CHAPTER 76

CHAPTER 76
Chapter 76
Kane’s POV

The call ended, but his voice still lingered—like smoke curling through my skull.

Raymond.

The bastard who killed his own twin and took his life like a coat he could wear.

I stared at the phone as if it might ring again. My hand tightened into a fist before I even realized I was moving.

“He’s not hiding anymore,” I said slowly, voice low, barely more than a growl. “He wanted me to know it was him.”

Caroline stood a few steps away, her arms folded, eyes burning. “And now we know for sure. He’s in play.”

I nodded, cold rage crawling down my spine. “He’s always been in play. We were just too distracted to look at the damn board.”

“He timed this,” she said. “Gina showed up. Then him calling the same night we find the bug?”

I looked at her, jaw clenched. “This is a coordinated front.”

She exhaled. “So what now?”

I walked over to the table and stared at the disassembled pen.

“I start pulling strings of my own.”

I picked up my phone again and dialed a number I’d buried years ago.

Nathaniel answered on the second ring. “Boss?”

“Call in the Black Net.”

A pause. “You serious?”

“Do I sound like I’m joking?” I snapped. “I want everyone still breathing. Find them. Wake them. I don’t care if they’re retired, exiled, or halfway to hell.”

Nathaniel’s tone shifted. “Even the Ghosts?”

“All of them.”

He knew what that meant. The last resort. People I swore I’d never work with again.

Because now?

Now it was war.

“And put a trace on the transmitter we pulled from the pen. I want GPS heat-mapped. I want to know where Gina went after she left here, and where Diane is now.”

“Done.”

I hung up and looked at Caroline. She was silent, her eyes locked on mine.

“You okay?” I asked.

“You always ask that,” she murmured.

“Because I know what it feels like when people you used to love try to bury you.”

Her jaw twitched. “You mean Gina.”

I nodded. “Even Raymond wants you.”

Caroline exhaled and stepped closer. “Raymond will always be dangerous. But back then, it was controlled. Tied to Jayson. Now he’s loose.”

“He’s not hiding behind his brother anymore,” I said. “He killed Jayson. Took his place. Now he’s building something.”

“A kingdom,” she muttered. “Of lies and death.”

I turned to the monitors, watching the live feeds. Everything looked calm. But calm was always the moment before the storm.

“Diane is part of it. Gina too. Probably Reynolds at the top of the whole damn pyramid.”

“Then knock it down,” she said.

I met her eyes. “With you by my side?”

She gave a small smile. “Always.”

I reached out and touched her wrist, grounding myself.

Then the phone rang again.

Unknown Number.

Caroline and I both turned toward it like it had just whispered our names.

I answered. “Kane.”

A moment of silence.

Then that voice.

“Having a touching moment without me?”

My blood went cold.

“Raymond.”

He laughed softly. “You say it like a curse. I like that.”

“What do you want?”

“To remind you that I’m not finished. That the game you think you’re playing is being hosted by me.”

“You’ve already lost,” I said flatly.

“Have I? Robertson’s dead. Diane’s mobilized. Gina’s in your house. And now, I’m watching. Every move. Every heartbeat.”

“You’re not untouchable,” I said. “You think power makes you immortal?”

“No,” he purred. “But it makes me patient.”

The call ended.

Just like that.

I looked at Caroline, who was already staring at me.

“He’s watching,” I said. “We move tonight.”

Her voice was like steel wrapped in silk. “Then let’s make sure the last thing he sees... is us tearing down everything he built.”

Caroline's POV

After Raymond’s call, Kane disappeared into the other room, his voice sharp through the closed door, barking orders to someone named Nathaniel. I stayed in the living room, staring at the disassembled pen lying like a corpse on the coffee table.

It felt strange, how quiet everything was after a storm like that. How the walls could hold so much danger, and still be painted in soft whites and warm grays. Like nothing had changed.

But everything had.

Gina had stood right where I was sitting. Her arms around me. Her voice shaking. And now I didn’t know if it was real… or rehearsed.

My hands curled tighter around the edge of the couch cushion. I hated this. This feeling. Like I was unraveling again. Like trust had become a loaded gun, and every time I reached for it, I risked blowing a hole through my chest.

I got up.

Walked past the table, down the hall, and into Kane’s bedroom.

His closet was open. A few drawers had been pulled out. He was packing.

But I wasn’t looking for clothes.

I knelt at the drawer under the bed. It had a fingerprint lock. Kane showed me once—half as a joke, half as a warning.

I pressed my thumb to the scanner.

Click.

It opened.

Rows of black matte tools stared back at me. Sleek. Cold. Silent.

I reached in and pulled out the smallest one. Compact. Light. A Glock 43. I knew the name only because I’d seen it in a file.

My hand trembled.

Not from fear but because this made it real.

No more running.

No more hiding behind Kane’s strength or waiting for him to make the next move.

If they came for me again, I wasn’t going to be the victim this time.

I stood slowly, the weight of the gun foreign in my hand, but not wrong. Just… heavy. Like responsibility.

Like choice.

I walked to the mirror and stared at myself.

Hair pulled back. Bare-faced. No gloss, no polish.

Just Caroline.

And the war she didn’t ask for.

I lifted the gun slightly, watching the reflection of it in my hand.

“I don’t want to be this person,” I whispered.

My voice cracked. Just a little.

“I wanted to paint. To open an art gallery. I wanted quiet. I wanted peace.”

My reflection didn’t answer.

“I wanted to be soft. Not…” I looked down at the weapon. “Not this.”

But then I thought of Robertson. His breath. His hands. His laugh.

I thought of the moment the rope snapped free and my hand moved faster than my fear.

I thought of how it felt to survive.

And slowly… I nodded.

“Maybe soft doesn’t survive in a world like this.”

The door creaked open behind me.

Kane leaned against the frame, his eyes falling instantly to the gun in my hand.

He didn’t stop me.

He didn’t say no.

He just walked up, slow, quiet, until we were shoulder to shoulder in the mirror.

He looked at me. Not the weapon. Not the reflection.

Me.

“Is that the one you want?” he asked softly.

I swallowed. “I don’t know.”

He reached forward, adjusted my grip gently. “You’ll know when you fire it.”

I turned to face him. “I don’t want to kill anyone.”

His eyes were sad. “That’s why you’ll survive longer than most of us.”

I blinked hard. “If I hesitate…”

“Don’t,” he said gently, cutting me off. “Not anymore. If they come through that door, they’re not here to talk. They’re here to finish what they started.”

I nodded. “Then I’ll finish it first.”

He kissed my forehead.

Then pulled back and looked into my eyes. “We leave at dawn.”

I held the gun tighter.

“Yeah…. Sure”