All Chapters of Ties of Desire: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The screech of federal sirens cut through the damp Menteng air like a jagged blade, instantly shattering the suffocating silence of the abandoned railway depot. Red and blue strobe lights painted the rusted corrugated walls in a frantic, dizzying dance, reflecting off the pools of stagnant rainwater scattered across the concrete floor.Galen didn't blink. His dark eyes remained locked on the space where Julian had just vanished into the shadows, the phantom echo of the man's voice still ringing in his skull. Your first husband. Nurin was my wife.

The descent in the private elevator felt entirely too fast, the digital floor numbers bleeding together in a blur of amber light as Galen Prakoso dropped toward the subterranean plaza. Every muscle in his body was coiled tight, the cold weight of the tactical shotgun in his grip acting as a physical anchor for the rage burning through his veins. Julian wanted a reckoning? Fine. He’d get one. But it wouldn't happen on Julian’s terms, and it certainly wouldn't end with Nurin walking out of those glass doors.When the elevator finally chimed and the doors glided open, the damp, chilled air of the underground parking level rushed in to meet him. Galen didn't hesitate. He stepped o

The hum of the server racks in Bagas’s sub-basement bunker usually sounded like a steady heartbeat, but tonight it felt like a countdown. Galen Prakoso stood in front of the master terminal, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, watching the final encryption strings of Danuarta Holdings' secondary asset registry burn into digital ash."Everything is scrubbed, boss," Bagas muttered, leaning back in his ergonomic chair and rubbing his bloodshot eyes. "Every shadow account Haris and Julian ever touched has been routed through the federal forfeiture pool. Prakoso-Qistina Holdings officially owns ninety-four percent of the commercial real estate grid from Menteng down to the SCBD. You did

The smell of ozone and melting circuit boards hung heavy in the sub-level data bunker beneath the SCBD tower. Red emergency strobes sliced through the artificial fog, painting the racks of quantum servers in frantic, bleeding hues."Give me the hard-line isolation protocols, Bagas. Now," Galen barked, his voice cutting through the mechanical hum of dying cooling fans like a razor. He shrugged off his charcoal suit jacket, tossing it onto a steel crate as he rolled up his sleeves, revealing forearm tendons taut as steel cables.Bagas didn

The heavy steel doors of the sub-level utility elevator groaned as they slammed shut, cutting off the echoing panic of the restaurant above. The car plummeted downward into the dark belly of the SCBD complex, descending past the standard parking levels into the classified subterranean infrastructure that only the elite founders of the city even knew existed.Galen kept his broad frame braced in front of Nurin, his Glock raised, his dark eyes locked on the illuminated floor numbers ticking downward in amber light. The acrid scent of cordite and Sterling’s fresh blood still clung to their clothes, but neither of them wasted a single breath on the close call.