The Bait, The Ruin のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 60

WELLINGTON'S POV“He’s still not talking, boss.”Ross says it like it’s a casual update, as if we are discussing weather or business figures, not a man hanging between life and death. He tosses the knife aside carelessly as I walk into the room, the metallic clatter echoing faintly against the concrete walls.The smell of blood and metal is suffocating in the basement and it pumps my own blood too. It clings to the air, coats the back of my throat, settles deep in my lungs as if it belongs here. My eyes sweep across the room slowly, taking in every detail without reacting. There is blood everywhere, splattered across the floor, smeared on the walls, dripping steadily from the edges of the chair where the man is barely being held together by what little life remains in him.His face…There is nothing left to recognize.If you gave this man a mirror, he wouldn’t know the creature staring back at him. And that right there is the problem with Ross, he thinks everything is about how much

WELLINGTON'S POVI know I might die the moment I step into the room, and I walk in anyway.Oh my fucking God, I want to throw up everything in my stomach. It rises hot and bitter up my throat, threatening to spill out all over the floor the second I cross the threshold into the main meeting room. Every instinct in me screams to turn around, break through the doors and never look back, but I’ve come too far to start going back now.There’s no going back and I've to keep pretending I'm into cutting a child into pieces and drinking up her blood like a vampire.“Welcome to the family, Chane.” A distorted voice says.The sound makes my skin crawl, reminding me of when I used to stand in the middle of such a room to serve these people as a boy. I can't pinpoint the exact person who's speaking or the direction it’s coming from, and that’s the point. Nothing here is meant to be known by newcomers.The guards strapped a device to my neck at the entrance and stripped me of everything, my phones

WELLINGTON'S POVPoof!The gun goes off, the sound explodes in my ears, loud and violent, and everything inside me jolts. My eyes slam shut on instinct as the world tilts beneath me. It feels like I’ve been pushed off the rooftop of my penthouse, freefalling, weightless, with nothing to hold on to, no rope, no safety, just empty space and the promise of impact.I wait for the pain to tear through me, for my body to crash and break, for my breath to be knocked out of me so completely that I can’t find it again.But that doesn't come, instead, like a dog jerked awake by a splash of cold water, I snap back.My eyes fly open and I’m back in the meeting room.Except… I’m not on the floor like I thought.I’m upright, strapped down.My chest rises as I try to move, but I can’t. My arms are restrained against the sides of a massive chair, heavy with leather, built not for comfort. The type you'd find in game rooms. Devices surround me, machines blinking and beeping in steady, unsettling rhyth

WELLINGTON'S POV“What did you just say?”My hands tighten on the steering wheel as I speed across the road, my headlights clashing against the ones ahead of me. The car I’m chasing veers wildly, but I stay locked on it, close enough to feel like I can reach out and grab it.Affleck chose the worst possible time to call, but I still need answers, so I let Rain, my car’s AI, route the call through the system.“Agent Kay is still alive, sir.”For a second, my foot almost slams on the brakes.Almost.But I don’t slow down.“Are you sure about this information?” My voice comes out lower. I’ve never doubted Affleck once, but this is different. I remember how it happened. I remember it like it just happened yesterday.“Yes, sir.” A pause. “I couldn’t track the number behind those texts, but when I planted the new informant inside the organization’s base, I overheard them talking. I slipped into the head of investigation's office and confirmed it. Her file has been reopened recently. She’s

DAHLIA'S POVI hold my breath as I stand beside the bed, watching Nani work on Mr Chane like this is something she has done a hundred times before. Her hands are steady, precise, not even a tremor as she digs into his arm, pulls out the bullet, cleans the wound, and seals it up.There is blood everywhere, but she still doesn’t flinch.And when he wakes up suddenly and grabs her by the neck, his fingers tightening like he’s trying to crush the life out of whatever monster he thinks he’s facing, she doesn’t panic. She doesn’t scream or try to fight him off.She just calls him back calmly, having the patience of a saint. I don't need to be told that she has always been his rock.They may not be related by blood, but I see it now, the reason why he trusts her without question. She must have been his only constant. The one who stayed when everything else was falling apart. The one who patched him up, over and over again, when his nightmares refused to let him rest.And standing here, watch