Chapter 14: Crownfire

**Chapter Fourteen: Crownfire**

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A fire started in Nairobi that Friday night.

Not the kind you put out with water.

The kind that spreads through headlines, screens, whispers, and broken windows.

Jayden didn't start it.

But it had his name written all over it.

---

It began with a live broadcast.

Jayden stood on the roof of the Lexington Global tower, floodlights behind him, a camera pointed at his face. He wore black. No jewelry. No logo. Just the eyes of someone who had survived too much to stay quiet.

He spoke for six minutes.

> "They want to scare us into silence. They want to burn down our future while blaming us for the smoke. But I won't flinch. I was born in the ashes.

>

> And if they want a fire…

>

> I'll give them Crownfire."

By the end of the broadcast, the hashtag **#Crownfire** was trending across five countries.

Within two hours, students from Eastview High led a march through Nairobi's central district, demanding accountability from the Serpents.

At midnight, protesters gathered outside a luxury hotel linked to Gerald Macharia. By morning, the windows were smashed. Paint was sprayed on the walls:

**"THE PEOPLE SEE YOU."**

And then the real retaliation came.

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The Serpents launched **Operation Silence**.

Masked men struck two Lexington properties—one warehouse, one media hub. Data servers were destroyed. Five employees injured. One critically.

Jayden was briefed before breakfast.

His jaw was tight, but his tone was cold.

"Start sweeping every Serpent property in Westlands. I want everything illegal, dirty, or buried brought to light."

Leona looked up from her tablet. "You're declaring full war."

"No," Jayden said. "I'm responding."

---

Meanwhile, Sasha sat in the Lexington estate's side wing, watching the news roll by.

Her face was pale. Her eyes tired.

Amara, Jayden's mother, brought her tea.

"You're quiet today," she said gently.

Sasha nodded. "He doesn't trust me."

Amara smiled softly. "Trust is hard currency. You broke it."

"I know."

Sasha looked out the window.

"Do you think… people like me can change?"

Amara was silent a moment. Then said, "Yes. But it takes more than tears."

Sasha swallowed hard. "Then I'm going to earn my way back."

She opened her laptop and started typing.

An hour later, a video appeared online.

---

**SASHA: THE TRUTH THEY DIDN'T WANT YOU TO HEAR**

18 minutes. No filters. No edits.

She confessed everything—her involvement in the betrayal, the lies she was pressured to tell, and the threats against her family. She named names. Showed receipts.

She ended with a single line:

> "Jayden didn't build this fire.

> He's just refusing to burn."

The internet exploded.

Support for Jayden surged.

Petitions to investigate Gerald Macharia reached Parliament.

News anchors flipped sides live on-air.

---

But Brandon wasn't finished.

Not by a long shot.

He activated the **Cobalt Line**—a set of international accounts used to pay off digital mercenaries and trolls.

Overnight, AI-generated deepfakes of Jayden appeared everywhere: shouting at security guards, slapping a teacher, claiming to fund riots.

Even some of Jayden's allies wavered.

Kevin stormed into the estate at dawn, waving his phone.

"This video's everywhere!"

Jayden didn't even flinch.

"It's fake."

"Yeah, but half the country doesn't care!"

Leo burst in seconds later.

"Worse—someone's feeding the Serpents our tech layouts. We have a leak."

Jayden stood, eyes dark.

"Then we smoke them out."

---

The plan was called **Mirrortrap**.

Jayden fed false information into internal channels—a fake shipment of Lexington files, a new hideout in Ruiru, a meeting with Parliament officials.

Only three people knew all three lies.

By midnight, the fake meeting location had been compromised.

The leak was clear.

It wasn't Leo.

It wasn't Kevin.

It was **Tariq**.

Jayden confronted him in the courtyard.

"Tariq," he said softly, "how much did they pay you?"

Tariq didn't deny it.

"They threatened my sister."

Jayden's fists clenched.

"You could have come to me."

"I didn't want to seem weak."

"You *were* weak," Jayden said coldly. "But you still had a choice."

Jayden didn't have him arrested.

Didn't order a punishment.

He simply turned away.

"Tariq Odhiambo," he said, "you're no longer one of us."

Tariq's face collapsed.

Jayden walked away, heart burning.

Not from betrayal.

But from the weight of losing another brother.

---

Two days later, the Crownfire movement crossed borders.

Students in Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania joined protests. International celebrities tweeted support. A London-based think tank released a full exposé on Serpent Holdings' crimes across Africa.

But with every win came another loss.

Jayden slept less.

Smiled less.

He barely saw his mother anymore.

And one night, staring at the skyline from his balcony, he whispered, "What if I'm losing myself?"

A voice answered behind him.

"You're not lost. You're evolving."

It was Leo.

He handed Jayden a black envelope.

"This came for you."

Jayden opened it slowly.

A photo.

Of his mother—smiling at a market—circled in red.

And a note.

**"Every crown ends in blood."**

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**End of Chapter Fourteen**