2025-05-17 18:54:22
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 42
Jack pushed the door open, cold rain meeting his face like a slap. The others filed out behind him in silence, tension crackling like static between them.Angela’s words haunted him: Don’t let them turn me.He glanced at her as they reached the SUVs waiting in the alley. She hadn’t looked away from the horizon, as if already preparing to become someone else’s memory.Sarah slipped her hand into Jack’s again. No words passed between them. Just the shared weight of what came next.Three days later at Cairo, EgyptThe air was dry, thick with dust and incense. Beneath the golden sun, Jack and Sarah moved through the crumbling alleyways of Old Cairo, their boots crunching against sand-covered stone. Ryan’s contact had led them here, whispering rumors of a descendant hiding within the underground catacombs.Ryan had provided the jet, the credentials, the cash.But it was Emily who stood out the most.Released on probation under Angela’s authority, she was now wearing plain clothes and a dis
Chapter 41
The room’s air had thickened into something dense—unspoken truths pressing against every wall. Jack stared at the coordinates on his phone screen, the pulsing cursor like a heartbeat in the dark.Angela’s voice sliced through the quiet. “They’ve chosen their next move. We don’t have long.”Jack lowered the phone, his eyes still sharp. “You said the third vault… What’s in it?”Angela hesitated. Her hand drifted unconsciously toward the scar under her collarbone. “Not what. Who.”Sarah’s brows pinched together. “What do you mean?”Angela drew in a long breath, as if bracing for something no one in the room was ready for. “The vaults were never just containment facilities. They’re prisons. Seals. For something ancient. Something we were never meant to wake.”William crossed his arms. “Ancient like… how ancient?”Angela looked him dead in the eyes. “Before language. Before nations. Before even the bloodlines were named. The thing locked in the third vault—”She paused.“—is a shard of The
Chapter 40
He stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door Olivia had just walked through. His pulse pounded in his ears, her words echoing like a curse.“You’re not the only heir still breathing.”Behind him, Sarah’s footsteps padded softly across the wooden floor. “Jack,” she said again, more firmly. “Who was that woman?”He turned, face still hard, unreadable. “She called herself Olivia West.”Sarah’s brow furrowed. “The Olivia West? From the embassy fire?”Jack gave a tight nod. “The very same. Except… apparently, she didn’t die. She’s been alive, orchestrating things from behind the scenes. And now she wants us to join her.”Sarah shook her head in disbelief. “This doesn’t make sense. Why now? Why come here?”The front door clicked again.Both turned sharply.Olivia stepped back inside, hands raised in mock surrender. “Relax,” she said smoothly. “If I wanted anyone dead, they’d be gone already.”Jack’s jaw tensed. “You always this dramatic?”Olivia ignored the jab and turned to Sara
Chapter 39
The rooftop wind had died down, but his thoughts swirled like a storm.“We follow the path,” he’d said.Now, that path led him back underground.The prison’s long corridor echoed with his footsteps. His boots struck the concrete like a warning. The guard at the security door gave him a curious glance but said nothing. They all knew who he was now. Word had spread.Emily sat behind the glass again. Her eyes were clearer this time. Focused. And that was what unsettled him most.Jack slid into the chair across from her. No guards. No extra precautions. Just tension.“You came back,” Emily said quietly.“You said something I can’t ignore,” Jack replied. “So talk.”Emily didn’t hesitate. “George wasn’t acting alone. He had a partner. Someone smarter. Crueler. Someone who stayed hidden while he played the fool.”Jack leaned forward. “Name.”“Olivia West.”Jack’s brows pulled together. “She died five years ago in the embassy fire.”Emily shook her head. “That’s what they wanted you to believ
Chapter 38
Jack's fingers trembled as he ran them over the faded map, tracing the curling paths and ancient symbols inked in a language that pulsed with forgotten fire. The scroll's seal—the crest of the Eastern Dragon Clan—had unraveled something inside him. This wasn’t just a piece of parchment. It was a call.“When the true flame awakens, the God of War returns.”Sarah sat across from him in the candlelit vault, her brow furrowed. “Do you think this ‘God of War’ is… real?”Jack exhaled, the weight of legacy pressing deeper into his shoulders. “If it’s tied to the Dragon Clan, then yeah. It’s real. And probably buried beneath this city.”She leaned closer. “That message—it wasn’t just for you. Joe knew something was coming.”Jack nodded. “He always did.”His eyes lingered on the scroll before reaching for a stack of faded letters tucked behind the map. The handwriting was unmistakably Joe’s—rough, deliberate, almost angry with purpose. One envelope had Jack scrawled across it in bold ink.He o
Chapter 37
The light had barely faded when the silence truly settled.Jack knelt there, gripping Old Joe’s limp body, his breathing shallow, his heart thudding like a war drum inside his chest. The Dragon Dagger lay beside him, its runes flickering faintly, the last embers dying out.Sarah’s hand trembled on Jack’s shoulder. “He’s… gone?”Jack didn’t answer. He couldn’t.But then—Joe stirred.Just enough to raise his hand.“Joe?” Sarah gasped, dropping to her knees.His voice was brittle. “Don’t cry for me, Sarah. Not yet.”Jack leaned in close, barely able to keep himself steady. “You fought harder than anyone. Rest now, please.”Joe shook his head slowly, his eyes cloudy but still burning. “Not yet. There’s still something I have to say.”Vincent stood a few feet away, arms folded, eyes red—but not from tears. He said nothing.Joe’s gaze locked on him.“You always thought I favored Jack,” he said. “And maybe… I did. Not because you were weak, Vincent. But because you refused to see what was ri
Chapter 36
George knelt in the broken sanctuary, eyes closed, blood dripping from his lip. The shattered vial at his feet gleamed faintly under the dim lights. Jack stood over him, Vincent by his side, both breathing hard, wounds fresh. Joe leaned against the doorway, his frame trembling, supported by Sarah.“I said live,” Joe growled. “Not rot.”But then George’s lips curled.He looked up—and smiled.“You never understood,” he whispered. “I always planned to.”Joe’s eyes narrowed. “What?”George raised his sleeve. Beneath the torn fabric of his suit, his veins pulsed—black, glowing faintly.“I injected it all,” George said. “Every drop. While you fought your little war up top.”Sarah’s face paled. “All of it?”“You mad bastard…” Jack stepped back.“Thirty-two years of research,” George continued. “Merged. Refined. Perfected. In me.”Then he screamed.His back arched. Bones cracked. Skin tore. His body convulsed as the serum took hold.Jack and Vincent flinched as tendrils of dark energy burst f
Chapter 35
The wind still whispered through the broken skyline of Harmonfield. The dome above shimmered faintly, like a sleeping giant exhaling. Joe leaned on his cane, the weight of the ritual etched into his every bone. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow, staring at the quiet horizon. Vincent stood still, back turned to them, his breath ragged but steady.Then Joe’s head snapped to the left. “He’s on the move.”Vincent turned, brows furrowed. “You feel that too?”“Like a thread snapping,” Joe muttered. “George knows. He’s pulling back.”Sarah stepped forward. “Where would he go?”Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Sanctuary.”Vincent scoffed. “That old myth?”“No,” Joe said firmly. “Not a myth. A bunker hidden beneath the original Harmonfield Foundation, before it was a city. Before any of us were born.”Jack already had the coordinates in his mind. “We move now. Before he regroups.”They moved fast, pushing through the ruined alleys and smoke-choked streets. Down into the subway tunnels. Through the forg
Chapter 34
The firelight cracked low in the silence as Old Joe’s hand lingered on Jack’s shoulder. It wasn’t comfort. It wasn’t approval. It was something heavier—acknowledgment.Jack didn’t say a word. His jaw tightened, eyes fixed on the rising column of smoke spiraling into the sky from the west end of Harmonfield. Somewhere in that direction, George was tightening his noose.“I trained you for this,” Joe said softly, his voice just above a whisper. “But I never told you why.”Sarah shifted beside them. “Why now?”Joe hesitated, then nodded toward the subway wall, its old bricks blackened by soot. He limped over, dragging his cane, then knelt slowly—too slowly for someone once feared in six boroughs.He unfastened the leather pouch from his belt and unfurled a tattered scroll. Faded, ancient, ink etched in symbols not even Sarah recognized.“What is that?” she asked, stepping forward.Joe looked up, eyes distant. “The truth about the Mark. Why only three ever bore it at a time. Why its power
You may also like
Xayne Xavier, The Ironclad Protector
Blanco Burn169.5K viewsThe Secret Billionaire Son-in-law
Perry will77.6K viewsBillionaire in Disguise
Faith120.5K viewsReturn Of The Dragon Lord
Snowwriter 123.9K viewsReborn To Conquer
Wordsmith-H421 viewsThe Formidable Son-In-Law: The Enigmatic Ethan Black
Little Goddess 61.4K viewsReturn of The Lost Heir: Arnold William
Just_For_Fun715 viewsThe Orphan who became the billionaire's boss
Lovstylez35.0K views