Chapter 13: Broken Crowns
**Chapter Thirteen: Broken Crowns**
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The bomb didn't explode—but something else did.
The next day, *Jayden Omari Lexington* became both a national hero and a lightning rod for everything wrong with the system.
Half of Kenya called him brave.
The other half called him dangerous.
"Student Billionaire Thwarts School Bombing," read one headline.
"Boy King Plays with Power," read another.
Online debates burned across timelines and television. Had he staged the whole thing? Was the threat real? Was he a hero or a ticking time bomb himself?
Jayden stood in front of his bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth in silence, watching the news crawl under his reflection.
His face didn't look like a seventeen-year-old anymore.
It looked… hardened.
A crown pressed too tightly against skin that hadn't finished healing.
He didn't even finish brushing. Just rinsed, spit, and walked out.
---
Downstairs, his mother sat at the breakfast table with a tablet in her hands.
"You should sue someone," she muttered, tapping at the screen. "These people are calling you a terrorist in school uniform."
Jayden kissed her cheek.
"They're afraid," he said.
She looked up, eyes sharp. "So be more afraid of you."
---
Later that morning, Leo handed him a dossier marked **"BETA: Internal Defections."**
Jayden scanned it slowly.
Two names stood out: *Mr. Obura*—a former Eastview administrator, and *Zane Kiptoo*—a university-level tech genius Jayden had once offered a scholarship.
Both had switched sides.
"They were bought by the Serpents," Leo said. "Paid handsomely. One of them planted the fake device."
Jayden closed the file.
"I want them neutralized. Not harmed. But silenced. Immediately."
Leo gave a single nod.
Just as he turned to leave, Leona entered the war room holding a different file—this one with a blood-red stamp across the front.
**"Reyes Protocol"**
Jayden raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
Leona didn't smile. "A plan your father buried. Contingency for internal collapse. If Lexington Global loses control, the Protocol activates a full hostile buyout of Serpent Industries… by any means."
Jayden flipped it open.
And stopped.
It was ruthless.
Bank manipulation. Media takeover. Bribed legislators. Fabricated lawsuits. Even a discreet threat to one of Gerald Macharia's family members.
"Your father was thorough," Leona said softly. "But he never used this. Not even when he had the chance."
Jayden stared at the last page.
One line stood out:
> **"Let them wear their crown—then break it."**
---
That afternoon, Jayden summoned the Guard to the estate's east chamber—once a ballroom, now a war hall.
They stood in a circle, surrounded by digital projections of financial networks, political figures, allies, enemies, and question marks in between.
Jayden spoke clearly.
"We are no longer fighting for survival," he said. "We're fighting for dominance."
He looked around the room.
Leo. Aida. Brian. Kevin. Tariq. Lorna. Even Sasha, sitting silently near the back, her hands folded tightly in her lap.
Jayden continued.
"From today, we dismantle every Serpent asset across East Africa. No weapons, no power, no reputation. We destroy their name."
"And if they fight back?" Aida asked.
Jayden's eyes darkened.
"Then we remind them whose blood built this city."
---
Meanwhile, Brandon Macharia wasn't idle.
The Serpents were bleeding. Their factories were being shut down by surprise audits. Leaked footage exposed Gerald bribing two senators. Even their stock price dropped by 12% in a week.
Brandon sat in his penthouse suite in Upper Hill, glass of whiskey in hand, watching the empire slip between his fingers.
"You said he'd fold," he growled at the man in front of him.
The man wore a black jacket and no expression. His name was Asher. A ghost from the intelligence community. Now a mercenary.
"I said he'd crack," Asher replied coldly. "But he's doing something worse. He's adapting."
Brandon threw the glass against the wall. "Then make him stop."
Asher simply smiled.
"With pleasure."
---
That night, Jayden was home alone. His mother was at a retreat center recovering. The estate was under maximum security.
Or so he thought.
A silent alarm tripped at 2:11 a.m.
Motion detected in the wine cellar.
Jayden woke instantly, grabbed his father's revolver, and moved without sound.
He entered the cellar through the west corridor, lights off, footsteps silent.
And there he saw him.
Asher.
Dressed in black. Calm. Clean. Holding a folder.
Jayden raised the weapon. "You're on the wrong property."
Asher raised a hand. "I didn't come to fight. I came to offer you your life."
Jayden stepped closer. "You break into my house and call that a peace offering?"
Asher tossed the folder to the ground.
Inside: satellite photos. Two sniper positions. One of them, trained on Kevin's house. The other, on Brian's younger sister at school.
Jayden's blood froze.
"You touch them—"
"I won't," Asher said. "If you walk away."
Jayden's knuckles whitened around the gun.
"You have three days," Asher said. "Resign. Leave Nairobi. Disappear."
He turned and vanished into the shadows before Jayden could speak.
Security teams stormed the cellar thirty seconds later.
Too late.
Jayden stared at the folder again.
And realized the game had changed.
---
The next morning, he sat at the dining room table with Kevin and Brian.
He didn't tell them everything. Just enough.
"They're targeting your families."
Kevin leaned forward. "Then we fight harder."
Brian nodded. "They're trying to get you to carry our safety like a weight. Don't. We're not your weakness."
Jayden clenched his jaw.
"Then you'd better be ready," he said. "Because this crown is cracked. And the war is about to get loud."
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**End of Chapter Thirteen**