Jayden's breath was shallow, the weight of the file still pressing against his chest.
He felt it there, in the pit of his stomach, gnawing at him like a hungry beast.
Sophia's ghost wasn't something he could escape.
---
That night, Jayden couldn't sleep. He lay in the dark, staring up at the cracked ceiling of the hideout. His mind kept circling back to her: Sophia.
Her smile, her whispers, the way her touch had been a sanctuary.
But now?
Now she was nothing but a distant, fractured memory.
She had died for him.
Was it worth it?
The question drilled into his skull, but he had no answer. He wouldn't let himself have one.
A knock broke the silence.
Wendy stood in the doorway, her face pale, eyes shadowed by exhaustion.
She wasn't here to comfort him. No, there was something more pressing.
"We have a problem," she said.
Jayden didn't move, didn't speak. He just nodded.
---
Wendy and Elias had managed to intercept a transmission from a hidden network they had been tracking. The message was clear, its intent unmistakable:
"He's alive."
The words hung in the air like a curse.
Sophia wasn't the only one who had died that day. There were others — people Jayden had once cared about, people who had been swept away in the same tide of destruction.
And now... the man who had orchestrated it all, the one who had pulled the strings, was still breathing.
Lucian Gray.
The name stirred something deep within Jayden's chest.
A rage that was both familiar and new. A deep, primal need for revenge.
---
Lucian Gray had been Jayden's mentor once, a man who had molded him, shaped him into what he was today. But it wasn't training that had made Jayden a weapon.
It was betrayal.
When Jayden was young, Lucian had promised him the world — wealth, power, anything he wanted. But what he had received instead was pain, loss, and the hollow emptiness of a manipulated soul.
Lucian had been the architect of his suffering.
And now, the architect was still out there, laughing in the shadows.
Jayden clenched his fists, the tendons in his arms straining. His body trembled as he rose from the bed, his eyes narrowing with cold purpose.
---
Wendy watched him closely. She knew Jayden better than anyone, and she could see the change in him. The pull of the past had tightened its grip, and there was no going back.
"I'm going after him," Jayden said, his voice low and lethal.
"You know we can't do this alone," Wendy warned. "We need help, Jayden. More than what we've got."
Jayden turned toward her, his expression unreadable. "I'll do this alone if I have to."
"You can't. Not this time."
Jayden hesitated, a flicker of doubt passing through his eyes. He was broken, haunted, and desperate — but he wasn't blind.
"We need the others," Wendy continued. "Jeff, Elias… and you know what that means."
Jayden's jaw tightened. He hated the idea of relying on anyone, but the weight of his revenge was heavier than his pride.
"Fine," he said, his voice a deadly whisper. "But we do it my way."
---
As the team gathered, each person was reminded of the ghosts that walked with them — both the living and the dead.
Jeff's hand trembled as he examined the data Wendy had retrieved. "We've tracked Lucian to a compound in the outskirts of the city," he said. "It's well-guarded. He's expecting us."
"Perfect," Jayden muttered. "That means he knows I'm coming."
They didn't talk about Sophia, or the ghosts that still haunted their minds.
They didn't have to.
---
As they made their way toward the compound, Jayden's thoughts were consumed with images of Lucian. He could almost see the smug smile on his face, the look of a man who had destroyed everything, and still felt untouchable.
But Jayden knew better.
The night would end with fire.
---
They breached the compound in silence, shadows moving as one.
Every step brought them closer to the heart of the storm, and Jayden's grip on his emotions tightened like a vice.
They reached the central chamber — and there he was.
Lucian Gray.
The man who had destroyed his life. The man who had built a kingdom on the bones of the innocent.
Lucian didn't even flinch when Jayden entered. He stood with his back to them, gazing out of the window.
"I knew you would come," Lucian said, his voice cold and calculating.
Jayden stepped forward, his hand brushing against the hilt of his blade. "You should've known better than to think you could escape this."
Lucian finally turned, his smile twisted and triumphant. "Escape? No, Jayden. This was always meant to happen. You were always meant to be my creation. My weapon."
Jayden's eyes darkened. "I was never your weapon. I was your mistake."
And with that, the final chapter of their twisted game began.
---