Chapter 96
Chapter 96
Empire of Ashes.
Damian’s POV.
The ringing in my ears was louder than the gunfire. Louder than the chaos tearing the room apart. It was the sound of Claire’s body collapsing into my arms, blood blooming beneath my fingers.
“No..no..no..stay with me,” I growled, dragging her behind a cover as bullets rippled the air. Her lips were trembling, forming my name in broken gasps.
“Damian…”
The world blurred. I saw nothing but her face pale against my shoulder. Rage tore through me like fire in my veins, hot enough to burn down everything.
Across the hall, Lucian’s voice echoed, commanding men who should have been mine. My brother, the one I had trusted to guard my back was giving orders to execute me.
“Take them alive if you can. Tatiana wants Damian breathing. The girl? She doesn’t matter.”
That was it. The confirmation was spoken with Lucian’s cold authority. The betrayal I had sensed in fragments was no longer a whisper. It was a fact.
“Lucian,” I spat under my breath, pressing harder against Claire’s wound. My other hand lifted my gun with mechanical precision, returning fire. “I’ll bury you for this.”
Claire stirred weakly, fingers clawing at my chest. Her eyes locked with mine, desperate, wet with pain. “Don’t stop fighting.”
Even half-conscious, she knew what I needed. Not comfort, but resolve.
My jaw tightened. I set her down gently, shielding her body with my coat, then rose into the storm.
Lucian emerged from the smoke like a phantom, flanked by mercenaries who once bore my crest. His eyes were sharp, triumphant, cold with betrayal.
“Little brother,” Lucian said, voice carding across the wreckage. “Did you really think you could outgrow me? Outshine me?”
My laugh was bitter, unhinged. “You sold your soul to the Sokolovs, to her.”
Tatiana snapped forward then, tall, venomous, beauty cloaked in black. Her gaze swept me over like I was prey. “You killed my father. You gutted our family. Did you think it would end without blood?”
“Your father deserved more than what he got,” I shot back. My voice was thunder. And if you think hiding behind Lucian saves you, you’re more foolish than he is.”
Lucian smirked, leveling his weapon. “I didn’t hide, Damian. I chose. I chose survival. I chose power. You clung to loyalty like it would save you but it only made you weak.”
The men at his back raised their hun at once.
I raised mine, eyes black with fury. “Loyalty made me strong enough to kill Sokolov. And it’ll be strong enough to bury you.”
The first volley cracked through the air. I dove, rolled, and returned fire. The room became a slaughterhouse of shadows and bullets.
All the while, my thoughts burned with one truth. Lucian was not just my betrayer. He was the knife in my spine. The ghost of every weakness I had ignored.
And Tatiana? She was the endgame.
Claire’s muffled cry yanked me back. She was still alive, fighting, bleeding, but alive. That kept me moving. My rage was sharper, faster.
I tore through Lucian’s men, closing the distance between my brother and me. Gun empty, I lunged for a blade, striking with all the precision of years trained in blood.
Lucian parried, steel meeting steel. Sparks flying as our knives clashed.
“You should’ve died with father,” Lucian hissed. “Everything you stole should have been mine.”
“I never stole anything,” I snarled, blade slicing toward his throat. “I earned it. And you were too weak to take it.”
Lucian’s grin was twisted. “Not weak. Patient. And now, Damian, I have what you’ll never get back. Her trust. Tatiana’s heirloom, her army, her will. You’re already dead.”
The name burned. Tatiana was circling like a viper, waiting for us to tear each other apart before she struck the final blow.
I shoved Lucian back, chest heaving, eyes blazing. “You’ll never have Claire. You’ll never touch what’s mine.”
Lucian’s smile faltered. Just for a second, enough to reveal a crack.
I drove the blade forward.
The knife sank into Lucian’s side, hot blood spattering between us. Lucian staggered but didn’t fall. His hand clamped onto my wrist, pulling the blade deeper rather than pulling it away.
“You think this will stop me?” Lucian’s voice rasped, fevered with both pain and obsession. “Damian, I am you. The part you locked away. You kill me, and you kill yourself.”
“Then I’ll die clean,” I growled, twisting the blade before ripping it free. Lucian collapsed, choking, but his laughter followed me like a curse.
“You’ll never win…Tatiana will finish what I started…”
Tatiana stepped forward, clapping slowly. The sound was as sharp as gunfire. Her soldiers closed ranks, weapons raised.
“You Santiagos eat your own,” she said, almost gleeful. “And yet you think you can devour me?”
I stood over Lucian’s bleeding body, gun raised again. “You’re not your father, Tatiana. You’re just another ghost waiting to be put down.”
She tilted her head, eyes glittering. “Then come and try.”
The room erupted again, grenades, bullets, shadows. I charged headlong into the storm.
Somehow, through the madness, I reached Claire again. I dragged her up, pressing her against my chest. Her blood was hot on my skin, but her eyes fluttered open.
“Still…standing.” She whispered.
“Always,” I swore, placing a fierce kiss on her forehead before turning my body into a shield against the incoming storm.
Lucian writhed on the floor, laughing through blood, watching me fight against Tatiana’s army.
Tatiana herself advanced, gun in hand, eyes locked on Claire.
My roar shook the hall. “You’ll never touch her!” Our bullets met midair.
Tatiana’s soldiers fell, and I bled. Claire clung to me, refusing to fall.
And in that instant, I knew this wasn’t just war. This was the final reckoning. The betrayal was complete. The heir was revealed. And only one family would crawl out alive.
The end was coming.