Semua Bab Contracted to the man who broke me : Bab 131 - Bab 140

Adrian's POVWe came through the service road's exit and rejoined the main route at exactly 6:14 in the morning.Seven minutes inside Castellano's delivery window.It wasn't perfect, but it was close enough. In my world, close enough only mattered when the result spoke louder than the delay.The airstrip lay beneath a gray, colorless dawn, wrapped in the kind of silence that only arrived after a violent night. Not because nothing had happened, but because everything had already happened somewhere else. The aftermath lingered in the air while the world quietly moved on.Castellano's private cargo plane waited on the tarmac, its engines still silent beneath the glow of floodlights that had yet to be switched off. Four of his men stood near the perimeter fence, dressed in dark suits, their expressions unreadable. None of them shifted impatiently. None glanced at their watches. They simply waited.Professional men knew waiting was part of the job.Beyond them, another cargo aircraft taxied

Ghost Rider's POVFailure was an unpleasant thing to acknowledge, but refusing to acknowledge it was what got people killed.The operation had been planned for months. Every possible route Adrian could take had been studied, every contingency weighed against another until the odds leaned in my favor. It had never been about predicting the exact road he would choose. Adrian wasn't foolish enough to make himself that easy to read.No, the real game had always been understanding the man behind the decisions.Most people believed Adrian's greatest strength was that he was unpredictable. They looked at the empire he had built and assumed every victory came from instinct alone. They admired his ability to improvise under pressure, convinced that no one could ever stay one step ahead of him.They were wrong.No one, no matter how intelligent, escaped their own nature.Adrian always had priorities. Protect the consignment. Keep casualties within his own ranks to a minimum. Preserve an escape

Ethan's POVFor a few seconds after Leon's words settled over the conference room, I simply stared at him, convinced I'd heard him wrong."I'd like you to come along as well."The sentence itself wasn't unusual. As the coordinator handling our side of the project, I was expected to be present whenever major site decisions were made. It was part of my responsibility. Normally, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.Today was different.My fingers tightened unconsciously around my laptop until the edges dug into my palm.A site visit meant spending the next few hours with Leon.Not across a conference table where everyone else filled the silence. Not hidden behind presentation slides or progress reports.Just... there.Close enough that avoiding him would become impossible.I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and forced myself to nod."Of course, sir."Leon simply acknowledged my response before turning his attention back to the rest of the team."Good. Let's leave in ten minutes

Adrian's POVAfter Noah left to oversee the interrogation, the study fell into an unusual silence. Damian remained standing near the window while I walked over to the digital map covering the far wall. The city stretched across the screen in a web of roads, ports, warehouses and shipping routes, each marked with different coloured lines representing our operations over the last six months.I stared at it for several long moments without saying anything.The fresh bandage beneath my shirt pulled slightly whenever I moved, a dull reminder that my body still hadn't forgiven me for the night's mistakes. It was an inconvenience, nothing more. The real wound wasn't the one stitched together a few minutes ago.It was the question that refused to leave my mind.How had Ghost Rider known where to strike?"They're not talking," Damian said quietly, breaking the silence."They don't know enough to."He frowned. "You really believe that?"I nodded."If they knew who they worked for, we'd have see

Adrian's POVThe world didn't end.It should have.Instead, Leon finished speaking, Ethan nodded weakly, and the silence between them stretched for only a heartbeat before I stepped into view.Neither of them knew how much I'd heard.I made sure they never would."Back already?" Leon greeted casually, as though nothing had happened.I slipped my hands into my pockets and gave him the same indifferent look I always did."Work finished earlier than expected."Leon shrugged. "Good. I was just dropping him home."My eyes shifted to Ethan for the briefest second.His face had lost every trace of colour.His fingers were clenched so tightly around the strap of his bag that his knuckles had turned white.He looked... terrified.Of me.For a fraction of a second, I almost asked him what was wrong.Almost.Instead, I looked away."You heading back?" I asked Leon."Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow.""Drive safe."He smiled, exchanged a quick goodbye, and drove away.Just like that.As if the convers