Smoke. Blood. Screams. The docks were a graveyard.
I woke up with fire in my lungs and Sienna's body sprawled half on top of me, both of us soaked in ash.
"Sienna—"
I shook her hard.
Her lashes fluttered. She groaned, fingers clenching my shirt.
"I thought I lost you."
My voice cracked before I could stop it.
"You wish." Her mouth curved, bruised but wicked.
"You can't lose what you own."
I helped her up, every muscle screaming. The Pagani was a twisted heap of metal behind us.
Kairos's men were regrouping. I could hear their boots pounding over the steel grates.
"Can you run?"
"Can you kiss me again first?"
"You're insane."
"Takes one to love one."
I grabbed her hand and sprinted through the smoke, diving between shipping crates as bullets shredded the air behind us.
"How the hell did they plant that bomb under our car?" I barked.
"They've been three moves ahead since day one."
"Not anymore."
We ducked into a container stacked with weapons.
I kicked open a crate, grabbed two rifles, and tossed one to her.
"Stay close. Shoot to kill."
"And if I get shot?"
"Then I'll kill them twice."
She smirked, blood on her lip. "Still want me after all this?"
"Sweetheart, I want you even if you set the whole world on fire."
We burst out firing, cutting through the first line of mercs.
I snapped two necks clean, kicked a third into the water.
Her breathing was ragged, but her aim was lethal.
The way she moved—sharp, untamed, addictive.
I wanted to survive this just to taste her again.
"There's a boat at the end of the pier!" she shouted.
"Run!"
We sprinted, dodging bullets, sliding across wet steel as the mercs tightened their noose.
I caught a bullet grazing my shoulder.
Didn't stop.
We leaped onto the boat, untied it, and gunned the engine.
But just as the boat peeled away, Kairos stepped onto the dock, aiming a sniper rifle straight at me.
"Silas, you don't leave unless I say so."
His voice crackled through the radio on the dashboard.
"You've got three seconds to pull that trigger, brother," I snarled.
"Why would I waste the bullet? I've already won."
"That so?"
"Check your pockets."
I froze. I patted my jacket.
My pulse dropped.
A small blinking device.
The detonator. On me. The whole time.
"You think I'm stupid?" I snapped, grabbing it to toss it overboard.
"You throw it, I kill her mother. Immediately." His voice was ice.
I met Sienna's eyes.
Her throat bobbed. "Silas…"
"It's okay, sweetheart. We'll outplay him."
"How? He's everywhere. He's inside our syndicate. Our accounts. Our bloodline."
I kissed her hard, fast, hungry.
"Then we burn everything and start over."
The detonator buzzed.
A new voice sliced through the radio.
A woman's voice. Cold. Sharp. Familiar.
"Hello, Silas. I've missed you."
I went still. My blood stopped moving.
"Mother."
Sienna's jaw dropped. "Your mother's dead."
"Apparently not." Kairos laughed over the line. "She's been helping me, baby brother. You think I planned this alone?"
I locked eyes with Sienna.
"She's alive. And she's playing me."
"Welcome to the family reunion, Silas." My mother's voice purred. "And guess what? We want her. Bring us Sienna. Or I'll destroy every ounce of power you ever thought you had."
I grinned.
"Sweetheart, are you ready to fake a death?"
Her eyes snapped to mine. "What?"
"I've got one way out. But it's going to cost us everything."
She bit her lip, trembling.
"Let it burn."The docks burned behind us as I gunned the boat toward open water.
Sienna clutched the detonator in one hand, her chest rising and falling like she'd just outrun hell itself.
"Silas—your mother—"
"Dead. She was dead."
I gripped the wheel like it owed me answers.
"The syndicate buried her. I saw her casket. I was there when they lowered it."
"Then explain her voice on that radio."
Her words hit like bullets.
"The Mavros Syndicate fakes a lot of things."
I swerved the boat hard into a side channel, cutting off the trackers.
"Turns out, funerals might be one of them."
Her hand shot out, clutching my arm.
"What if she's working with Kairos? What if this was their plan from the start?"
"Then I'll burn them both."
The promise settled like steel in my throat.
"But first, we fake your death."
"Mine?"
"They think you're my weakness."
I pinned her with a brutal stare.
"Let's make them think they killed you. Let them believe they broke me."
She swallowed hard.
"And what happens after that?"
"We stop playing defense."
I jerked the wheel.
"We go hunting."
I dragged her into a safehouse buried beneath a dead bar in syndicate territory. Blood still crusted my jacket. I ripped it off and tossed it on the table like it was already a relic.
"You've done this before, haven't you?"
Sienna's voice cracked as she studied the explosives spread out in front of me.
"Too many times."
I slammed a burner phone on the table.
"I need you to text him."
"Kairos?"
"Yeah. Tell him I lost you in the explosion. That your body wasn't recovered."
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
"And what if he doesn't believe me?"
"Then we make him believe."
I wired the detonator to a surveillance drone, locking in the trigger.
Her lips parted. "You're going to blow up… what, exactly?"
"Your fake death."
I met her stare, sharp and dangerous.
"But we're going to make it look like I'm the one who can't live without you."
I pushed a velvet box toward her.
"What's this?"
"Open it."
Inside—a diamond ring. Black. Twisted. Heavy.
"A syndicate heirloom. The kind you only give to someone you'd die for."
"You're staging an engagement?"
"No."
I slipped the ring on her finger.
"I'm giving you power. If I fall, they'll bow to you. No one touches my queen."
Her breath caught.
"Silas, you're making this too real."
"It's always been real."
I cupped her face, pressing my forehead against hers.
"When this is over, I don't care about bloodlines, step-anything, syndicate rules—I want you."
Her lips trembled.
"And if we don't make it?"
"We will."
I kissed her, slow but lethal, the kind of kiss you don't walk away from.
"Ready to die for me?" I whispered against her mouth.
"I'd rather live for you."
We set the drone loose with the decoy boat.
We both watched as the fireball swallowed the sky.
Kairos stared at the footage, his smirk curling like poison.
'She's dead,' he said, lighting a cigarette. 'You broke, brother. You'll crumble without her.'
A soft laugh crackled through his earpiece.
My mother's voice. 'Let him drown in grief. The weaker he gets, the easier he is to kill.'
'Don't worry, Mother,' Kairos said coldly. 'I'm going to shatter his kingdom piece by piece.'
Sienna's hands shook as she gripped the ring I gave her, eyes burning as she turned to me.
"They think I'm dead."
"Good."
I loaded my gun, sliding it home with a savage grin.
"Because now, we own the whole damn bloody game."Boom. The explosion tore the sky apart.
Smoke punched the clouds. Metal rained.
They thought she was dead. Perfect.
I didn't wait. I yanked Sienna down the back alley of syndicate territory, my phone pressed to my ear, the burner buzzing.
"Tell me it's done."
The hacker on the line barked, "The drone fed the footage. Kairos saw it. Hook, line, sinker."
"Good. Get off my line."
Sienna skidded to a stop, panting. "They think I'm dead?"
"Dead. Ghost. Ashes."
"And you're sure they'll buy it?"
"They already did."
I grabbed her wrist, spun her into a dark corridor, shoved her against the wall, mouths crashing.
"You're mine now. Fully. No more hiding. No more half-games."
"Silas—"
"Tell me you want this. Right now."
Her nails dug into my shirt. "I want it. All of it. Even if it kills me."
"Especially if it kills us."
I tasted her lips like I owned the seconds ticking down on our lives.
The phone buzzed again.
"What?" I barked.
"We have a problem."
"Fix it."
"It's not that kind of problem. The Mavros accounts are bleeding. Someone's siphoning funds from the Black Reserve."
"Who the hell's got the keys?"
"You gave them."
"To whom?"
"Your mother."
The rage detonated in my chest. "She's alive, and she's robbing me?"
"She's already crippled three Mavros fronts."
"Where is she?"
"We don't know. But she's moving with Kairos. And she's pulling syndicate lieutenants to her side."
Sienna's eyes snapped to mine. "She's flipping your family?"
"She's building her own throne."
I shoved the phone into my pocket, yanked her hand. "Move."
"Where?"
"War room."
"You have a war room?"
"I have ten. You're about to see the one where people don't walk out unless I say so."
We tore through the back streets. I rammed open a steel door. Neon-lit monitors, gun racks, black ledgers, blueprints—everything burned in red alerts.
"Lock the ports." I barked.
"Kill offshore transfers. I want all transactions frozen except mine."
The hacker cursed. "It's already spreading. She's bleeding you in real-time."
"You think I'm afraid of going broke?"
"Your soldiers are. They're paid by loyalty, Silas. And loyalty's expensive."
I slammed a fist into the table.
"Then I'll remind them who owns the whole damn bloody game."
Sienna's breath shook. "What now?"
"Now we get loud."
"And after that?"
"We go underground. Burn their safehouses. Flip their men. Steal their secrets."
I ripped open a drawer and shoved twin handguns into her palms.
"And we do it looking like ghosts."
"They think I'm dead—"
"Let's make them wish I stayed dead."
Her smirk could burn a kingdom. "I like you better when you're dangerous."
"Sweetheart, I don't do safe."
The door exploded.
Three mercs stormed in, guns raised.
I shot the first one in the throat before he spoke. Sienna dropped the second with a bullet to the chest. The third one hesitated—she shot him too.
I grabbed her by the waist, breathing heavily. "Good girl."
"This is your life, huh? Kill. Kiss. Run. Burn."
"You forgot rule number five."
"What's that?"
"Win. At. All. Costs."
Her phone buzzed. She glanced at it—and her face dropped.
"What?" I snapped.
She showed me the message. Just one line.
Bring Silas in alive. His father wants him to breathe when we gut him.
"Your father's in on this?"
Her voice cracked. "He's the one who made the call."
I stepped back, my blood turning black.
"The man I've called 'father' my entire life—he's setting me up."
"Silas—"
"Sweetheart, this is no longer about survival."
I racked the slide on my gun.
"It's about rewriting the whole bloody family tree."