CHAPTER 56

The Final Trigger

Julian coughs, a wet, gurgling sound, as blood trickles from the corner of his mouth. His body slumps against the cold brick wall, the dim alleyway barely illuminating the mess I've left him in. His breaths are ragged, shallow, but his grin—his damn grin—stays in place. Even bleeding out, he looks at me like he holds the final card in a game I thought I had already won.

"You think… killing me… will change anything?" He wheezes, his fingers twitching at his side. "You think it'll bring her back?"

The knife in my grip trembles. His words coil around me like a vice, squeezing, pressing against a wound that has never quite healed.

"You talk too much." My voice is ice. Detached. Controlled. But my hands say otherwise. They want to finish the job, to silence him, to finally put an end to the years of bloodshed, deceit, and the pain he's caused.

Julian chuckles, a twisted, bitter sound. "That's where you're wrong, Nathan. I haven't talked enough." His eyes flicker with something dark, something triumphant, and even with his life slipping away, he dares to look me in the eye and say it.

"She had a daughter."

My world tilts.

The alley. The blood. The knife in my hand. It all fades, sucked into the vortex of those words.

Evelyn.

The love I lost. The one they took from me. The woman who died with secrets still wrapped around her like chains.

And now, this.

I hear my own voice, but it feels distant, hollow. "You're lying."

Julian coughs again, more blood staining his lips. He grins like the devil himself. "Am I?" His head tilts slightly, eyes gleaming despite the pain. "You always knew there was something missing. Something she never told you. You could feel it, couldn't you?"

No. No, this isn't possible. Evelyn and I—we had nothing left between us except a grave and memories that wouldn't die. If she had been pregnant, I would have known. She would have told me.

Wouldn't she?

I take a step back, but the ground feels unsteady. The knife is still in my grip, but my fingers loosen around the hilt.

Julian watches me, feeding off the chaos unraveling inside. "She was pregnant, Nathan. And The Oath took her."

The Oath.

My blood runs cold.

The organization that stole everything from me. The puppet masters who controlled our lives, who played God with people's fates.

And they had my daughter.

I grab Julian by the collar, dragging his broken body closer. "Where is she?" The demand comes out raw, almost feral. My pulse is a hammer in my skull. My breathing sharp, jagged.

Julian's expression flickers between pain and satisfaction. "Too late," he murmurs, barely above a whisper. "She's already… one of them."

A roaring silence swallows me whole.

One of them.

I shove him back against the wall, my chest rising and falling like a storm barely contained. I want to kill him. Right here, right now.

But if he dies, so do the answers.

I press the blade against his throat, just enough to make him wince. "You're going to tell me everything."

Julian's eyes flutter, his body sagging. The blood loss is catching up. He won't last much longer.

His lips part, but before he can speak, a sharp whistle slices through the night.

I react on instinct, dropping low just as a bullet rips through the space where my head had been. It embeds itself into the brick behind me. Sniper.

I roll, pulling my gun free, scanning the rooftops. Another shot rings out, this one aimed at Julian. It hits him square in the chest.

His body jerks violently. A breathless wheeze escapes him.

"No!" I lunge forward, pressing my hand against the wound, but I already know—it's over.

Julian's lips move. I lean in. His voice is barely a whisper, but it cuts deeper than any blade.

"Find her… before they… break her."

His eyes glaze over. The last of his breath leaves in a shudder. His body slumps, lifeless.

And just like that, he takes my only lead with him.

The air is thick with the scent of blood and gunpowder. I lift my head, my pulse a relentless drumbeat in my ears. Someone didn't want Julian talking.

Which means he was telling the truth.

A daughter.

My daughter.

And The Oath had her.

My hands tighten into fists. My body is rigid, every muscle coiled, every nerve on fire.

I spent years trying to tear them apart, trying to dismantle the empire that ruined my life. But now… now, this isn't just revenge. This isn't just justice.

This is blood.

A surge of something dark and primal floods my veins. If they thought they could keep her from me, if they thought they could hide her in the shadows of their empire, they were wrong.

Because I was coming.

And I would burn their world to the ground.