2025-10-18 19:07:08The room was still for a heartbeat. Then the men blinked, stunned, unable to comprehend what had happened.
“What… what the hell just happened?” one finally whispered.
“How… how did he—?” another stammered, pointing at the man sprawled on the floor. He lay unconscious, mouth frozen open.
Zarek had hauled him like he weighed nothing and slammed him down so hard the room rang.
The man hadn’t had a chance to react.
“That… that can’t be real,” one muttered, backing up and gripping his baton.
“Who the hell is this guy? He just—picked him up! Slammed him like he was nothing!” another cursed.
The tallest one glared at Zarek. “This is insane. That guy… he’s supposed to be some kid—how strong is he?”
Zarek didn’t answer. He stood calm, eyes like steel, watching them. The echo of the slam still vibrated on the floorboards. The man on the ground lay still. Their bravado was cracking.
“You think we can take him?” one hissed.
Zarek raised his hand and pointed at the man who’d told the story. “You, come here,” he ordered.
The man froze, then took a step. His eyes widened; his legs shook. Slowly, almost mechanically, he walked toward Zarek.
“Stop!” a deep voice barked.
The tallest man stepped forward, towering over the others. Muscles tensed.
“Don’t you dare,” he growled, yanking the smaller man back. “You think you can just walk up to him?”
Zarek’s gaze swept over him like a blade.
“I’m Korran,” the towering man said. He was the leader of the group, put in charge of watching the house in case the escaped son ever returned. Korran’s eyes narrowed. “You think you can stand there and play hero? I’ll teach you a lesson.”
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small bottle of alcohol.
Without hesitation, he tilted it back and drained it, then slammed the empty bottle to the floor.
It rolled toward Zarek and clattered against the wood.
“I’ll pity you,” Korran said, stepping closer. “I’ll count to ten. If you want to walk out of here alive, kneel. Apologize. To them. All of them.”
He spat on the floor.
Sput!
The others shifted nervously, some chuckling, some glaring, none daring to intervene.
The room went deadly quiet as Korran’s challenge hung in the air.
Zarek picked the picture from the table and slid it into his pocket.
Korran lunged forward, chest heaving. “You ignor—” he barked.
Zarek moved like a coiled spring. A sharp snap of his hip—years of training—and his boot connected with Korran’s belly.
Korran doubled over, dropped to his knees, then hit the floor with a wet sound, gasping.
Huff!
Huff.
Zarek stepped forward and placed his boot on Korran’s head, pressing down lightly.
He dragged his foot across the spit on the floor, wiping it away.
“The house might be dirty,” Zarek said coldly, “but that doesn’t mean you can spit on it.”
He snapped his fingers once. From the street, the front door slammed open and several men in uniforms burst in—fast, precise.
They moved to Zarek and dropped to their knees without a sound.
“Should we start rebuilding, sir?” one asked, eyes fixed on Zarek.
Zarek nodded. “Yes. Rebuild it. Now.”
The uniformed men sprang into action, picking up broken wood and sweeping dust as if the house had always belonged to them.
The group that had been trashing the place whispered among themselves.
“What’s going on?” someone hissed.
“Who are those guys?”
Zarek turned back to the intruders.
He walked toward them. “Who sent you?” he asked.
“Why would we answer that?” one spat.
Zarek lashed out. His boot struck the man’s head.
A sick, sharp crack.
Thud!
The body went limp and slumped to the floor.
The remaining men froze; fear finally broke through. After a tense moment, one stammered,
“W-we… we were sent by Darian Veyron… he works with the Ashborne family. P-please… don’t kill us. We’ll tell you where to find the others. Spare our lives!”
Zarek’s lips curled. “Spare your lives?” he said. “How dare you think you can negotiate with me?e.”
They fell to their knees, hands clasped, begging.
“Please… please… We’ll tell you everything!”
“Don’t hurt us!”
Zarek moved—swift, silent. In an instant, the knife in his hand flashed in the dim light.
SHHICK!
He struck.
Heads rolled with precision.
CRUNCH!
SPLAT!
SNAP!
The sound echoed off the rotting walls as screams were cut short and bodies collapsed in a heap.
‘Ahhhhh!’
Some tried to scramble away, stumbling over debris.
Thump! Thump!
Zarek was faster.
When the last of them fell, Zarek wiped the blood from his hand onto the handkerchief in his hand.
He looked at the uniformed men rebuilding the house, then at the corpses.
“The Ashbourne family, huh?” he murmured, voice low, icy.
His eyes darkened with a storm of hatred that had been building for ten years.
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CHAPTER 203
Shaw leaned his back against the mirrored wall, looking down at Vance with a pitying smirk.He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver tin. Popping a mint into his mouth, the scent of wintergreen filled the small space."You guys in the Chimera are so proud of your labs," Shaw said. "You think you’re the only ones playing with chemistry?""My boss spent five years in a hole in Siberia with nothing to do but study how to make the human body do things it isn't supposed to. You injected me with a 'Sting.' I've had worse reactions to bad shellfish."He stepped over Vance’s mangled legs, the tip of his boot barely an inch from a jagged piece of bone."The thing about you, Director, is that you believe in your tech more than you believe in the people who use it. You saw me collapse because I wanted you to see me collapse.""I needed to know what you’d do with a five-minute head start. And look at you… you didn't even make it to the driveway before the house decided it didn't l
CHAPTER 202
Robert sat paralyzed on the threshold, the line between the golden foyer and the cold stone portico feeling like the edge of a cliff. The screams echoing from the bottom of the stairs were wet and primal, the sound of a man who had finally realized that a ‘Director’ title didn't make his bones any harder than a common street thief's."You didn't shoot," Robert whispered, his eyes fixed on Shaw’s empty hands. "You didn't even move.""Told you," Shaw said, finally looking up from his manicure with a long, bored sigh. "I’m the nice one, Robert. I’m the one who makes bone broth and stitches wounds. My job was to keep you entertained until the automated perimeter woke up."Robert’s head whipped around, scanning the treeline. He saw no guards, no hidden snipers. Then, he looked up at the ornate stone gargoyles perched on the roof of the portico. Their eyes weren't stone; they were darkened glass lenses, tracking his every tremor with a soft, electronic hum."Vance was right about one t
CHAPTER 201
Vance froze, his heart dropping into his shoes. He turned slowly, staring back toward the dark maw of the basement stairs.Shaw was leaning against the foyer’s doorframe, looking remarkably upright for a man who should have been in full respiratory failure. He was casually wiping the tiny bead of blood from his jaw with a thumb, a wide, mocking grin splitting his face."You guys," Shaw chuckled, the sound bubbling up with genuine amusement. "You really are special, aren't you?"Robert’s eyes widened in dawning horror. "The toxin... the Sting... it’s enough to kill a bull elephant...""Yeah, well," Shaw said, pushing off the doorframe and taking a slow, predatory step forward. "A bull elephant doesn't have a Riggs-funded internal filtration system and a metabolic rate that burns through neuro-toxins like they're cheap tequila."Shaw’s laugh grew louder, a sharp, barking mockery that made the hair on Vance's neck stand up."You really thought I’d let you prick me without a reason? I n
CHAPTER 200
As he reached the bottom of the stairwell, the heavy basement air thick with iron, sweat, and stagnation hit him like a physical weight. Shaw stayed in the shadows for a heartbeat, watching Vance through the gap in the heavy steel door. The Director was back in his trousers, but he was huddled near the bars of Robert’s cage, his hand closed tightly around his prize.Shaw stepped into the light, his shadow stretching long and jagged across the floor."You guys are awfully chatty for two men who haven't had a cracker in twenty-four hours," Shaw said, his voice a low, dangerous drawl.Vance jumped, nearly dropping the micro-syringe. He shoved his hand into his pocket with a violent jerk, his face turning a shade of grey."Shaw," Vance wheezed, struggling to steady his breath. "We... we were just discussing the Board. Robert thinks they've forgotten us. I was telling him he's wrong."Shaw walked right up to the bars, stopping just out of arm’s reach. He tilted his head, his blue eyes
CHAPTER 199
Vance wiped his nose with his sleeve, his eyes glassy and unfocused."A way out? Look at me, Robert! I’m in a cage! He took my phone, my credentials, my dignity...""The syringe, you idiot," Robert interrupted, his voice a sharp hiss. "The emergency neuro-paralytic you used to carry. Did they search you? Did that mercenary strip you down?"Vance blinked, a spark of memory flickering behind the terror. "I... I was wearing the lab coat when they grabbed me. They checked the coat. They checked my trousers." He paused, his face contorting into a mask of sudden, frantic realization. "Wait. They didn't check everything."Vance scrambled to his feet, hands shaking as he fumbled with his belt. He ignored the last of his dignity, peeling back the layers of his expensive clothing with desperate fingers."What are you doing?" Robert whispered, leaning closer to the gap between their cages.Vance didn’t answer. He dropped his trousers to his ankles and reached deep into his boxers, groping wit
CHAPTER 198
CHAPTER 198In the darkness of the second cage, Director Vance was a ruin of a man. His white lab coat was a map of sweat and floor dust. He sat huddled in the corner, his stomach letting out a roar so visceral it seemed to rattle the bars."I had it in my hand," Vance wheezed, his voice cracking with a hysterical edge. "The Thai takeout. It was right there on my desk. Spicy basil beef.”“I didn't eat it because I wanted to finish the quarterly projections first. Now, I’d kill... I’d kill everyone in this room for a single grain of rice."From the adjacent cage, a low, wet laugh bubbled out of the shadows. Robert didn't move; he was nothing more than a pair of sunken, glinting eyes in the dark."Projections?" Robert croaked. "You were projecting the future while the past was coming to slit your throat, Vance. You pathetic pencil-pusher.""Shut up!" Vance screamed, lunging at the bars. "How was I supposed to know? How was anyone supposed to know there was a Riggs left alive? We were
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