For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
It wasn't just fear tightening my chest — it was disbelief. I knew that face. I'd seen it in newspaper clippings, grainy photographs hidden in my mother's old belongings. Elias Vaughn. The ghost everyone insisted was long dead.
But he wasn't a ghost.
He was here. Real. And his grip on my arm was iron.
I tried to jerk free, but his fingers tightened, a cruel smile displaying his scar-lined face. His other hand held a small pistol, the barrel pressed casually against my ribs.
"Did you really think you could play in my world, little girl?" he murmured.
"Let me go," I spat, my voice shaking despite the surge of adrenaline.
His grin widened. "You have your father's stubborn streak. I always admired that about him. Right up until he betrayed me."
Betrayed him…..
The word struck something deep inside me. What had my father done to cross a man like Vaughn? And why had it cost him everything?
Behind us, gunfire cracked like thunder.
Damian's voice echoed through the corridor, barking orders, the sharp percussion of bullets hitting walls and bodies.
He was fighting for me, I could feel it in my bones.
Vaughn yanked me down a narrow side hall, dragging me toward a stairwell. I struggled against him, slamming my elbow into his ribs. It landed, but he barely flinched.
"Feisty," he said darkly. "You'll need that to survive what's coming."
I caught a glimpse of movement ahead — another of his men waiting by a black SUV, engine running, headlights slicing through the fog beyond the building's rear exit.
I had seconds. Maybe less.
Somewhere behind us, I heard Damian shout my name. It gave me strength.
I stomped down hard on Vaughn's foot, wrenching my arm free. The sudden movement caught him off guard, and I bolted toward the door.
A shot rang out, missing me by inches.
I didn't look back. I burst through the exit, cold night air slamming into my lungs, the roar of the city kept increasing around us. Tires screeched as the SUV peeled forward.
I kept running.
A figure appeared in the corner of my vision — Damian.
His face was streaked with blood, his clothes torn, but his eyes… his eyes were murder.
"Get down!" he shouted.
I dropped to the ground just as he fired. The bullet struck the driver of the SUV, sending the vehicle swerving into a stack of metal barrels. An explosion of sparks and the screech of metal followed.
Vaughn stormed out after me, gun raised.
But Damian was faster.
He tackled him hard, both of them crashing into the wall. The gun went skidding across the ground.
They fought like animals — fists, knees, brute force. I'd never seen Damian like this. His calm, controlled exterior was gone. This was raw fury.
And he was winning.
A final blow sent Vaughn crumpling to the ground, blood trickling from his mouth.
Damian stood over him, chest heaving. "You should've stayed dead."
Vaughn coughed a laugh. "And miss seeing your empire burn? Never."
Sirens wailed in the distance. Reinforcements.
Damian's gaze snapped to me. "We have to move."
Charlotte appeared, dragging Olivia with her. Both looked battered, but alive.
"Cops are minutes out," Charlotte panted. "This place'll be crawling with them."
Damian glanced down at Vaughn. "We can't let him walk away from this."
"I'm not," Olivia said, raising a shaking gun.
Before anyone could stop her, she fired.
Vaughn's body jolted once. Then stilled.
A sick, final silence settled over the alley.
No one spoke.
Then Damian grabbed my hand. "Come on."
We piled into another waiting vehicle, Damian behind the wheel this time, the tires squealing as we tore out of the lot. No one spoke for several long, breathless minutes.
I stared at the blood on my hands. I wasn't sure if it was mine, or someone else's. It didn't matter. My father was still out there. Vaughn's death wouldn't end this.
If anything, it would make things worse.
Damian broke the silence. "You okay?"
I nodded stiffly.
His jaw tightened. "You shouldn't have ran. He could've killed you."
I looked at him, anger simmering beneath my exhaustion. "And what was I supposed to do? Wait around for someone else to die for me?"
Charlotte let out a rough laugh. "She's got a point.
Damian's lips pressed into a line, but he didn't argue. He knew better.
I shifted toward the window, my fingers crossing around the blade tightly still tucked into my jacket. I could still feel Vaughn's voice in my ear, those words clawing at my skin.
Your father betrayed me.
I needed answers. Not from Charlotte. Not from Damian.
From the man himself. If he was still alive.
"I want to find him," I said quietly. "Now."
Damian's knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. "We will. But you have to understand, Ava… killing Vaughn wasn't the end. It was the start of something worse."
I met his gaze in the rearview mirror. "Good. Let them come."
And for the first time, I saw it in his eyes — something like respect. Something dangerously close to love.
"Then you're going to need to learn how to survive in my world," he murmured.
The city lights blurred by as we disappeared into the night.
And somewhere out there, my father was waiting.
Alive or already lost.
But either way — I was done being a pawn.
It was my move now.