Chapter 14 - The Judas Kiss
The aftermath of the docks was a nightmare of twisted metal and charred remains.
We had escaped,
but the cost was devastating.
Four of my best men were dead,
and Chen had lost nearly half of his strike team.
The alliance was already fraying,
the weight of the failure hanging over us like a shroud.
We were back at the safehouse,
the air thick with the smell of smoke and defeat.
I sat in the corner,
cleaning a gash on my forehead,
my mind replaying the explosion over and over.
"They knew we were coming,"
Luca said,
his voice shaking with anger.
"There’s no other way."
"The ledger gave us the location, but they knew the exact moment we’d strike."
I looked around the room at the tired,
frightened faces of my remaining crew.
"We have a mole,"
I said,
the words feeling like ash in my mouth.
"Someone in this room told Viktor where to find us."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Men who had bled together,
who had grown up together,
now looked at each other with suspicion and hate.
"I’ve been with you since the beginning, Boss,"
Marco said,
his eyes pleading.
"You know it wasn't me."
"I don't know anything anymore,"
I snapped,
standing up and pacing the small floor.
I looked at Sarah,
who was holding Emma close in the corner.
She looked terrified,
not of the Council,
but of us.
"Calder,"
she whispered.
"Look at the ledger again."
"The last page."
I grabbed the book,
turning to the very back.
There,
hidden under a false flap of leather,
was a list of names I hadn't seen before.
They weren't enemies.
They were the 'beneficiaries' of the Council's protection.
I scanned the list,
my heart stopping when I reached the bottom.
There,
written in my father’s own handwriting,
was his signature.
"No,"
I breathed,
dropping the book as if it had turned into a snake.
"My father... he was part of it?"
"He didn't just know about the Council,"
Sarah said softly.
"He helped build it."
"Your father wasn't a victim, Calder."
"He was one of the founding members."
"Viktor didn't betray him for the Council,"
"he betrayed him to take his seat."
The world felt like it was tilting on its axis.
Everything I thought I knew about my life,
my family,
and my war was a lie.
I wasn't fighting for justice;
I was fighting a civil war within a monster my own blood had created.
"Boss?"
Luca asked,
his voice cautious.
"What do we do?"
I looked at the pink backpack,
at the little girl who was just trying to survive a game she didn't understand.
"We finish it,"
I said,
my voice cold and dead.
"But not for the family name."
"Not for the docks or the money."
"We finish it so she doesn't have to live in the world my father built."
I walked over to the table and picked up my gun.
"Marco, find out who the mole is."
"I don't care what it takes."
"And Luca, call Chen."
"Tell him the final move is starting."
May you like
"We’re going to hit the Council's headquarters."
"The Glass Tower."
