Chapter 8 - The Hunt Begins
Adrian released Victor’s collar, his mind struggling to accept what he was seeing on the screen.
His dead wife was running a criminal syndicate, and his dead brother was kidnapping a child.
The ghosts of his past were completely dismantling his reality piece by piece.
“Can you walk?” Adrian asked, his voice dead of all emotion.
Victor nodded slowly, wiping the blood from his eyes.
“Then get out of this car and go to ground,” Adrian ordered. “I will bring your family back.”
Victor grabbed Adrian’s sleeve.
“Boss, Elias is a ghost, you can’t fight him.”
Adrian pushed Victor’s hand away, his eyes turning cold and hollow.
“He is not a ghost, he is just a traitor,” Adrian said, stepping out into the cold rain.
He left the crashed SUV and vanished into the shadows of the park, moving with a singular, violent purpose.
He stole a heavy motorcycle from a nearby alley, hotwiring it in less than ten seconds.
He tore through the empty streets of Bellhaven, breaking every speed limit to reach his underground banking facility.
When he arrived, the massive steel doors to the garage were blown wide open, smoking from explosive charges.
Adrian drew his weapon and stepped inside, scanning the dark, cavernous space.
The bodies of his elite guards were scattered across the concrete floor, all killed by precise headshots.
The helicopter he had seen on the video feed was gone.
Adrian walked to the center of the room, noticing a bright yellow burner phone lying in a pool of water.
The phone began to vibrate, its screen lighting up the dark concrete.
Adrian picked it up and pressed it to his ear without saying a word.
A distorted, electronic voice spoke from the other end.
“Your empire has fallen, Adrian.”
Adrian recognized the cadence of the speech, even through the heavy digital distortion.
“Where are you taking the girl, Elias?” Adrian asked, his grip tightening on the phone.
The distorted voice chuckled darkly.
“Elias is just a pawn,” the voice replied. “And Claire is just a face.”
Adrian froze, feeling a sudden chill sweep through his blood.
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“Who are you?” Adrian demanded.
“I am the woman who killed the real Claire seven years ago,” the voice whispered, before the line abruptly disconnected.
