Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 51 - Chapitre 60

Darian Wolfe I slammed the car door shut, the sound ricocheting off the concrete walls of the underground parking garage. Mark, my lawyer, leaned against his black sedan, his face drawn under the flickering fluorescent lights. For days, we’d been hunting for Viper, my tech expert who vanished after that warehouse mess. Viper was more than muscle—he held the keys to cracking Hector Reyes’s accounts, the final blow to shatter that bastard’s empire. Every lead we chased crumbled to nothing. "Nothing at the docks," Mark said, his voice tight as he tugged at his tie, sweat glistening despite the cold. "No one’s seen him. Streets are silent." My gloved fists clenched, leather creaking against my knuckles. Viper was deep into Project Phoenix, Hector’s cartel-backed money-laundering scheme. If someone snatched him, it was either Hector or a rival moving faster than me. "Up the bribes," I snapped. "Find him." Mark nodded, but his eyes betrayed doubt. We’d torn through bars, warehouse

Maria ReyesI sat on the bed, my hands trembling as I clutched the edge of the thin mattress. The room felt suffocating, the barred windows letting in only faint grey light from the rainy city outside.The Reyes' mansion had always been a cold cage, but now it was a prison. He’d locked me and Naomi here for betraying him. My mind spun with panic and confusion.Naomi sat against the wall, her face pale but steady, sick with a fever earlier. The guards had thrown her in with me, thinking it would keep us compliant. I whispered to her, “We’ll get out,” but doubt gnawed at me.A soft scrape broke the silence. The vent grate shifted, and a man dressed in a dark suit hanging like a bat in the vent. My stomach dropped, and I wanted to scream, but immediately I recognized him. It was Darian dressed to disguise himself. He held his finger on his lips, signaling me to be quiet. His dark shirt hugged his lean muscles, knife in hand, he wore contact lenses to cover his ice-grey eyes. Rage explod

Darian WolfeThe sound of boots echoed closer, too close. I had no time to climb back into the vent without being seen. If I made a move now, I’d be caught. My only choice was the bed. I slid underneath, pressing myself flat against the floor, the frame low enough to scrape my back as I squeezed in. My breathing slowed to almost nothing.The door opened. Two guards stepped inside, their radios hissing faintly at their belts. Their shadows stretched across the floor as they moved toward Maria. She was in bed. Her chin was lifted, her eyes steady, but I could see the tension in her body.One guard pulled a key from his belt and unlocked the cuffs on her ankle. The metal snapped free. The second guard grabbed her by the elbow, forcing her to stand."Move," he said, his voice low and flat.Maria glanced once toward the bed. It was quick, almost invisible, but I caught it. Then she let them lead her out. The door shut behind them, and their boots echoed down the hall until the sound faded.

Darian WolfeIt was two hours and forty-three minutes to midnight. Two hours and forty-three minutes until the ultimatum burned out, and the cartel proved they weren’t bluffing. Viper’s life dangled in the balance—tightrope thin, like a noose swaying over the docks.Mark leaned against the table like he owned the room, glass of whiskey in hand, swirling it slowly. He was patient, too patient—the kind of man who could sit there forever just waiting for someone to crack. He fed off pressure, lived for the moment someone else shouldered the impossible choice. His suit was flawless, cut sharp against the chaos simmering around us, but his eyes gave him away. Cold, watchful, calculating. Always measuring angles.Once, he’d been an ally. Back when we were ghosts moving through shadows on missions no one ever admitted happened. But trust had long since bled out of that bond, replaced by this ugly thing—mutual need."Where are they keeping Viper?" My voice came out calm, though inside it felt

Maria Reyes—no, Maria Wolfe. Her name twisted inside me like a knife. Every time I said it, even silently, it burned. She wasn’t just another piece on the board, not just another player in this endless war. She was mine once and she had turned my weakness. And Hector knew it. That was the problem. Hector didn’t understand love because he had never felt it. People to him weren’t partners, they weren’t family. They were assets—expendable, replaceable, nothing more than tools to sharpen his hunger. I’d done bad things, yes. I wasn’t innocent. But at least I knew where my sins ended. Hector’s? His had no bottom. His brand of evil was pure, methodical, without limits. And for the first time, staring into the shadows he cast, I realized what kind of monster I was truly up against. I have mapped out all my plans. Every path to break Hector’s empire had been calculated, every angle weighed, every weakness targeted. I had built a perfect machine of destruction. But Maria changed everything.