2025-07-29 00:00:19The city buzzed around him as Jared waited for the bus back to the central district. He could’ve called a cab, but he didn’t. Not yet. Every naira counted now.
The auction had left him with nothing in his wallet, but in his mind? He had more power than any of them could imagine. Elena’s voice still echoed in his head — “Just don’t come back empty-handed.”
He hadn’t. She just wouldn’t see it yet.
The bus pulled up, brakes squealing, and Jared climbed on. No one paid him any attention. He liked it that way. That’s how all great rises began — in silence.
By the time he reached the Bai family residence, the sun had started its descent. Long shadows stretched across the marble floors as he walked in.
He’d barely shut the door behind him when he heard the voice.
“You’re late.”
It was Bai Cheng. Sitting in the lounge with a glass of wine, his expression tight with annoyance.
Jared didn’t slow his steps. “I said I’d check the warehouse. I did.”
“It’s not about the warehouse,” Bai Cheng snapped. “It’s about you disrespecting this family. My daughter gives you money — my money — and you can’t even be back on time? You think this is some kind of vacation?”
Jared didn’t answer. He dropped the plastic folder containing the supplier’s signed invoice on the table in front of him.
“There was a delay with their shipment. I handled it. They’ll deliver by tomorrow noon.”
Bai Cheng looked at the paper, then back at Jared, as if trying to figure out how a man like him had managed even that.
“Elena said you left this morning without saying anything. You didn’t answer her calls either.”
“I was busy handling your task,” Jared said coolly.
“And now what?” Bai Cheng leaned back. “You think doing one errand means you’ve earned something around here? This house isn’t yours. This family—”
“Never accepted me,” Jared said, his voice calm but firm. “I know.”
Bai Cheng stood up, jaw tight. “You think you’re clever now, huh?”
“I think I’m not as stupid as I used to be.”
The silence stretched. It wasn’t defiance in Jared’s tone. It was something worse. Confidence.
Bai Cheng didn’t like it.
From the hallway, another voice joined in — softer, cooler.
“Can I talk to him alone?”
Elena.
She walked into the room, dressed in a navy blouse and slacks, tablet in one hand. Her face was unreadable, as usual. Beautiful and distant, like a portrait that never changed expression.
Her father gave her a long look, then walked out without another word.
Jared stayed where he was.
Elena looked at him, arms crossed.
“Where did you go, really?”
He raised a brow. “You think I lied?”
“I think,” she said slowly, “that you disappeared for ten hours and came back with an attitude.”
Jared didn’t answer.
She stepped closer. “I don’t care if you’re trying to play some game, Jared. But if you’re going to stay in this house, you don’t get to make me look like a fool.”
“You’re worried what they’ll think of you?” he asked. “For marrying someone beneath you?”
“I didn’t marry you,” she said, her tone sharp. “I was told to.”
That stung more than he wanted to admit.
She took a breath, like she wanted to say more but changed her mind. “Dinner’s in an hour. Don’t be late again.”
She walked past him, but he caught her wrist gently. Just for a second.
She turned.
“You didn’t have to give me that money this morning,” he said. “Thank you.”
She blinked. Her lips parted slightly, as if surprised by the sincerity in his voice.
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
She didn’t pull her hand away. Not right away.
Then she did.
Without a word, she disappeared up the stairs.
Jared stood there, staring after her, and for the first time in days, he let himself feel something. Not love. Not hate. Just… memory.
She’d once told him she regretted everything. Long after the fall. When it was too late.
Maybe it would be different this time.
Ding.
The system chimed again in his mind.
[New Mission Available.]
[Mission 002: Acquire one firearm (pistol or shotgun) within 48 hours. Reward: +1500 points. Unlock: Combat Tab.]
Jared exhaled slowly.
The storm was coming.
And now, he had a weapon to find.
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Chapter 67- The Thing About Freedom
POV: JaredJared does not tell Emma where he is going.Not because he wants to hide it from her, but because he knows she would come if he asked. And this is something he needs to face without her steadying the ground beneath his feet.The imprint waits where she found it.It does not look dangerous. That is its trick.The place feels quieter than the rest of the world, like sound itself is holding its breath. The air has a faint pressure to it, the kind you feel before rain, before something gives way. The ground here does not quite commit to being solid. It remembers something else.Jared steps closer.The imprint stirs.It recognizes him immediately.Not with words. With knowing.The world tilts, gently, and then the visions begin.Not explosions. Not triumph. No glory.Relief.He sees Emma sitting beside the river, whole in a way that makes his chest ache. Her breath steady. Her gaze clear. No pauses. No flickers. No fear hiding behind her eyes. She laughs without checking herself
Chapter 66- What He Would Erase
POV: EmmaThe question slips out of her before she can stop it.They are not arguing. That is the worst part. There is no raised voice to blame it on. No sharp edge to pretend caused the damage.They are sitting near the river where the water moves slow and patient, like it has nowhere else it needs to be. Jared is skipping stones, not very well. Each one either sinks immediately or hits the surface wrong and dies with a sad sound.Emma watches his hands. Strong. Scarred now. Real.She tells herself not to ask.She asks anyway.“If you could change one thing,” she says quietly, staring at the water instead of him, “would it be me?”The world does not react.The river keeps moving. A bird calls somewhere far off. The question does not echo or shatter anything. It just exists.Jared’s hand stills.He does not throw the stone.He does not answer.That pause stretches, thin and unbearable.Emma feels it inside her chest like pressure building behind glass.She should not have asked. She k
Chapter 65- The Weight of Knowing
POV: JaredJared notices it in the pauses.Emma still walks beside him. Still listens. Still answers when he speaks. But the spaces between her words have grown careful, like she is choosing where not to step.She laughs less. When she does, it comes late, like an echo that almost didn’t bother returning.That night, the fire burns low. Not dying. Just contained. Jared feeds it small sticks, one at a time, watching the way the flames respond immediately now. No correction. No delay. Cause and effect, clean and honest.Emma sits across from him, knees pulled in, arms looped loosely around them. She is staring into the fire but not really seeing it.He does not say her name at first.He waits.The waiting stretches. Too long.“Okay,” he says finally, keeping his voice light on purpose. “You’ve been doing that thing.”She blinks. “What thing?”“The quiet one,” he replies. “The one where you think if you don’t move too much, the world won’t notice you’re there.”Her mouth curves slightly.
Chapter 64- The Imprint
POV: EmmaEmma notices it because the birds stop mid-sound.Not silence. Worse than silence. The echo of a sound that forgets how to finish.She is standing near the riverbank, rinsing dirt from her hands, when the water ripples wrong. Not outward. Inward. Like the surface hesitates, then resumes pretending nothing happened.Her breath catches.She does not call for Jared.Instinct tells her this is not for both of them.She steps closer. The ground feels normal under her boots until it does not. One step is solid, the next sinks a fraction too deep, then snaps back like it regrets allowing her weight. Her head pulses faintly, not pain, just pressure behind the eyes.The world here stutters.She kneels slowly and presses her palm to the earth.It is warm.Not sunlight warm. Active warm.Her glasses are gone. Her tools are gone. But her mind still knows how to listen. She closes her eyes and lets the feeling rise instead of fighting it.Something answers.Not a voice. Not code. A prese
Chapter 63- Something That Lasts a Night
POV: JaredBy the time the light starts to tilt, Jared realizes they have been walking in loose circles.Not lost. Just not going anywhere on purpose.The world here does not rush them. Shadows stretch slowly. The air cools without warning. When the sun lowers, it does not feel like a threat, but it does feel like a question.He stops near a cluster of trees and looks around.“This is as good as anywhere,” he says.Emma nods. She looks tired in a way that has nothing to do with weakness. More like she is learning how to exist inside a body again. She lowers herself onto a rock and watches him.“So,” she says lightly. “What’s the plan?”Jared stares at the trees.He has led evacuations. Built fortresses underground. Optimized supply chains while cities burned. But right now, all he sees is wood and uneven ground and the fact that night is coming whether he is ready or not.“We build something,” he says.She raises an eyebrow. “Something permanent?”He lets out a short breath. “Somethin
Chapter 62- Emma Forgets
POV: EmmaIt happens in the middle of a sentence.Emma is talking about the river. About how the water sounds different here, like it knows where it is going. She is explaining it badly, she knows she is, using her hands too much, trying to describe something that feels more than it sounds.Then she is sitting down.The ground is cool against her palms. Her breath is wrong, too fast, like she has been running. Her heart stutters once, then starts again, hard and uneven.She blinks.Jared is crouched in front of her.Not rushing. Not shouting her name. Just there, steady, eyes sharp, like he has already measured the situation and decided not to be afraid.That scares her more than panic would have.“How long?” she asks.Jared tilts his head slightly. “A few seconds.”Her mouth feels dry. “I was standing.”“You were,” he says.“And talking.”“You were doing that too.”She presses her fingers into the dirt, grounding herself in the pressure. The world feels intact. Too intact. That makes
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