Chapter 15: The Blood Letter
**Chapter Fifteen: The Blood Letter**
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Jayden stared at the photo for a long time.
His mother.
Smiling at Gikomba market.
Her face circled in red ink.
The note's words—*"Every crown ends in blood"*—burned into his mind like a brand.
He didn't speak.
Didn't blink.
Just lowered the envelope to his lap and sat in silence on the balcony of the Lexington estate, as Nairobi's skyline glittered around him.
Leo waited nearby, eyes sharp.
"Is this their final move?" he asked.
Jayden shook his head slowly.
"No," he said. "It's just the beginning."
---
By morning, Amara Lexington was under 24-hour armed guard. Every building she entered was swept. Every car scanned. Jayden increased security fivefold. Not even the president had this level of protection.
But the threats didn't stop.
That same afternoon, three Lexington Global board members resigned—out of fear. Not of failure.
Of being targeted.
Someone had left dead snakes on their doorsteps, with notes tied to the bodies:
**"One family dies for every day he stays in power."**
Jayden's fists clenched when he saw the photos.
"We're dealing with terrorists now," he muttered.
"No," Leona corrected. "We're dealing with monsters."
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At school, Jayden was no longer seen as a student.
He was a storm.
Some feared him.
Some worshipped him.
Most just watched from a distance.
Even Kevin and Brian began to feel the shift.
One evening, while walking home from a strategy session at the estate, Kevin said, "Do you ever feel like you're not talking to Jayden anymore?"
Brian nodded slowly. "He's not the same. He's still him… but harder. Like the fire's burning too hot now."
Kevin looked up at the sky. "I just hope he remembers who he was before the crown."
---
That night, Jayden held a private meeting with Leo, Aida, Sasha, and Lorna.
He laid out the red photo and the blood letter on the table.
"This is no longer about business," he said. "This is psychological warfare."
Aida leaned forward. "So what's the play?"
Jayden's eyes were sharp. Calculated.
"We draw them out."
"How?"
"By going after their spine."
He pressed a button. The screen behind him lit up with files.
**Cyrus Macharia**—Brandon's uncle.
A silent force behind the Serpents.
Politician. Arms dealer. Discreet killer.
He never showed his face.
Never left digital trails.
But Jayden had found him.
Or at least, found the woman he couldn't hide from:
**Cyrus's daughter.**
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Operation **Venomlight** launched 24 hours later.
Using facial recognition and drone tracking, the Guard followed Cyrus's daughter, Eliza, from her elite university campus to a private estate on the outskirts of Naivasha.
Jayden didn't want to hurt her.
He just wanted leverage.
Information.
Something to make Cyrus blink.
Eliza was intercepted safely, unharmed, and taken to a secure compound where Jayden met her alone.
She was nineteen. Smart. Composed. Not scared—at least not visibly.
"So this is how the billionaire's child behaves?" she asked calmly. "Kidnapping daughters?"
Jayden sat across from her, arms folded.
"This isn't a kidnapping. This is a message."
"To my father?"
"No. To you."
She tilted her head.
"You're caught in a war that your father started. But you don't have to be part of the fallout. Tell me where Cyrus is. And I'll have you escorted home. No press. No scars. No shame."
Eliza leaned back.
And said nothing for a full minute.
Then: "What happens if I refuse?"
Jayden stared at her.
"Then you'll stay here until the world forgets your name."
---
But Eliza didn't refuse.
She cracked within hours.
Whether out of fear, conscience, or a cold calculation of risk—she gave Jayden what he needed.
A property.
An offshore account trail.
And a location:
**Turkana.**
A fortress.
Hidden in the desert.
Jayden stood in front of the satellite image that night, hands on the table, staring into a future he could no longer avoid.
"If we take him out," Leo asked, "what happens to the Serpents?"
Jayden's voice was low.
"They fall."
"But you'll be breaking every law in the book."
Jayden nodded.
"Then it's a good thing I never followed it."
---
Before dawn, he flew to Turkana with five elite Legacy Guard members.
No press.
No politicians.
Just mission.
They arrived in silence.
Approached the property disguised as environmental researchers.
It worked—until the third checkpoint.
Gunfire.
A full firefight in the sand.
Jayden ducked behind a broken water tank, bullets flying inches above his head.
Leo covered him.
Sasha, stationed as overwatch, radioed from the cliff above. "They're bringing out drones!"
Jayden clicked his earpiece. "Detonate the decoy flare now."
Boom.
A fireball burst from the west side of the compound, giving them the opening they needed.
Jayden stormed the inner gate.
Cyrus Macharia stood waiting in the courtyard.
Old. Scarred. Dangerous.
He clapped slowly.
"Richard Lexington's son. You came all the way to my doorstep. Brave. Stupid."
Jayden raised his gun.
"Your war ends here."
Cyrus didn't flinch. "I've buried better men than you."
Jayden's voice was cold. "You won't bury anyone else."
Cyrus stepped forward. "You think the world wants peace, boy? No. It needs enemies. It needs chaos. Without men like me, you wouldn't be a hero. You'd be nothing."
Jayden stared at him. Then pulled the trigger.
One shot.
Cyrus dropped.
Alive, but bleeding.
The war was over.
But the storm was not.
---
Back in Nairobi, the news broke.
**"Cyrus Macharia Captured in Desert Raid. Billionaire Heir Leads Operation."**
The world tilted.
Jayden was called a vigilante.
A symbol.
A leader.
A liability.
The president requested an audience.
The United Nations sent a delegation.
Protests erupted in both support and anger.
Jayden stood on the Lexington Estate balcony again, looking out over a country burning with opinion.
And finally understood what the blood letter meant.
**Every crown ends in blood.**
But some crowns also begin in it.
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**End of Chapter Fifteen**