They Crossed Me, I Became the God of war

Chapter 7

Inside the dark command room near the edge of the city, glowing computer screens lit up the concrete walls. Cold rain tapped steadily against the steel roof as military officers in black uniforms worked quickly at their desks.

Gideon Knox stood before the center monitor, his dark coat still damp from the graveyard. Commander Alistair Kane leaned over a glass table, typing rapidly with both hands as green lines of data scrolled across the glass.

"Commander, we broke through their radar shield," Kane reported, pointing to a flashing red marker on the sea map. "The Caldwell family hid their offshore base behind an old storm zone forty miles out. It is called the Blackwater Citadel. We believe your sisters are being kept in the territory."

Serena Ashford stood half a step behind Gideon, her clean face pale under the white ceiling lights. She stared at the satellite image of the heavy concrete fortress, her fists clenching tightly at her sides.

"That island is completely surrounded by deep water and many guards," Serena said softly, her voice shaking with quiet anger. "Dominic's family used that place for years to smuggle illegal cargo and silence anyone who stood in their way."

Before Gideon could speak, Kane slammed his hand onto the enter key as a sharp chime rang out across the main console. He had finally broken through the fortress security firewall, tapping directly into the hidden microphone inside the underground cell.

The speaker hissed with static, followed by the faint clinking of iron chains against cold concrete. A weak, trembling voice came through the small black speaker, so thin and fragile that it broke the heart.

"Maya... hold my hand," Lily whimpered in the dark, her voice shaking from the freezing cold. "My fingers are so cold, Maya... I cannot feel them anymore."

Maya's voice answered through quiet, painful sobs, accompanied by the rustle of dirty straw on the floor. "Do not sleep, Lily. Please do not close your eyes. Big brother promised on the porch he would come back for us. Big brother never lies."

"My chest hurts so much, Maya," Lily cried softly, gasping for breath between her tears. "I want to go home. I want Father and Mother. Why are the bad men keeping us locked in this dark room? Why does everyone hate us so much? I do not want to die like this..."

"Big brother will come for us," Maya whispered, crying as she held her twin sister tightly in the dark. "Remember what he told us in the rain? He said he would survive anything to bring us home. We just have to hold on and stay awake."

Lily let out a ragged, shaking breath, her small voice fading to a desperate, broken whisper. "I am trying, Maya... but I am so tired. I just want to see big brother Gideon's face one last time before they kill us."

Gideon stood completely frozen before the screen, his chest feeling as if it were being torn apart by dull iron hooks. The voices of his little sisters, trapped in a dark hole and waiting for death, ripped away the last bit of peace in his soul.

His large hands curled into tight fists at his sides, squeezing with such terrifying power that the skin over his knuckles split open. Thick drops of dark red blood dripped from his palms, falling one by one onto the steel floor.

Serena stepped up beside him, tears spilling freely down her cheeks as she heard the children weeping. She gently placed her warm hand over his bleeding knuckles, her voice breaking with deep sorrow.

"Gideon... they are monsters," Serena wept, looking up into his dark, frozen eyes. "They drove my father to jump from the bridge, and now they are torturing innocent children for their blood. You have to save them."

Gideon did not look down at the blood on his hands. His voice was flat, low, and cold enough to freeze water. "Alistair. How long until the exact door to their cell is locked on our map?"

Kane’s fingers flew across the keyboard, his face pale with intense focus. "Ten minutes, Supreme Commander. In ten minutes, our satellite will give us the exact layout of the bunker."

***

Across the city, high above the wet streets, Cassandra Reed stepped out of the private elevator into Dominic Caldwell’s luxury penthouse. She carried a small leather handbag, her expensive red dress wet at the hem from the rain.

Her heart was pounding violently against her ribs. Ever since Commissioner Drake had slapped Dominic and handed the ten-billion-dollar harbor contract to Serena, Cassandra’s phone had not stopped ringing with bad news.

Every private bank in Port Valenford had frozen Reed Logistics’ accounts within the hour. If she did not get fifty million dollars in emergency cash from Dominic tonight, her family company would collapse by sunrise.

Cassandra hurried down the carpeted hallway toward Dominic’s private office, intending to demand the money he had promised her. But as she neared the double wooden doors, she noticed they were standing slightly open.

A loud smash echoed from inside the room as a glass bottle shattered violently against the fireplace. Dominic’s furious roar carried clearly through the gap, filled with raw, ugly hatred.

"That dirty beggar Gideon Knox ruined everything tonight!" Dominic screamed at the top of his lungs. "He brought Walter Ashford’s little tramp and made a fool of me in front of every businessman in the province!"

Cassandra stopped dead in her tracks, holding her breath as she pressed her back against the wallpaper. A foreign voice answered from a speakerphone sitting on the large mahogany desk inside.

"Calm yourself, Dominic, you know I don’t care about that," the caller spoke in a cold, heavy accent. "The thirty million dollars you lost at our overseas casino tables is due by midnight. If that money is not wired, our cartel will take your skin."

Dominic scoffed loudly, pacing across the hardwood floor with heavy, angry steps. "Stop threatening me! The bone marrow harvest on the island takes place tonight as planned. The doctors are already setting up the machines."

"Once my grandfather takes the twin girls' marrow and recovers his health," Dominic snarled, "our family will control every bank in this city. Your thirty million dollars will be paid with interest."

The man on the phone paused before speaking again in a low tone. "And what about the Reed woman? The girl who tricked Gideon Knox into your trap at her house?"

Dominic let out a harsh, mocking laugh that made Cassandra’s blood run completely cold in her veins. "Cassandra Reed? That vain, stupid idiot actually thought I was going to marry her and make her a high-society lady."

"She was nothing but a tool to break Gideon's spirit and make him sign over his father's harbor deeds," Dominic sneered with pure disgust. "Once Gideon is dead, that woman is completely useless to me."

Dominic poured another drink, his voice dripping with cruel malice. "The second the harvest finishes tonight, you can drag Cassandra onto the offshore casino barge. Let your men pass her around to pay off my debt. Throw her away like the trash she is."

Outside in the dark hallway, Cassandra’s leather handbag slipped from her numb fingers, hitting the floor with a soft thud. Her breath caught in her throat, her face draining of every speck of color.

Her knees gave out beneath her weight, and she dropped hard onto the carpet, trembling from head to toe in pure, sickening terror. The room seemed to spin around her as the brutal truth crushed her chest.

The luxury cars, the expensive jewelry, the promises of high status—it had all been a dark lie. Dominic Caldwell did not love her; he was a monster who was going to sell her to human traffickers like an animal.

She clutched her throat, tears of wild panic spilling over her cheeks as she struggled to breathe. But she did not weep out of love for Gideon, nor did she feel any shame for the pain she had caused his mother and sisters.

Her selfish mind scrambled through the terror, searching desperately for a way to save her own skin. She had spent years stepping on others to climb high, and she refused to die on a dirty barge in the sea.

“Gideon still loves me,” Cassandra thought wildly, her eyes darting across the dark floor. “He ran across the world the very second I called him and cried for help. He took a poisoned knife in the chest for me and still let me walk away.”

A cold, venomous idea sparked inside her panic, twisting her mouth into a desperate sneer. “If I tell Gideon where his sisters are hidden, he will go crazy. He will take his weapons and storm the Blackwater Citadel to butcher Dominic for me!”

She realized that if Gideon and Dominic tore each other to pieces on that island, she could survive. If both men died in the bloodbath, she could use legal papers to claim the Knox harbor rights and Dominic's stolen wealth for herself.

Cassandra wiped the tears from her pale cheeks, her trembling fear instantly hardening into ugly, wicked calculation. She had not learned a single lesson from her betrayal; she only wanted to use both men as pawns in her game.

She reached into her coat pocket with shaking fingers, pulling out her private phone. She tapped the screen, dialing the secure northern line that connected directly to Gideon.

Before the line began to ring, Cassandra pressed her hands against her throat, forcing her breath into ragged, desperate gasps. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing to put on the most convincing, tearful performance of her life.