Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 111 - Chapitre 120

"Your move, VP," Nikos wheezes from the floor.Drakon stares at him. The knife tip is still pressed against Nikos’s shirt, right over his liver. The threat of the access code hangs in the air—a digital lock on our future.Drakon pulls the knife back.He stands up. He looks around the warehouse floor. He finds a coil of heavy industrial wire near a crate.He grabs it. He kicks Nikos onto his stomach."You want to play games?" Drakon snarls.He wraps the wire around Nikos’s ankles, then his wrists behind his back. He pulls it tight—so tight the insulation bites into the skin. He drags Nikos to the structural pillar and lashes him to it."You sit there," Drakon says. "You sit there and you bleed until I decide what to do with you.""You need me!" Nikos shouts, his voice echoing in the empty space. "You need the code, Drakon! You can't kill me!"Drakon ignores him. He turns to me.His chest is heaving. His hands are covered in his brother’s blood. But his eyes... they aren't looking at th

The gun is heavy.It weighs a thousand pounds in my hand. It drags my arm down, pulling toward the concrete floor, toward the gravity of what I am about to do. The steel grip is warm, heated by Drakon’s hand and the violence it has already dispensed.I aim at his head.Then I lower the barrel.Center mass. Just like Leon taught me. Just like Drakon showed me. The head is a small target. The heart is a promise."Thalia," Nikos whispers.He is on his knees in the dirt. His hands are mangled. His suit is a ruin of mud and blood. He looks up at me with his one good eye—that blue eye that used to make me feel special, used to make me feel seen.Now, I see it for what it is. A mirror. Empty. Reflecting only what he wants me to see."Don't do this," he begs. He tries to smile, but his split lip just trembles. "We can fix this. I have money. We can go to the island. Just you and me and the baby.""The baby is a Wolf," I say."The baby is a ticket!" he snaps, his mask slipping for a second bef

"Drakon?"My whisper is lost in the hiss of the ruptured radiator.Steam fills the overturned van, thick and scalding. It mixes with the copper tang of blood and the heavy, cloying scent of gasoline pooling on the ceiling—which is now the floor.I am suspended. The seatbelt cuts into my hip, holding me against the wall of the van. My left arm is numb, pinned between my body and the metal ribs of the vehicle.Drakon lies below me.He isn't moving.He is sprawled on the roof of the van, amidst a sea of shattered glass and loose tools. Blood pours from a gash on his forehead, masking the left side of his face in a dark, glossy sheen. His eyes are closed."Drakon!" I scream, struggling against the strap. "Wake up!"He doesn't stir.Outside, the boots get closer.Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.Heavy soles on asphalt and glass. They aren't rushing. They are walking with the slow, deliberate pace of executioners."Check the back," a voice growls. "Kyros wants the head."I freeze.They are coming fo

"Let's bring the house down," Drakon said.But he doesn't press the button.He looks at the concrete beams above us. He looks at the ladder bolted to the pillar—a maintenance access leading up to the road deck."We can't blow it from here," Drakon says, his voice tight. "The blast radius is too big. The concrete will crush us before we can make the tree line.""So we climb?" I ask, gripping the rifle."We climb. We face him. And if he doesn't let us walk... then I press it."He checks the safety on the detonator. He tucks it into his belt, right next to his knife."Up," he orders.I sling the rifle over my shoulder. I grab the rusted rungs. I climb.The wind howls as we ascend, carrying the smell of the burning ravine below. My boots slip on the damp iron, but I don't look down. I look up at the grate.Drakon pushes it open.We crawl out onto the shoulder of the highway bridge.The scene is surreal.To our left, the road is gone—destroyed by the RPG crater. To our right, the Reaper co

"Hands in the air!"The amplified voice booms against the glass walls of the watchtower, rattling the few panes that haven't already shattered from the heat of the burning river below.Blue and red lights stroke the room, washing over us in a nauseating rhythm. Strobe effects on a nightmare.I grip Drakon’s hand. "They're going to kill us.""No," Drakon says. He’s scanning the bridge approach, his eyes narrowing as he tracks the tactical teams moving behind the SUVs. "If they wanted us dead, they would have sniped us from the road. Vance is here. That means she needs a show. She needs an arrest to cover the mess Kyros made.""She's on the payroll," I hiss. "She's cleaning up loose ends. That's us.""Exactly. Which is why we can't be found together."He pulls me away from the window. He drags me to the back of the small, rusted room, where a heavy iron maintenance panel is bolted to the floor.He kneels. He doesn't have tools, so he uses his knife. He jams the blade into the gap and pr