All Chapters of Ghost on the highway : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – THE MARKED AND THE DAMNEDThe flames lit Luca’s face in flickering strokes of orange and red, like he’d stepped out of hell instead of a wrecked scrapyard. Smoke curled around him, catching the edges of his torn shirt, the deep cuts along his arms, and the dried blood on his jaw. But none of that compared to what was burnt into his skin.The sigil.The serpent devouring itself.The mark of betrayal.A blood oath.Wolf staggered backward, disbelief stretching his features tight.“Luca… what the fuck did they do to you? ”Luca didn’t look at him. He only looked at me.And that was worse.Because in his eyes, I didn’t see fear.I didn’t see confusion.I didn’t see anger at being dragged or branded.I saw resignation.As if he had accepted something long before the explosion ever happened.My throat felt scraped raw. “Luca… they marked you.”He didn’t move. Didn’t blink.“Riven. I told you—we need to talk.”The dull hum of the SUV behind him felt ominous, like its eng

CHAPTER 24 – THE HOUSE OF SHADOWSThe air was thick with rain, fog curling in lazy streams around the dim lights of the street outside. Inside Tessa’s apartment, it felt heavier. Charged. Every breath felt like it was drawn from a well full of shadows. Vex stood there, leaning casually against the wall, leather jacket unbuttoned, eyes scanning each of us like he owned the world.“I see you found out,” he said, voice soft but cutting through the tension like a blade.“You don’t get to smile after what you did,” I said, keeping my voice low, steady, but deadly.Vex tilted his head. “What I did?” He gestured vaguely toward the key in my pocket. “I’m the one telling you the truth, Riven. Maybe if you had listened sooner, Luca wouldn’t be…” He paused, letting the word hang, unspoken.Wolf’s hand drifted toward his gun, but I held up a finger. This was my fight. My control. My plan.“Cut the games, Vex,” I said. “Where’s Luca?”Vex laughed softly. Not the cruel laughter of a villain, but th

CHAPTER 27 – SHATTERED LOYALTIESThe rain pelted down like jagged needles, drenching everything in sight, but I barely felt it. All I could focus on were the looming silhouettes of Bishop, Vex, and the new masked figure—towering and silent, their presence radiating control and death.Luca groaned weakly in my arms, the blood seeping through my jacket. I cursed under my breath. Every second we hesitated, every heartbeat, could be his last.“Riven,” Wolf yelled, his voice cutting through the storm. “We can’t hold them off forever!”I looked at him and nodded sharply. “I know. Cover me. I’m going in.”The words were a vow, not a plan.Bishop’s grin was all predator, no humanity. “Going in? You think this is your choice?”Vex stepped forward, dagger in hand, eyes locked on mine. “You’ve made yourself predictable again, Riven. Always rushing. Always impulsive.”I tightened my jaw, forcing every ounce of patience into my veins. “Then I guess you’ll die predictably too.”---The first move w

CHAPTER 29 – FRACTURED BONDSThe rain hadn’t stopped. It hammered the streets, blurring neon lights into jagged streaks, soaking everything in relentless cold. I held Luca tightly, but it wasn’t the same boy I remembered. Something inside him had shifted. His eyes were sharper, harder, and darker. The warmth I had known—the soft teasing, the shy smiles—was gone. Replaced with a calculated, terrifying calm.I staggered back a step. “Luca… it’s me. Riven. Don’t—”He cut me off, voice steady, chilling. “You’re too late, Riven. Everything you’ve done… led me here. And now, you’re going to watch me finish what they started.”I froze. That statement—both familiar and alien—ripped my chest open. I could feel Wolf behind me, tense, ready to strike. Tessa’s eyes narrowed, analysing, calculating, her finger twitching near her firearm.Bishop and Vex smiled like predators circling wounded prey. Bishop’s voice cut through the rain. “See? I told you he wouldn’t survive your love games. You were to

CHAPTER 31 – HIGHWAY OF GHOSTSThe rain had stopped, but the air was thick, heavy with smoke and the metallic tang of blood. Luca lay at my feet, chest rising and falling in shallow, fragile breaths. My hands were slick with rain, mud, and his blood, and yet I couldn’t move, couldn’t think beyond the burning, impossible choice before me.The ledger pages fluttered around the floor, soaked, torn, and almost mocking in their irrelevance. Bishop and Vex stood across from me, grinning, predator and accomplice in one unholy pair. And then there was the masked figure—silent, unmoving, watching everything.Time slowed. Every heartbeat screamed. Every second stretched like an eternity.“Riven,” Bishop said, voice smooth, poisonous. “The ledger or the boy. Choose.”My mind raced. Every scenario, every outcome, every memory of Luca flashed like broken film reels: his laugh, his touch, the nights we’d sworn never to let the world hurt us again. I couldn’t lose him—not like this.I clenched my fi