The Return Of The War god

2

Chapter 2:

 ---

 The Blackwood mansion sat on twelve acres of manicured land, thirty minutes outside the city. Adrian had been here once before — ten years ago, when Richard's father was still alive and the two families pretended to be friends.

 He remembered the study. The oak desk. The hidden safe behind the painting of a hunting dog.

 He remembered because he'd bugged it during a dinner party, back when he was still a soldier playing businessman. Old habits.

 Now he sat in a black SUV across the street, watching the lights flicker on in the upper windows. Richard had left the funeral reception two hours ago. Victoria had followed. They were inside. Panicking.

 "Talk to me," Adrian said.

 A voice crackled through the earpiece. Female. Sharp. Impatient.

 "Richard made three calls in the last hour. First to his lawyer. Second to a private security firm. Third..." She paused. "Third was to a number we've been tracking for six years."

 Adrian's grip tightened on the steering wheel.

 "Say it."

 "Senator Marcus Kane."

 The name hit him like a bullet.

 Marcus Kane. The man who had authorized the black ops mission that nearly killed Adrian. The man who had stood at Adrian's "funeral" and given a speech about sacrifice and honor. The man who was now the leading candidate for president.

 He was supposed to be an ally.

 "He's been funneling money through Blackwood Corporation for years," the voice continued. "Campaign financing. Offshore accounts. Shell companies. Richard isn't just his business partner. He's his banker."

 Adrian stared at the mansion. The lights. The shadows moving behind the curtains.

 "Does Kane know I'm alive?"

 "He knows. Richard called him the moment you left the reception. Kane's people are already moving. They're trying to freeze your Geneva accounts."

 Adrian smiled. "Let them try."

 "You're not worried?"

 "Kane thinks he's dealing with the man I was six years ago. A soldier. A patriot. Someone who followed orders." He started the engine. "He's about to learn how wrong he is."

 ---

 The Blackwood study smelled of cigar smoke and fear.

 Richard paced behind his desk, phone pressed to his ear, sweat staining his collar. Victoria sat in the corner, knees drawn to her chest, mascara streaking down her cheeks.

 "I don't care what it costs," Richard snapped into the phone. "I want everything frozen. Every account. Every asset. He can't just walk in and—"

 The line went dead.

 Richard stared at the phone. Dialed again. Nothing.

 "What's happening?" Victoria whispered.

 "I don't know."

 The lights flickered.

 Then went out.

 Victoria screamed. Richard fumbled for his desk lamp. Nothing.

 The study door opened.

 Adrian walked in, silhouetted by the hallway light behind him. He moved like a ghost — no sound, no hesitation.

 "How did you get past security?" Richard demanded, his voice cracking.

 "Your security is currently unconscious in the garden," Adrian said. "They'll wake up with headaches. Nothing permanent. I'm not a monster."

 He closed the door behind him. The room went dark again.

 "Wh-what do you want?" Victoria stammered.

 Adrian didn't answer. He walked to the painting of the hunting dog. Lifted it off the wall. Revealed the safe behind it.

 Richard's breath caught. "How do you know about that?"

 "I know everything about you, Richard." Adrian pressed his palm against the safe. It clicked open. "I've known for years. I just never had a reason to use it."

 He reached inside and pulled out a leather-bound ledger.

 "No—" Richard lunged forward.

 Adrian's elbow caught him in the chest. Richard crumpled to the floor, gasping.

 "Stay down," Adrian said calmly. "I'm not here for you."

 He opened the ledger. Flipped through the pages. Names. Dates. Amounts. Every transaction between Blackwood Corporation and Senator Marcus Kane.

 "You've been keeping records," Adrian said. "Smart. Insurance, in case Kane ever turned on you."

 Richard coughed, clutching his ribs. "You can't use that. You'll start a war you can't win."

 "I've already won wars you don't know exist."

 Adrian tucked the ledger into his coat.

 "I'm not going to destroy you, Richard. You're not worth the effort. But you're going to help me."

 "I'll never help you."

 Adrian knelt beside him. Close. Quiet.

 "You embezzled forty million dollars from Cole Industries. You laundered money for a sitting senator. You conspired to have me declared dead so you could marry my wife and steal my family's legacy." He paused. "I have evidence of all of it. Every transaction. Every email. Every phone call. One word from me, and you'll spend the rest of your life in a federal prison."

 Richard's face went pale.

 "But I'm willing to make a deal."

 "What kind of deal?"

 "You're going to call Marcus Kane. You're going to tell him you have the ledger. You're going to tell him you'll give it to him—for a price. And when he comes to collect it..."

 Adrian smiled.

 "I'll be waiting."

 ---

 Victoria grabbed Adrian's arm as he turned to leave.

 "Please," she whispered. "Please don't do this. I loved you. I still love you—"

 Adrian looked at her hand on his sleeve. Then at her face. The face he had once dreamed about in a prison cell, clinging to the memory of her smile to survive.

 "You visited me once," he said quietly. "In the hospital. After they pulled the bullet out of my spine. Do you remember?"

 Victoria's eyes widened.

 "I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. But I could hear. You stood at the foot of my bed and told the doctor I was a vegetable. That I would never recover. That it would be 'kinder' to let me die."

 Tears streamed down her face. "I was scared. I didn't know what to do—"

 "You told them to pull the plug."

 She sobbed. "I'm sorry—"

 "You told them to pull the plug on your husband so you could marry his business partner and steal his father's company."

 Adrian pulled his arm free.

 "You didn't love me, Victoria. You loved what I could give you. And when I couldn't give you anything anymore, you threw me away like garbage."

 He walked to the door.

 "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to kill you. I'm not even going to have you arrested. I'm going to do something worse."

 He looked back one last time.

 "I'm going to let you live with what you did. Every day. For the rest of your life. And I hope it eats you alive."

 He closed the door behind him.

 Victoria's screams followed him down the hallway.

 ---

 The SUV was waiting where he'd left it.

 Adrian climbed into the driver's seat. Sat there for a moment. His hands were shaking.

 He looked at them. The scars. The calluses. The hands that had killed more men than he could count. Hands that had been steady in firefights, torture chambers, and the darkest corners of the world.

 Now they trembled.

 Because the hardest battle wasn't the war.

 It was coming home to a family that had already buried him.

 His phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.

 "You're making a mistake. Walk away. Last warning."

 Adrian stared at the screen. Then typed a reply.

 "I've survived worse than you. Come find me."

 He hit send. Dropped the phone in the cup holder.

 And drove into the night.