2026-01-14 22:57:40
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The plan
The exposure plan didn’t begin with headlines.It began with silence.Cole knew better than to rush the truth into the open. Uzumaki thrived on chaos; he bent it, redirected it, fed on it. If Cole wanted to hurt him, he had to starve him first.For three days, nothing happened.No fires.No warnings.No bodies.The city grew uneasy.⸻The First LeakTrojan made the call just before midnight.“I’ve got something,” he said, voice tight. “Shipping manifests. Names tied to Uzumaki that shouldn’t exist on paper.”Cole sat up straight. “Clean?”“As clean as it gets,” Trojan replied. “If this surfaces, it won’t just hurt him. It’ll attract attention he can’t buy off.”Cole closed his eyes briefly. “Send it through the usual channel.”A pause.“And Cole,” Trojan added quietly, “if this backfires—”“It won’t,” Cole said. “But if it does, stay alive.”Trojan exhaled. “That’s the plan.”When the files arrived, Mendes whistled low.“This isn’t just criminal,” he said. “It’s international.”Cole n
When masks begun to slip
The city didn’t sleep, but it watched.After Blake’s death and Trojan’s quiet disappearance from Uzumaki’s immediate circle, something subtle changed. Guards doubled. Routes shifted. Meetings moved without notice. Uzumaki’s empire was still standing, but it had begun to breathe differently—shorter breaths, sharper reactions.Cole noticed all of it.He sat with Eden, Shane, and Mendes in the warehouse, the air thick with cigarette smoke and quiet focus. No one spoke for a long moment. They were past speeches now.“Trojan sent another drop,” Mendes said, sliding a flash drive across the table. “Financial routes. Names. Dates.”Cole picked it up but didn’t plug it in yet. “He’s committing,” he said. “That means Uzumaki is already testing him.”Shane frowned. “Then Trojan won’t last.”“He doesn’t need to,” Cole replied. “He just needs to last long enough.”Eden shifted. “And Fiona?”Cole’s hand paused.“She’s closer to Uzumaki than any of us,” Cole said quietly. “Whether she wants to be o
The cost of momentum
The city reacted to Blake’s disappearance the way it always did to sudden violence at the top: quietly, cautiously, and with a deep, collective instinct for self-preservation. Deals paused. Meetings were postponed. Men who once spoke loudly now chose their words carefully, if they spoke at all.Power had shifted.And everyone felt it.Cole sat in the dim light of the warehouse office, papers spread across the table like pieces of a broken map. Names were circled. Lines drawn and redrawn. Blake’s removal had opened gaps, but gaps were dangerous. They invited chaos—or opportunity.Eden stood near the door, arms crossed. Shane leaned against the wall, watching Cole with sharp, patient eyes.“Trojan’s boxed in,” Eden said. “Uzumaki took away his buffer.”Cole nodded. “That was the point.”Shane frowned. “Then why hasn’t Trojan come looking for us?”Cole’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Because he’s deciding which way the wind is blowing.”Eden tilted his head. “And if he chooses Uzumaki?
The news today
The news spread quietly.Not through headlines or sirens, but through the absence Blake left behind. Phones that rang unanswered. Accounts that went dormant overnight. Men who suddenly avoided eye contact when Trojan’s name came up.Blake Morgan had been erased.And everyone who mattered knew exactly who had done it.Trojan’s ReckoningTrojan sat alone in his office long after midnight, the city lights reflecting off the glass like fractured stars. Blake’s empty chair across from him felt heavier than if a body were sitting there.He replayed the last conversation again and again.You were replaceable.Uzumaki’s words echoed in his head, calm and surgical.Trojan poured himself a drink but didn’t touch it. His hand trembled slightly as he set the glass down.“So this is what you do to allies,” he muttered to the empty room.His phone buzzed. A single message.U: We move forward. Together.Trojan stared at the screen, jaw clenched.He typed, deleted, then typed again.Trojan: Understoo
Take him out
Uzumaki didn’t raise his voice when he gave the order.That was what made it terrifying.The penthouse was quiet, washed in soft amber light, the city far below reduced to glittering dots that meant nothing. Uzumaki stood with his back to the room, hands clasped behind him, posture calm. His aide waited a few steps away, head lowered.“Blake has become careless,” Uzumaki said evenly.“Careless people attract attention.”The aide swallowed. “He’s nervous, sir. He thinks Cole is closer than—”Uzumaki turned slowly.“One does not think in my circle,” he said. “One knows.”The aide nodded quickly. “Understood.”Uzumaki walked to the table and picked up a tablet. He tapped the screen once, then slid it back.“He spoke when silence was required,” Uzumaki continued. “He questioned timing. He doubted restraint. Worst of all—he forgot his position.”The aide hesitated. “Trojan—”“Trojan understands survival,” Uzumaki interrupted. “Blake seeks reassurance. I don’t provide that.”A pause.Then U
The weight of what comes next
The rain stopped sometime before morning, leaving the city slick and reflective, like it was holding onto every secret whispered the night before. Cole woke to a quiet that felt wrong. Too clean. Too deliberate.He sat up slowly, listening.No sirens.No phones buzzing.No messages waiting.That was when he knew something had shifted.Cole moved through the apartment with care, the way prison had taught him to—checking corners, windows, exits. Everything was where it should be. And yet, the sense of being watched clung to him like a shadow that refused to separate.He poured himself coffee he didn’t want and stared out at the street.Uzumaki isn’t reacting, he thought. He’s repositioning.That was worse.⸻A Crack in the AllianceAcross the city, Trojan sat alone in his office, staring at the city skyline through reinforced glass. Blake stood near the door, restless, fingers tapping against his phone.“This silence is killing me,” Blake said. “He hasn’t called since last night.”Troja
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