LOGINSAOIRSE.“Saoirse…”His voice cut through the roar like a knife.Not the fire devouring the hospital walls. Not the screams echoing from under twisted metal beams. Not my heart slamming against my ribs, begging to break free.Just Zeus.My name on his lips.I stumbled forward. My feet dragged against the harsh uneven ground, each step heavier than the last, like the ground itself didn’t want me to move forward. Smoke curled around me, clinging to me, choking me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. My eyes were locked on him — on the way he stood in the middle of the chaos, unmoving, like everything burning around us meant nothing.Like the chaos didn’t touch him.As if the world had already ended for him.And cradled in his arms—Aofie.Air caught in my throat, sharp as broken glass. No. God, no. He looked so small No, not hurt — something deeper, something worse. As if my chest was splitting open from the inside.He looked too still.Too quiet.“No…” The word slipped out before I could
ZEUS.“I'm giving you a chance to leave. I won't offer it twice.”The words scrape out of my throat, low and rough, while my fingers stay locked around the gun’s grip. I stood up from the bed and lazily walked near the entrance. “And if you wake this kid up, I'll kill every single one of you.”The three new men who entered the room froze, eyes darting to the floor, then back to me — just half a second of doubt.Then the gunshot cracks through the hospital room, the sound bouncing off the walls until they press in closer. His knees buckle first, then his whole body hits the tile with a wet thud, arms splayed out, blood pooling under his head. Just like the others before him.The echo dies down.A sharp gasp cuts the air behind me.I spin around.Aofie’s eyes are open, staring right at the body on the floor. His small chest heaves under the hospital blanket, fingers twisting the sheets. His face twists — eyes too wide, mouth hanging open, body jerking like he’s trying to sit up but can
Blood trickled from the split corner of Zeus's lip. A gash ran deep across his forehead, fresh crimson sliding down his temple, pooling at the edge of his jaw where it crusted over in dark streaks.His boots hit the pavement in a steady rhythm, never breaking stride.Cars zipped by on the crowded road, headlights slicing through the dark like knives. Pedestrians shoved past each other on the sidewalk. The moon glared down in the middle of the night, turning the air thick with exhaust and chatter — horns blaring, tires hissing over asphalt, voices overlapping in a constant roar.Zeus kept his eyes straight ahead, cutting through the press of bodies without a glance.Women in a business suits paused mid-step, their eyes flicking over his bloody face before they hurried on. Two guys in hoodies leaned close, muttering under their breath as he passed, afraid to event meet his gaze.He caught every word. But he was too occupied to even care.One thought looped in his head, sharp and relentl
SAOIRSE."You want the truth, right? Then hear them." Massimo didn't look away. "Zeus Trojan is the one who murdered your parents years ago."The words didn’t just land. They settled like lead in the space between us, heavy and suffocating.The restaurant was quiet in the expensive, suffocating way only the wealthy could afford. Crystal glasses clinked from distant tables, a sound like tiny bones breaking. A violin hummed from the corner, a mournful, slow melody that seemed to vibrate in the marrow of my teeth.But at our table, the air was thick enough to choke on.My fingers dug into the edge of the tablecloth, the fabric bunching under my grip until my knuckles turned the color of old bone. My chest hitched, a sharp, ragged intake of breath that I tried to swallow. I stared across at the man seated in front of me.Massimo looked calm.Too calm.He was the stillness in a hurricane.“You’re talking nonsense…” I said. My voice was low, but it trembled, betraying the steel I tried to p
SAOIRSE.“Then walk out, Saoirse.”Massimo’s voice followed me like a blade sliding across my back.“Walk out and stay blind.”My hand froze on the restaurant door.The glass was cool under my palm. Outside, headlights passed. People walked along the street like nothing in the world was wrong. Like war wasn’t breathing down my neck. Like my life wasn’t being torn open in the middle of a crowded restaurant.Behind me, Massimo didn’t move.He knew I would stop. My fingers tightened against the handle.“You–” I mumbled. "You knew who killed my parents?"I didn't turn around yet. My voice sounded steady, but my chest felt like it was being crushed by a vice.A beat passed. The restaurant noise filled the silence—forks scraping plates, soft jazz, the clink of ice in a glass. It all felt far away, underwater.“Then say it,” I said.Slowly, I turned back around.Massimo was just there, as if he had been waiting his entire life for this moment. Calm. Patient. Watching me with those cold blue
SAOIRSE."No."The word cut through the noise of the restaurant like a knife. It was quiet, but it landed heavy on the table.Massimo didn't blink. He sat across from me, his posture relaxed, one hand resting on the stem of his wine glass. The crystal caught the light from the chandelier above, throwing a prism of color onto the maroon tablecloth. The restaurant was full. People were laughing, clinking glasses, and living their lives. But in our corner, the air was thick enough to choke on."You say no," Massimo said. His voice was low, smooth, like gravel wrapped in velvet. "You say no to the only way out.""I say no to the war," I corrected. My hands were under the table, gripping my thighs. My knuckles were white. I could feel the tremor in my legs, the adrenaline that made my heart hammer against my ribs.Massimo took a slow sip of his wine. He didn't swallow immediately. He let the liquid sit on his tongue, tasting it, judging it. Then he set the glass down. The sound of the cry
SAOIRSE.“You won't kill him.” My voice came out steadier than I expected, cutting through the tension like a knife. “You can't.”I stood there in the dim, flickering light of the building, my heart pounding so hard it felt like it might crack my ribs. Lennox's men that were surrounding Zeus turned
SAOIRSE.“There's only one place Zeus must have gone by now.”We'd been tracking Zeus for hours, piecing together his trail from whispers and bloodstains. He was out there, somewhere, and I couldn't shake the pull that drew me to him. It wasn't just fear or anger anymore. It was something deeper,
SAOIRSE.“He wouldn't notice, right?”My fingers trembled as I stared at myself in the mirror, clutching a red scarf in my hand. The purple bruises on my neck stared back like cruel print against my pale skin, a map of violence I couldn't erase. With a shaky breath, I looped the scarf around my ne
“The rat is out doing some neat tricks. We need to catch him before everything goes into ruin, Zeus.”Zeus leaned against the cold concrete wall of the hidden safehouse, the dim light from a single bulb casting long shadows across the room. The air was thick with the scent of stale smoke and damp e







