2026-08-29 10:56:14
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 59: Old Stories, New Tension
"She braided your hair," Marielle repeated later that evening, arms crossed loosely, an edge of amusement threading through the words despite something sharper underneath. "That's sweet. Really.""Marielle.""No, I mean it," Marielle said, though her tone said otherwise. "It's sweet that you had someone looking out for you back then. I'm glad your mother had the kindness to take someone in during a hard time.""But," Silas prompted, reading the tension plainly despite her careful tone."But she held onto your arm a little long for someone catching up with an old childhood friend," Marielle said finally, the words coming out faster than she probably intended. "And she looked at you the way people look at something they've already decided belongs to them."Silas studied her for a moment, something complicated working behind his eyes. "You noticed that from one description.""I noticed it because Reyes mentioned it too, when he told me she'd shown up," Marielle admitted. "He didn't say m
Chapter 58: A Face From Before
"You're not actually leaving tonight," Marielle said, catching Silas's arm as he reached for his jacket, voice firm despite the exhaustion still etched into both their faces. "Not after everything that just happened. Not until you've slept, even for a few hours.""Isabelle isn't going to wait for me to rest," Silas said, though his hand slowed against the fabric, some of the urgency bleeding out of him at the simple warmth of her touch."Isabelle has waited twenty years," Marielle said. "She can wait until morning."Reyes, lingering near the doorway, caught Marco's eye and gave a small, deliberate nod toward the hall. "We'll head out, let you two sort this. Silas. Get some rest. We move at dawn."Marco paused at the threshold, glancing back with his usual half grin, though something gentler lived behind it tonight. "Try not to overthink everything before you sleep. I know that's basically your whole personality, but just, try."The door clicked shut behind them, and for a moment the a
Chapter 57: Two Stories, One Grave
"Prove it," Silas said, voice flat and unwavering despite the storm working behind his eyes. "Everything you've just told me. Prove it, or this conversation ends with you walking out that door and our truce along with it."Augustine studied him for a long moment, something almost approving in the look, as though Silas's refusal to simply accept either version of events confirmed something he'd suspected all along."Your father raised you well, even from a distance," Augustine said quietly. "Suspicion is a survival trait in this world. Very well. Proof."He reached slowly into his jacket, and both Reyes and Marco tensed instinctively, hands moving toward their own weapons, until Augustine withdrew only a folded, yellowed letter, offering it across the small table."This is the last correspondence I ever received from your mother," Augustine said. "Written three days before she died, delivered by a courier she trusted completely. I've kept it twenty years, Silas, the same way Marcus app
Chapter 56: Augustine at Her Door
"Open the door," Silas said into the phone, already moving fast toward the car, Reyes and Marco falling into step behind him without needing to be told. "Marielle, listen to me carefully. Open the door, let him in, stay calm, and keep him talking. I'm fifteen minutes out.""He's not threatening me," Marielle said, voice shaky but steadier than Silas expected given the circumstances. "He's just, he's standing there. Very calm. Says he only wants to talk to you, and that he's willing to wait as long as it takes.""Don't let your guard down because he's calm," Silas said, sliding into the driver's seat, Reyes and Marco piling in after him. "Augustine's pride is the most dangerous thing about him. Calm is how he controls a room.""Okay," Marielle breathed. "Okay, I'm opening it."The line stayed open as Silas drove, faint sounds carrying through, the click of a lock, a door easing open, and then Augustine's voice, smooth and unhurried as always."Thank you for letting me in," Augustine sa
Chapter 55: The Weight of a Name
"Augustine," Reyes repeated slowly, as though testing the shape of the accusation before allowing himself to believe it. "You're telling us the man you struck a truce with, the man you promised a final conversation before ending, might be the one who actually killed your mother.""I'm telling you what Isabelle claimed," Silas said, pacing a tight line beside the overturned crate Marco still sat on, the recorder clutched tight enough in his hand that his knuckles had gone pale. "That my mother reached out to Augustine directly, four days before that recording was made. That she believed his pride made him reasonable, that he'd want history to remember him as the man who finally answered for Jonathan's murder instead of the one who buried it further.""And four days later she was dead," Naomi finished quietly."Four days later she was dead," Silas confirmed, voice flat and hollow in a way that worried Reyes more than any amount of shouting would have.Marco, uncharacteristically subdued
Chapter 54: Marco Comes Running
"Down," Silas snapped, shoving Marcus hard behind a rusted freight container as the first gunshot cracked through the night air, splintering metal somewhere far too close for comfort.Isabelle had already vanished, melting into the shadows between the rail cars with an ease that made Silas's skin crawl even in the middle of a firefight, gone as completely as if she'd never been there at all."Reyes," Silas barked into his earpiece, weapon up, eyes scanning the muzzle flashes lighting up the darkness ahead. "Four hostiles, unknown affiliation, I need eyes on their entry point.""Moving in now," Reyes's voice crackled back, breathless with effort. "Naomi's got the west side covered, hold your position, I'm thirty seconds out."Another round of gunfire tore through the air, closer this time, and Silas returned fire toward the muzzle flash, catching a brief glimpse of a masked figure ducking back behind a shipping container."Who sent you," Silas shouted into the darkness, voice hard and
You may also like
BORN TO BE A MAN,FORCED TO BE A GANGSTER
Rhoda2.4K viewsRevenant Protocol
Eral Annobil1.9K viewsThe King in the Dark.
SA_Starnick_Pen1.7K viewsCold-Blooded Barista
Abu Ulfah4.0K viewsMafia Prosecutor De Luca Blood Oath
Purple Moon667 viewsKidnapping the Assassin: The Mafia Don’s Fatal Mistake
The Mind Surgeon 825 viewsSavage Honor: Blood Oath
Flow1.6K viewsTHE LAST KILL
The Wolff Writer 1.2K views