’s knees went weak. She gripped the curtains, whispering, “No. They wouldn’t…”

But deep down, she knew they would. At the safehouse, Edmond stared at the map, the word Ravenshadow echoing in his mind. At Carter Manor, Selene’s phone lit again. This time, not a message. A picture.

Her. Leaving Carter Global earlier. Surrounded by reporters. Crosshairs faintly superimposed over her heart. Selene’s scream echoed through the empty hall.

Edmond’s voice overlapped in another part of the city, cold and certain. “They’re coming for her.”