Chapter 80

Chapter 80
Resurrection in the dark. 

I never liked Moscow’s air. 
It has heaviness to it. A quiet weight that seeped into the lungs and settled in bones like bad memories. 
We arrived in silence. 
The jet landed under a gray dusk, the sky split with clouds like a cracked tombstone. Elias greeted us on the tarmac, flanked by two trusted guards. No words were exchanged. Only nods, weapons checked, and a shared look between Damian and his second-in-command. 
We were expecting war. 
What I wasn’t expecting…was the voice message. 
I sat in the bulletproof SUV as we sped toward our safe house outside the city when Damian handed me his phone. 
“Came an hour before we landed,” he said. “No known origin. Scrambled signature. But listen.”
I pressed play. 
At first, it was just static. Then the unmistakable voice, calm, mocking, and cruel in its elegance. 
“Miss me, Damian?”
My breath caught. I know that voice. Lucian Reyes. Dead Lucian Reyes. 
“I would have called sooner, but faking your death is exhausting business. I imagine you’re seething right now. Good. That means you still care. And as for Claire…I’d like a word. After all, I never got to say sorry for what happened to your father. Or perhaps….congratulations. You’ve come quite far since Zurich.”
The message ended. 
I stared down at the screen, my hand trembling. “He’s alive.”
Damian’s jaw was locked, the tension in his body coiled like a viper ready to strike. “He played us all.”
“Why now?” I whispered. “Why come back now?”
Damian looked straight ahead, eyes cold. 
“Because Sokolov’s empire has left a vacuum,” he said. “And Lucian wants the crown.”
The safe house on the edge of Moscow was buried under a thicket of fir trees, barely visible from the main road. Inside, I paced the war room, while the team traced the message’s source.
“I don’t understand,” I murmured, my mind spinning. “We buried him. I remember…the funeral.”
Damian leaned against the desk, arms crossed. 
“Closed casket. No body. Just ashes. He made sure no one could identify anything. I should’ve known. He always planned ten steps ahead.”
Elias stepped in with a tablet. “We got a ping. The message came from a server under a shell company one tied to a Sokolov offshore account. But it’s not Sokolov’s signature. It’s a decoy.”
“Lucian,” I said. 
“Where is he?” Damian asked.
Elias hesitated. “He left a follow-up ping. Coordinates. Wants a private meeting.”
“Alone?” I said. 
Damian nodded grimly. “Only one reason Lucian wants us isolated.”
“To show he still controls the board.”
That night, we met under an abandoned gallery off the Arbat streets. Snow dusted the cracked skylights, and broken statues lay fallen like angels across the marble floors. 
The place was cold, hollow, and exactly the kind of theatrics Lucian adored.
He was already there. 
Standing under a broken chandelier, dressed in a sharp charcoal suit, gloves hands tucked neatly behind his back. His face looked the same. Handsome, calculating, ice beneath skin.
He smiled when we entered. 
“Ah. My favorite power couple.”
My breath caught in my throat. The man I see now was nothing like the ghost I had wept for. 
“You’re supposed to be dead,” I said.
“I am,” Lucian replied with a grin. “To the world. But I’ve found death…to be freeing.”
Damian didn’t speak, just stared. 
Lucian stepped forward. “You didn’t even look for the body. That hurt, Damian.”
“You wanted to disappear,” Damian said. “You got your wish.”
“And yet I’m back,” Lucian said, pausing a boot from me. “Because things have changed.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You sold my father out to Sokolov.”
Lucian smiled tightly. “I brokered peace. What Sokolov did with that information wasn’t in my hands.”
“You liar,” I snapped. 
Lucian’s mask cracked just slightly. 
“I saved you,” he said softly. “I gave Sokolov what he wanted so he wouldn’t come for you, too. Your father was a liability. But you… You were useful.”
“You let him die,” I hissed. 
“I let myself live.”
Damian stepped between us. “Why come back?”
Lucian tilted his head. “Because Victor Sokolov’s empire is falling. And while you were too busy chasing revenge, I see opportunity. I want in. Not beside him. Not beside you. Above.”
“You’re insane,” I whispered. 
Lucian’s smile returned. “Insanity is just ambition that scares small minds.”
Lucian tossed a USB stick onto the dusty table beside us. 
“This has the true location of Sokolov’s heir.”
Damian stiffened. “Heir?”
Lucian nodded. “Victor’s daughter. Hidden. Raised to inherit everything. You can kill Sokolov, but if they don’t remove her too, his legacy survives.”
I took the USB. 
“And what do you want in return?” I asked. 
Lucian’s eyes glinted. 
“Immunity. And a seat at the table after you burn his house down.” 
Damian laughed bitterly. “You want to rule?” 
“I want to survive,” Lucian said. “Which is more than either of you has been doing.”
I crossed my arms. “We’re not giving you anything.”
Lucian shrugged. “Then take the drive. And remember the deeper you dig, the closer you get to me. So make sure you’re ready for what you’ll find.”
He turned to leave. But then stopped at the door. 
“Oh…and Claire?” He said without turning.
“I didn’t just protect you. I admire you. That fire…it’s still why you’re still alive.”
Then he vanished into the Moscow night.
Back at the safe house, I sat at the edge of the bed, holding the USB like it might explode. 
Damian stood by the window, brooding. 
“He’s going to betray us again,” I said. “It’s just a matter is when.”
“I know,” Damian replied. 
“Then why not kill him now?”
He turned to me slowly. 
“Because he still has something we need. Once he gives it all…he’s done.”
“And if he plays us?”
Damian’s voice dropped. 
“Then I’ll finish what I started years ago. And this time, I’ll make sure there’s a body.”
I stood. 
Our reflections met in the shadows. War scarred, haunted, alive. 
“We’re running out of time,” I whispered. 
Damian nodded. 
“Then we move at dawn.”