LOGINThe rain is just pulverizing the rusted tin roof of this warehouse, sounding like a steady stream of machine-gun fire overhead.I’m standing in front of a wall of flickering monitors, my arms locked across my chest so tight my shoulders ache, my jaw clamped down until my teeth groan. Three days. Three fucking days since Tatiana vanished out of that manicured garden. Three days since Julian’s little playground went totally dark and left me staring at blank screens.Dmitri is hovering by my shoulder, his breathing heavy and sour. “We found the compound. It’s got deep underground levels, heavily fortified. We’re still trying to map the exact layout before we—”“I don’t give a shit about the layout,” I growl, not even looking at him. My eyes are glued to the last grainy frame of her on the screen. She looks tiny under those massive trees, her shoulders hunched, but there’s this raw, dangerous heat in her eyes.She’s alive. I can feel it humming under my skin like electricity.“Any word on
Time just stops mattering in this concrete box.I’m measuring the days by the plates of lukewarm food they shove through the slot and the exact number of times my mother walks through that heavy steel door. She’s come twice more. Every single time, she’s totally calm, totally clinical, just picking at my brain with those cold eyes like she’s trying to figure out if I’m finally broken enough to cooperate.On the fourth visit, she brings a tiny velvet box and drops it on the metal table between us.She clicks it open. Inside is a delicate silver chain with a pendant that looks exactly like the one currently digging into my collarbone. Except this one is hollow. Empty.“A spare,” she says, her voice smooth and completely unbothered by the fact that she shot a kid in front of me four days ago. “In case the original is ever compromised. The ledger chip can be transferred. But only by you.”I don’t even look at it. I keep my hands flat on my knees so she won't see my knuckles turning white.
They left me in the secure wing for what felt like days.No windows. No clock. Just soft lighting that never changed and the faint hum of ventilation. Food appeared through a slot in the door three times a day. I ate mechanically. I slept in fits. Mostly, I sat on the floor with my back against the wall and turned the necklace over and over in my hands.The ledger.The reason my mother had faked her death. The reason Julian had died. The reason Kain had taken me in the first place.I didn’t know how to open it. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to. But it felt heavier now. Like it carried the weight of every lie that had shaped my life.On what I guessed was the third day, the door opened.My mother stepped inside alone. No guards. She was dressed in a crisp white blouse and black trousers, looking every bit the Matriarch—elegant, untouchable, and completely in control.She closed the door behind her and studied me where I sat on the floor.“You’ve always preferred the floor when you’re
The silence after the bang is so loud it makes my ears throb.Julian’s blood is just creeping across the stone, thick and shiny like oil under those buzzing lights. His eyes are wide open, staring at nothing, staring at the ceiling. The boy who used to make me laugh, the boy who promised he’d always keep me safe, the boy who lied to me every single second we were together—he’s just a pile of meat at my mother’s feet.I can’t stop looking at him. I want to look away, but my eyes are glued to his face.My mother shoves the gun back into her jacket with this smooth, practiced twist of her wrist, like she’s just putting away a pen. Then she turns around and looks at me, smoothing her face into this fake, soft, motherly look that makes my stomach turn.“You’ll get used to it,” she says, her voice completely calm. “Power demands sacrifices. Julian became a risk. He let his feelings cloud his judgment. That cannot be tolerated in our world.”Our world.The words make my skin itch, make me wa
My mother doesn’t even try to hug me.She just stands there, drilling her eyes into my face like she’s looking at a piece of furniture she bought at an auction. Just appraising me. Cold. Totally detached, but with this tiny, nauseating speck of satisfaction in the corners of her mouth.“Come inside,” she says. “We have much to discuss.”The two guys with the rifles slot themselves right next to my shoulders, moving me forward like cattle. Julian slinks behind us, three paces back, completely silent. The smug, pretty-boy routine he’s been pulling for years is shattered. He looks like a dog waiting for a kick.They herd us down into that basement room. There’s no fake blood on the floor this time. No theater. Just pristine white marble gleaming under those aggressive, buzzing fluorescent lights.My mother slides into the chair at the head of the massive table. I don't sit. I refuse to sit. Julian just hovers against the far wall, trying to make himself look invisible.“You’ve grown into
Julian’s suspicion is just hanging in the air, thick and greasy like kitchen smoke.The next morning, he’s watching me so hard I can feel it on the side of my neck. He’s still doing the smiles, but they stop at his teeth. His eyes are just dead. Breakfast isn’t breakfast; it’s an interrogation wrapped up in a nice little bow of fake affection.“You didn’t sleep again,” he says. He pours my coffee, getting the milk and sugar exactly right, like he’s trying to remind me how well he knows me. How trapped I am.I just shrug, keeping my eyes on the black liquid. “Nightmares.”“About Kain?”“About everything.”He nods all sweet and sympathetic, but I catch it. His eyes drop down to my throat, just for a fraction of a second, staring right at the necklace. The mask isn’t just cracking anymore; it’s sliding right off his face.I spend the rest of the day overcompensating. I sit in the library with a book I’m not reading. I take short, pointless walks. I ask him these little, brainless questio
— Tatiana —I did not leave his room.The moment the door clicked shut behind him I should have run. Instead I stood there in the middle of Kain’s bedroom, heart hammering, body still buzzing from the almost that had nearly happened on his bed. My legs refused to move toward the exit. Something stub
— Kain —Tatiana continued to hammer her fists against the door like it would make any difference. Her hands were already turning red. Julian’s indignant shouts from the other side only made the corner of my mouth twitch.“No amount of force you could muster would open that door. ”Tatiana pounded h
— Kain —I sat in my office with the security feed open and no intention of watching it.I worked. Reviewed eastern route assessments. Made notes in my usual mechanical pencil. I reviewed Anya’s latest intercepts and the secondary safe house inventory. By any observable measure, I was a man seriousl
— Tatiana —They let me see him on a Tuesday.I knew it was Tuesday because I’d started marking time by the bread Vera baked on Mondays and Thursdays. Yesterday’s loaf had still been warm when it arrived on my tray, crust crackling under my fingers. Today the bread was yesterday’s. Therefore, Tuesda







