THE EXILED WARLORD

Chapter Three: “You’ve Been Chosen… for Betrayal”

“Anywhere they can’t find us,” Adrian whispered.

Evelyn looked around nervously. “We don’t have time, Adrian. I don’t even know where my passport is. They’ve locked everything.”

“I can get us out,” he said. “Trust me, just come ”

Suddenly, a sharp voice cut through the shadows.

“Not another step.”

They both turned. Senator Marcus stood by the back gate. Behind him, guards appeared from the trees ten, maybe more.

Adrian moved in front of Evelyn instinctively. “Don’t do this.”

“Oh, I’m not doing anything,” Marcus said with a mocking smile. “You already did enough.”

The guards rushed in. Evelyn screamed as Adrian was grabbed, kicked to his knees.

“What are you talking about?” Adrian shouted.

Marcus stepped forward, voice colder than ice. “You thought you could fool me? I know what you’ve done. You sold confidential data. To my enemies.”

“What?! That’s a lie!” Adrian barked. “I served you I served your family!”

“Funny,” Marcus replied, holding up a tablet. “Because we have all the proof we need.”

The next morning, Adrian was dragged into an underground room.

Evelyn wasn’t there. His hands were tied behind him. Blood trickled from his mouth. His knees ached from the kicks.

A man in uniform entered. “Name?”

“You already know it.”

The man slammed a folder on the table. 

“You’re being charged with high treason selling classified missions, leaking names, endangering national security.”

“That’s insane,” Adrian shouted. “I didn’t leak anything!”

“We found your fingerprints on the drive. And the payments ten different accounts. All connected to your name.”

“I don’t even have ten accounts!”

“You do now,” the officer said coldly. “You were sloppy, soldier.”

Adrian’s heart raced. “You’re framing me. This is all fake.”

“Tell that to the judge.”

They didn’t let him see Evelyn.

For three days, he was locked in a dark cell. No windows. Just the echo of dripping water and rats scratching nearby.

He begged to speak with her. No one listened.

On the fourth day, they dragged him to court.

It wasn’t a trial. It was a show.

Cameras. Press. People whispering.

He stood in chains.

The judge entered, stone-faced. 

“Case Number 842 – Adrian Kane. Accused of treason, conspiracy, and aiding enemies of the state.”

Adrian looked around.

And then he saw her.

Evelyn.

She sat in the last row, wrapped in black. Her eyes swollen. She didn’t look up.

His heart shattered.

“Evelyn!” he called out. “Tell them! Tell them I didn’t do this!”

The guards shoved him down.

Marcus took the stand.

“My family trusted him,” Marcus began. “We gave him shelter. A future. And he used that to harm us.”

“You liar!” Adrian shouted.

The crowd murmured. The judge slammed the gavel.

“Control your prisoner!”

Marcus continued, placing documents on the desk. 

“These transfers prove he accepted payment from our political rivals.

 These drives match his mission logs. He betrayed every order we gave him.”

Another man walked in a banker.

“Yes,” he confirmed. 

“All ten accounts were traced back to Adrian Kane. Fingerprint secured. Voice print confirmed.”

Adrian shook his head. “I never opened those accounts! This is all fake!”

The judge turned to him. “Do you deny receiving money?”

“I swear, I never touched any of it! I don’t even know where it came from!”

The judge flipped through the documents. “And yet your prints are everywhere.”

Adrian looked at Evelyn again. She was crying now, silently.

“Please” he whispered. “Say something.”

She slowly raised her eyes and met his.

And then... she looked away.

Adrian’s knees buckled. It felt worse than a bullet.

“I’m innocent,” he said quietly. “I’m innocent.”

But no one heard him.

The courtroom was already turning away.

They didn’t sentence him to prison.

That would be too easy.

Instead, they sent him to a place that didn’t officially exist.

The soldiers called it "Blackstone."

No cameras. No outside letters. No light.

A torture camp disguised as a punishment unit.

Only criminals with no future ended up there.

People said you went there to disappear.

The truck was cold and smelled like death.

Adrian sat between two guards, both silent. The road stretched endlessly.

“How long is the ride?” he asked.

No answer.

“Where are we going?”

Still nothing.

He looked out the window. The sky was gray again.

Was that how the world would always feel now?

Gray and cold?

The gates of Blackstone were iron. Rusted. Tall.

The guard at the post looked at the file and smirked. “So this is the traitor.”

Adrian clenched his jaw. “I’m not a traitor.”

“That’s what they all say,” the man said, slamming the gate shut behind him.

Inside, it was worse than Adrian imagined.

Men screamed behind steel doors.

Some were tied to posts, beaten until they passed out.

A loudspeaker echoed through the yard:

“Pain is the price of betrayal. Scream if you must. No one is listening.”

They shoved Adrian into a stone cell.

His hands were still in cuffs.

The smell of blood and mildew filled the air.

There was no bed. Just a wet floor and a metal bowl.

The guard dropped a bag. “Your food.”

Adrian opened it. Rotten bread. A half-eaten apple.

“This is it?”

The guard laughed. “You’re lucky to get that.”

As the door slammed shut, Adrian collapsed in the corner.

He touched his bruised cheek. His ribs ached.

He had no idea how they framed him.

How they got his prints. How they moved money.

None of it made sense.

And Evelyn…

She saw him. She heard everything.

Yet she said nothing.

He closed his eyes and whispered to himself,

 “I’m innocent… but no one will believe me.”