LOGINAce's Pov
The video was forty three seconds long and I watched it twice.
My uncle. Sitting in a room with the stuffed rabbit I had lost when I was eight years old and had thought about once in a while since then in the way you thought about small things from a life that felt like it belonged to another person.
He had it and had had it for years probably, watching long enough to know about things I had not told anyone
Ace's PovWe got Dr. Hale out through the building's service exit. Ivan was on one side. I was on the other. The three documents were pressed flat against my chest under my jacket. They were going to stay there until we reached somewhere they could be secured properly.The Aegis vehicles at the north and south access had not anticipated the service exit. That told me they had the standard building layout. They did not have the building manager's version that included the maintenance modifications made eight years ago when the previous tenant ran a different kind of operation.Rem had that information because Rem had that information about every building we used as a meeting location.We reached the extraction vehicle in ninety seconds. Rem had Dr. Hale on the medical line before the door closed."Through the shoulder." Rem's voice was steady. "Not the chest. Conscious and communicating. We need the specific protocol for field stabilization."In the back seat Dr. Hale leaned against Iv
Nikolai's PovWe met Dr Hale at noon in a private consultation room above a legitimate medical office in the west district. The kind of location that was neutral by virtue of being genuinely ordinary rather than deliberately constructed as neutral ground.He was in his fifties with the specific exhaustion of someone who had been carrying something for long enough that it had become part of their posture. He was already inside when we arrived. He was sitting with his hands folded on the table. He looked at all of us with the rapid assessment of someone who had prepared what he was going to say. He was now adjusting it in real time based on what he was seeing.He looked at Luca for slightly longer than the others."You look like the samples.""Both sets or one.""Both. That is actually what I came to explain."He opened the ca
Ivan's PovThe DNA report had arrived through Sophia's formal communication channel at seven in the morning. Attached to a supplementary document she described as relevant context for the cooperation framework negotiation.Rem had printed it and put it on the table. He stepped back and said nothing. That was how Rem handled things he understood were going to require a moment before they became a conversation.I read it first. Nikolai read it next. Ace read it last. He put it down and looked at the wall.The report claimed that Luca's biological connection to Ace and Elena's bloodline was incomplete. That suggested partial fabrication of the genetic markers used to establish the sibling relationship. The report did not conclude the relationship was false. It concluded the evidence base was insufficient for certainty.Luca was in the room. He had read it over Ace's shoulder. He had not moved since."This changes things." Nikolai's voice was flat."It changes the certainty. It does not c
Ace's PovI met Sophia alone in the secondary room."Why are you here?""Because you will not say what you actually want in front of them."She looked at me. The controlled surface was still there. The calculation was still running."What do I actually want.""You want to close the case. You have been building it for twenty years. You want to be the one who finishes it, that is not about justice. That is about completion."She was quiet for a moment. "That is not entirely inaccurate.""Then tell me the rest.""The rest is that I have been watching you for a year. I know what you built. I know what you destroyed. I know what you are capable of. I know what you are willing to sacrifice.""You know the public version.""I know more than th
Nikolai's PovThe temporary safe house was a converted warehouse on the city's eastern edge. Rem had prepared it months ago for exactly this scenario, scene rooms, reinforced doors and multiple exits. Enough supplies for two weeks.We arrived at dawn. Elena was exhausted. Theodore was sleeping. Ghost was carrying both of them. Ace was watching every corner. Ivan was checking the perimeter. I was standing in the center of the main room, processing everything that had happened in the past twelve hours.Sophia Lang was in the secondary room with a wound that needed attention. Rem was with her, the coalition was still out there. The second-in-command was still out there. The case was still open."We need to talk about Sophia," Ivan said. He had finished the perimeter check. He was standing in the doorway."Yes," I said. "We do.""She helped us escape. She also has legal authority over Elena and Theodore.""Legal authority is not the same as moral authority.""Tell that to a court."I look
Ivan's PovA shot was aimed at Sophia Lang.I did not see who fired it. I saw the trajectory. I saw the impact. Sophia went down. The second-in-command was already moving toward Elena's room.I moved. Nikolai moved. Ace moved. The three of us moving together. The same rhythm we had developed across the past year.The coalition was already reacting. Personnel moving. Weapons raised. The engagement was starting. We needed to reach Elena before the second-in-command reached her."Elena!" Ace's voice was sharp. "Lock the door!""Locked!" Her voice came back. "Ghost is armed!""Hold it!"I took the personnel approaching from the left. Nikolai took the personnel approaching from the right. Ace moved through the center, clearing the path toward Elena's room.The second-in-command reached th
Ace's povI was shaking so badly my teeth rattled. In my mad dash to submit my assignment, I had forgotten my phone back at the bar.The assignment…I was still holding it, clutched in my hands so tight my fingers had actually broken through the first page.It didn't matter anymore. Since I was s
Ace’s POVI thought I was just dropping off papers for my professor.One wrong door.One second too long.And suddenly I’m staring at America’s most dangerous Bratva twins — the Volkov brothers — mid-kill.Nikolai, the older one, lets his voice hit my ear like a cold blade:“You’re not going anywher
Ace's pov Darkness pulsed behind my eyelids as a low throb echoed in my skull— slow at first, then pounding; violent and merciless.I sucked in a breath. My body didn’t move. Instead, my wrists screamed when I tried. My ankles too.Panic snapped through me so sharply I nearly choked on it. What th
Sergei's pov I hated loose ends.I hated them more than sloppy employers, more than late payments, more than blood that wouldn't wash out of my clothes.But this loose end? This fucking kid?I wanted to crush his windpipe with my bare hands.He had me chasing him halfway across Vanguard City, thro







