Chapter 100: Love and Redemption.Mia POV.The wind no longer carried blood.For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I could breathe without tasting ash. The courtyard—once a crucible of sweat and screams—now echoed only with the thudding rhythm of new recruits sparring in the yard. Their movements were crisp, deliberate. Not desperate. Not like we once were, when survival had been the only lesson worth teaching.Now we taught more. We taught why we fought. That war was never the destination—only the road toward something gentler. Something worth protecting.My fingers skimmed the edge of the balcony’s wooden railing as I watched them. The sun dipped low, casting watercolor streaks of tangerine, violet, and indigo across the sky. Behind me, the world was quiet. Then I felt him—Dylan stepped up beside me without a word, the way he always did when silence said more than speech ever could.He had scars now, same as me. But his eyes no longer held that frantic guilt—that constant
Chapter 99: The Blood of Kings.Mia’s POVThe room where we kept Forrest Vagaz was colder than it needed to be. I could’ve blamed the stone walls or the busted heating this deep beneath the compound. But the truth? We made it cold on purpose. Cold made people crack. Cold reminded them of death.Forrest didn’t shiver.He sat shackled in a bolted steel chair, wrists bruised from past resistance. The chains were unnecessary now—he wasn’t going anywhere. His once-pristine white shirt was stained and slack at the collar. His jaw wasn’t proud anymore, but his eyes still held that same, chilling composure. Like a viper waiting for the right warmth to strike.When I stepped inside, he smiled.“My little queen returns,” he said, voice soaked in arrogance. “Tell me—does ruling feel as hollow as revenge?”I didn’t answer. Silence could be sharper than sarcasm.His gaze drifted to my hands—unarmed. Deliberate. I didn’t need a weapon in this room.“You’ve been quiet, Forrest,” I said. “Weeks witho
Chapter 98: The Pact Beneath the Flames.Mia POVIstanbul stretched before me like a living mosaic—ancient stones and glass towers intertwined, echoing with stories of conquest and betrayal. The setting sun spilled molten gold through minarets and over mosques. Here, in this city built on crossroads, the fractured fate of the underworld would be decided.I felt the weight of history pressing down.A long mahogany table dominated the ornate chamber, usually reserved for royalty. Today, it hosted the remnants of the Vagaz empire’s broken alliances: hardened warlords, former enemies brought together by necessity.Their faces bore the toll of violence. Eyes narrowed, some cold, others smirking faintly. No one came to make friends. No one came to forgive.They came because we all knew: the Vagaz brothers’ network still pulsed beneath ports, borders, and markets. The war wasn’t over.Not yet.I swallowed and steadied my voice.“Istanbul is where East and West collide,” I said, sweeping my g
Chapter 97: Ashes of the Throne.Linda’s POVThe cell was smaller than I remembered. Not just physically—it felt suffocating in ways I hadn’t expected. The cold metal bars that hemmed me in seemed to shrink the space around me until I could almost feel the weight of every crushed dream, every lost plan pressing down.I traced the rough, chipped concrete floor with my eyes. This place was a tomb for everything I’d been and everything I’d hoped to be.They had taken everything.The Vagaz brothers—my brothers—were locked away like common criminals. The empire we built on fear, on loyalty bought and blood spilled, was shattered. Mia stood victorious, no longer a girl fueled by vengeance but a leader commanding an entire clan with iron resolve.And me? I was a prisoner of the ruins I once ruled.I pressed my hands against the bars and closed my eyes, willing myself not to fall apart. Rage boiled beneath my skin—hot and electric—but it was tangled now with something else. Something I never
Chapter 96: Shatter the Spine.Mia's POVThe night air was like a blade against my skin. Cold. Sharp. Final. As our convoy pulled up near the southern cliffs, I could feel the quiet anticipation in my chest coiling tighter with every second. I stared at the bunker carved into the hillside, invisible to anyone who didn’t know it existed. But I knew. I always knew. The folder I’d carried like a relic hadn’t just contained supply routes or logistics—it held their final secrets. Their final sanctuary. Their end.Reyes was already moving, low and silent, his hand lifting into a signal. Everyone broke formation without a word. We’d done this enough times to read each other in the dark.I stayed close to Dylan, eyes flicking between the terrain and the live drone feed in his hands. He was calm—focused—but I could tell he kept glancing at me. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I was too far gone in the silence before the storm.“Two guards at the northwest loading dock,” he murmured. “Four mo
Chapter 95: Ashes and Blood 2. Dylan’s POV.The roar of the flames echoed through the night, but Mia was unshaken. She sat there, her eyes hard, locked on the road ahead. I could feel her rage, hear it in the way she slammed the car into gear, her grip tight on the folder, as if it were the only thing anchoring her to the present. Every detail in the aftermath seemed to blur into a haze for me, except her. She was the focus.The Vagaz compound had gone up in flames, but it wasn’t enough for her. It would never be enough. She was never done—never going to be done—until every last trace of the people who’d hurt Victor, Mimi, and herself had been eradicated.I could feel the sharp sting of the decision I’d made as we drove away. I had to give it up. I’d spent years hunting her down, seeking revenge hoping to use her as bait for her father murdering mine but tonight—today—something shifted in me. Watching Mia, watching her walk through that compound with that icy calmness, that deadly pr