2025-02-18 19:22:36I pushed open the rusted metal door. The smell of cigarette smoke and old wiring filled my nose.
The underground hacking den looked the same—dim lights, walls lined with servers, the air thick with heat and tension. The glow of computer screens painted the room in blue and green light. Some people were lost in their screens, others watched me carefully. And then, I saw her. Riley sat at a desk, typing so fast it made my head spin. The moment she noticed me, she stopped. Then, she sighed and leaned back in her chair, throwing her boots up on the desk. “Well, well. Look who’s still alive.” She crossed her arms, smirking. “What do you want, Nathan?” Her voice was playful, but her sharp hazel eyes were already scanning me, calculating the risks. I stepped forward. “I need your help.” She let out a short laugh. “Last time I helped you, I almost got killed. Remember that?” I did. Too well. She barely made it out that night. She saved me. And I never forgot the way her hands shook after. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.” Riley’s smirk faded a little. She swung her legs off the desk, leaning forward. “Define important.” I hesitated. Then, I said the name. “Elias Graves.” The change was instant. She froze. Her hands curled into fists. She knew something. But instead of answering, she turned away, walked to a cabinet in the corner, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. She poured herself a drink without looking at me. I took a step closer. “Riley, talk to me.” She sipped her drink, then turned. Her voice was lower now, serious. “You don’t get it, do you?” She set her glass down hard. “Elias Graves isn’t just some name. He’s—” She stopped herself, shaking her head. “Never mind.” My patience ran out. “Damn it, Riley! If you know something, say it.” She slammed her glass down, eyes blazing. “And what if I do? Huh? What if I know exactly what you’re walking into? Would you even listen?” The room felt smaller. Tighter. I forced myself to calm down. “Try me.” For a long moment, she just stared at me. Then, to my surprise, she let out a bitter laugh. “You never change.” She rubbed her temple. “Fine. You want to play with fire? Let’s burn.” She grabbed a laptop and powered it on. The screen glowed, lighting up her face. Her fingers moved fast over the keyboard. In seconds, encrypted files filled the screen. I leaned in, scanning the data. What I saw made my stomach drop. Surveillance footage. Reports. Transactions. All connected to Elias Graves. Riley exhaled sharply. “This is why I wanted out.” Her voice was strained. “Graves isn’t just a ghost in the system. He owns the system. Every encrypted message, every digital trace—he sees it all.” A chill ran through me. “How long have you been tracking him?” I asked. She hesitated. “Too long.” She tapped the screen, highlighting a name. I followed her gaze. My breath caught. It wasn’t just some account. It was my name. I blinked. “What the hell?” Riley folded her arms. “Yeah. You’re not just looking for Graves, Nathan. He’s been looking for you.” My pulse pounded in my ears. “I don’t understand—” “You will.” She pointed to a grainy security video. It showed a man in a dark suit standing in an alley, speaking to someone just out of frame. Then, the camera shifted. I saw his face. Elias Graves. And the person he was talking to— My chest tightened. It was someone I trusted. Someone close. The room felt too hot. The walls too tight. Riley watched me carefully. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Now you get it.” Betrayal tasted like metal on my tongue. I swallowed hard. My mind spun. “How long have you known?” Riley hesitated. “A while.” My hands curled into fists. “And you didn’t tell me?” She scoffed. “Oh, right, because you’re so good at listening when people warn you.” She had a point. But still— I stepped back, trying to think. Someone I trusted had been working with Graves. I looked at Riley. “I need names.” She met my gaze. “Nathan, if you go down this road, you won’t like what you find.” I didn’t care. I was done running. “I’ll take my chances.” Riley sighed. “Fine. But if this backfires, we both go down.” “Then let’s make sure it doesn’t.” She started typing again, pulling up more files. Then—the screen flickered. And shut down. Riley froze. “No. No, no, no—” She tried to restart it. Nothing. The servers around us hummed loudly. Then—silence. The entire system shut down. The room went dark. Then, through the speakers, a voice. Low. Distorted. “You should’ve stayed out of this, Nathan.” Every hair on my body stood on end. Riley’s face went pale. “He’s here.” My heartbeat slammed in my chest. Footsteps. The door behind us creaked open. A shadow moved. Riley grabbed my wrist. Her voice was barely a whisper. “Run.”
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CHAPTER 220
The Last ThoughtI stare at my reflection, my breath uneven, my eyes hollow. The glass is cracked—thin fractures running like veins across the surface, distorting my face. Fitting.The overhead light flickers, casting brief shadows across the room. It’s cold. Not the kind of cold that bites at your skin, but the kind that settles in your bones, that tells you something is coming. The kind that makes you wonder if it’s always been there, waiting.I press my palms against the sink, fingers curling against the porcelain. The weight in my chest isn’t fear. It isn’t regret. It’s something worse. A question with no answer.Behind me, the door creaks open. A slow, deliberate sound. My hand moves instinctively to my gun, but I already know who it is."That the last time you’re gonna check yourself out, Nathan?" a voice teases, rough with amusement.I smirk, though it feels foreign on my face. "Figured I should see what’s left of me before I walk out that door."Jackson leans against the doorf
CHAPTER 219
The End of the LineThe city is quiet. Too quiet.Not the kind of quiet that comes with peace, but the kind that signals something is about to break. It settles over the skyline, heavy, waiting. The streets are empty, but the ghosts of what I’ve built, of what I’ve destroyed, linger in the alleyways and shadowed corners.I stand at the edge of it all, watching from the rooftop of an old high-rise, the cold wind whipping against my face. Below me, the pieces are moving, each player stepping into position, some thinking they’re the ones holding the strings. They aren’t.They never were.Jackson shifts beside me, his hands buried deep in his pockets. He’s restless. Always is before things go south.“You sure about this?” he asks.I don’t answer right away. Because there’s no easy answer. No right one, either.He sighs, shaking his head. “You always do this. Get in too deep and think you can control every variable. But this—” he gestures to the streets below, to the quiet before the storm
CHAPTER 218
The Final MoveThe city is waiting.It doesn't know it yet, but the tides are shifting. Power doesn’t disappear; it transforms and morphs into something new, something unrecognizable until it’s already taken hold. I’ve seen it happen too many times to count. This time, I’m the one pulling the strings.This time, it ends on my terms.I stand in the shadows of an empty warehouse, the scent of oil and dust thick in the air. The city hums outside, its lights flickering through the gaps in the rusted metal walls. Jackson stands beside me, his body tense, arms crossed. He’s waiting for me to explain, to tell him what comes next.I let the silence stretch before I finally speak.“We’re not burning it down.”Jackson’s head snaps toward me, eyes narrowing. “What?”I meet his stare, my voice steady. “We’re not wiping the board clean. We’re flipping it.”For the first time in a long time, Jackson looks unsure. He shifts his weight, jaw tightening as he processes my words. “You said yourself—this
CHAPTER 217
The Final CrossroadsThe city hums beneath me, restless and alive. From this rooftop, I see everything—the neon glow stretching into the horizon, the winding streets below, the fractured heartbeat of a place that never stops moving. A world of light and shadow, built on secrets, power, and debts that can never truly be repaid.The air is thick with the scent of rain and asphalt, the faintest trace of gasoline lingering in the wind. It’s the smell of something on the verge of combustion, of a city always teetering on the edge of chaos. I tighten my grip on the cigarette between my fingers, watching the ember glow in the dark, a tiny heartbeat against the cold night. I don’t smoke. Not really. I just like the way it feels—holding something that’s burning, something that’s alive for just a little while before it fades into nothing.I should walk away.I should let it all burn.But I don’t.Because no matter how much I tell myself that I don’t care anymore, that none of it matters, the tr
CHAPTER 216
The Last Time He Sees RileyThe air is colder than I expected. Maybe that’s fitting. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be.She’s already there when I arrive, standing near the edge of the pier, arms folded tight against the wind. The city sprawls behind her, all light and noise, but out here, it’s just the quiet lapping of the water and the space between us.Riley doesn’t turn when I approach.“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” she says, her voice carrying over the water, calm but unreadable.I stop a few feet away. Close enough to feel the weight of her presence. Far enough to know I shouldn’t get any closer.“Neither was I,” I admit.She exhales a slow, steady breath. “You look the same.”“So do you.”A lie.There’s something different in her now. Something more guarded, more distant. Like she’s finally built the walls she should’ve had when we were younger.Like she’s learned.She turns, finally meeting my gaze, and for a moment, it’s just us. No past, no future. Just this one sliver of t
CHAPTER 215
The Fall of KingsThe thing about power is that it never learns.It moves through different hands, dresses itself in new suits, and speaks in fresh voices. But underneath, it’s always the same: greed, arrogance, and the inevitable mistake of thinking you can control what was never meant to be tamed.Ronan believed he could do it differently.I watch from the shadows as he proves himself wrong.---The city is quieter these days. Not because the storm has passed, but because it’s waiting to break.I see it in the way people move, the way deals are whispered instead of spoken. Ronan’s reign is still fresh, but already, the cracks are showing.And he doesn’t even realize it.Or maybe he does. Maybe he’s just too proud to admit it.I’m standing outside a high-rise downtown, watching from across the street. Up there, behind floor-to-ceiling windows, Ronan is playing king. A meeting’s in progress—his men, his allies, his problems.He thinks he has time. He thinks he’s in control.He doesn’t
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