Novels by Jason Banks

John – POV (Inside the Castle)I stood there in silence.The weight of everything pressing in at once.Government.The League.Edward.The past.The future.All colliding into one unavoidable truth—I was outmatched.How do you win a war…When the people you’re fighting—Control more than you ever could?Power.Money.Influence.Nations.I exhaled slowly, running a hand through my hair.“…Think,” I muttered to myself.“There has to be a way—”Then—Sam’s voice shifted.“Incoming live broadcast—priority override.”My head snapped up.“Put it through.”And then—Her voice filled the room.⸻Bella – Broadcast (Queen’s Declaration)“My first act as Queen of Queensland…”Her voice was steady.Stronger than I had ever heard it before.Not the girl I knew.Not the one who ran.This was someone else.Someone forged by loss.“I hereby declare…”A pause.The entire world listening.“That John Edison…”“…is under my protection.”My breath caught.Every screen in the room lit up simultaneously.L

The Courtyard – Live BroadcastThe cheers hadn’t fully settled when a voice cut clean through the noise.Sharp.Confident.Hungry.“This is Cece TV reporting live—”Cameras shifted instantly.Microphones lifted.The crowd parted just enough for her to step forward.Cece“—from the ascension of Princess Bella to Queen Bella.”Her eyes locked onto me.Not Bella.Me.Of course.“Mr. John,” she continued, her tone shifting—probing now.“Why are you coming out of the shadows now?”A step closer.“Do you have something to prove?”Another.“Something to show the world?”The cameras zoomed tighter.The moment shifted.This wasn’t a coronation anymore.This was exposure.“The reports confirmed your death,” she pressed.“So why are you still alive?”A pause.Deliberate.“Are you hiding something?”“Assets? Funds? Growth?”Her voice sharpened.“What is the real reason you disappeared?”The crowd murmured.Uncertainty spreading like wildfire.“The world wants to know—who are you?”My hand tighten

Bella – POVThe plane ride was silent.Not the kind of silence that felt peaceful—The kind that pressed in on you.Heavy.Final.Every second in the air felt like a countdown we couldn’t stop. No turning back. No rerouting. No more hiding.I sat across from John, my hands folded tightly in my lap, staring at nothing—and everything—at the same time.Because once we landed…Everything would change.Everything had to.A voice crackled softly in John’s ear.Sam“Master John… this decision cannot be reversed.”I didn’t look at him—but I listened.“Allowing the others to know you’re alive will… cost you your life.”A pause.Even the air felt like it stopped moving.“Sam,” John said quietly.Firm.Controlled.“That’s enough.”Silence.Then—“Shut down.”My eyes shifted slightly toward him.My jaw tightened as a I leaned back, closing my eyes for just a moment.“My decisions from here on out must be my own,” he continued.“I can’t allow the League…”A breath.“I can’t allow the people on the

Bella – POV (Mumbai Safehouse)The email came in without a sound.No alert.No warning.Just… there.Sitting at the top of my inbox like it had always belonged.No sender name.No subject line.Just a single attachment.My chest tightened before I even touched it.Because deep down—I already knew.“…No,” I whispered, my finger hovering over the screen.For a second, I almost didn’t open it.Almost.Because as long as it stayed unopened—It wasn’t real.But that’s not how my life works.That’s not how his world works.So I pressed play.The video flickered to life.Static for half a second—Then clarity.My breath stopped.The room disappeared.Everything disappeared.Because there they were.My parents.Lifeless.Still.Wrong.The angle was deliberate. Cruel. Intimate.My father lay motionless, eyes half-open as if he had tried to understand something in his final seconds.My mother—Her hand was stretched toward something off-screen.Toward someone.Toward me.And then—Her scream.

Edward Harper – POV (The Auditor)Princess Bella.How amusing.Not in the way others might laugh—no, not humor.Irony.The kind that coils slowly in your chest and tightens when you realize someone has mistaken defiance for freedom.I leaned back into the leather seat as the jet carved a silent path through the night sky. Below us, continents shifted, oceans stretched endlessly—but up here, none of it mattered. The world was quiet at this altitude.Controlled.Just the way I preferred it.The engine hummed steadily, a low mechanical pulse. Not alive—but close enough to mimic it.A heartbeat without consequence.“She thought she could choose,” I murmured, my voice barely louder than the cabin’s whisper.Smoke curled upward from the cigar between my fingers, twisting into thin, dissolving threads before vanishing into filtered air.“People like her don’t choose…”I tapped ash into a crystal tray with precise, measured movement.“They’re assigned.”My gaze dropped to the tablet resting i

Bella – POVYou think choosing a side is just words.It’s not.It’s loss.Immediate.Permanent.And I felt it the second I said it.“I’m choosing you.”The silence that followed?That wasn’t relief.That was consequence.My phone vibrated again.Once.I didn’t even have to look.I already knew.Slowly… I lifted it.One message.No name.No number.Just a symbol.A circle.Cut in half.My breath caught.“…No…”Mei stepped closer.“What is it?”I couldn’t answer right away.Because that symbol?It only meant one thing.Erased.Not removed.Not disowned.Deleted.From records.From systems.From existence.I forced myself to speak.“They’ve cut me off.”John’s voice came low.“The League?”I nodded slowly.“That’s not all.”My hands tightened around the phone.“They don’t forgive betrayal.”A pause.“They rewrite it.”Flash – Bella’s MemoryA room.Cold.White.A younger version of me sitting in a chair.A man standing in front of me.“You belong to us now,” he said.“No past.”“No futu