CHAPTER 78

CHAPTER 78
Chapter 78
Caroline’s POV

Diane Ross died at 3:42 AM.

The words blinked across Kane’s encrypted server like some twisted headline. Stark. Clinical. Cold.

But the silence in our apartment wasn’t.

Kane froze mid-step, one boot still untied, his shirt half-buttoned as the alert blared low from the wall monitor.

I was standing near the dresser, a holster in my hand.

Preparing. Ready to leave.

But the second I saw her name, Diane Ross, Deceased something shifted in my chest. Something I didn’t expect.

“What the hell?” I muttered, crossing the room. “Is that…”

“Confirmed,” Kane said tightly. “Biometrics. Her retinal scan went cold three minutes ago.”

I blinked. “Cold?”

“Dead,” he said simply.

I stared at the screen. I didn’t feel sad, not really. But I felt… something.

Maybe because Diane had always felt untouchable. A myth dressed in silk and venom. An enemy you didn’t beat, you survived.

And now she was gone.

“She was part of the core,” I whispered. “One of the originals. This… changes things, right?”

Kane didn’t answer immediately. He reached for his tablet, pulled up the remaining active signals in Diane’s lair.

Kelly had helped set signal sensors in there so we could track their every move

“Raymond,” he said, tone sharpening like a blade. “He was there. The last ping beside hers.”

“You think he killed her?”

“I know he did.”

A shiver crawled down my spine. “So he’s making moves now. One by one.”

“No,” Kane said. “He’s consolidating power. Diane was never meant to live past the plan’s next phase. She was too independent. Too unpredictable.”

He turned to me. “That means you and I… we’re running out of time.”

I nodded, forcing my hands to keep moving, strapping the holster to my thigh, tightening my boots.

“Do we tell Gina?”

“She’ll hear it eventually,” Kane said. “Let her grieve. Or pretend to. Either way, she still hasn’t proven which side she’s really on.”

I didn’t argue.

Still… I couldn’t help but glance at the pen Gina had brought, now dismantled, wires and all on our kitchen island. A silent reminder that the past always found ways to circle back.

“She’s alone now,” I said quietly. “No Diane. Just Raymond. And Jayson’s name as a mask.”

Kane lifted his head. “That mask’s cracking and she's got Kelly, I'm sure he'll find her useful.”

I walked up to him and paused. “Are you okay?”

He blinked, surprised. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you once loved Diane,” I said gently. “Even if she’s been a villain since… forever. She was a piece of your past.”

Kane’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I buried that piece the night she sold me out. I’m not grieving her, Caroline. I’m planning what her death means.”

“And what does it mean?”

“That we’re getting closer to the end.”

A beat passed.

Then he touched my hand.

“You still sure about coming with me?” he asked.

I gave a crooked smile. “I loaded my own gun this morning, Kane. I’m not backing out now.”

His eyes warmed just slightly. “Good.”

We turned to face the screen again. Diane’s bio faded from red to black. A silent death notice. No mourning. No tribute. Just… deletion.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

Kane’s voice was low. Resolute.

“Now?” He slid a second gun into his holster. “Now we hit back. Before Raymond thinks he’s won.”

I nodded.

And together, we walked out the door.

Gina’s POV

“Diane?”

My voice echoed through the empty corridors of the lair, hollow, tight.

Too quiet.

I knew something was wrong the moment I stepped past the elevator. The lights were dimmer. The air still. Like the building itself was holding its breath.

I walked faster. Past the war room. Past the glass wall with the maps still half-marked. Her red jacket was draped over the back of her chair like she’d only just stepped out.

But she didn’t step back in.

“Diane?” I called again, louder this time.

And then I saw her.

Her body was crumpled on the floor by the window, blood soaking the white tiles beneath her in a slow, sticky pool. Her red hair clung to her cheek. Her eyes… open, vacant.

“No.” The word fell out of me as I ran, knees buckling as I dropped beside her.

“No, no, no…Diane…”

She was still warm.

Still warm.

“Please.” My fingers trembled as I pressed to the side of her neck. There was no pulse.

There was so much blood.

My stomach twisted.

“Why…” My breath hitched, and I shook her lightly, desperately. “Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you say something?”

Her mouth was parted slightly, and for a moment, I swore she was about to speak.

But she didn’t.

And she never would again.

Tears blurred my vision. I wiped them away angrily. Diane Ross wasn’t supposed to die like this.

We weren’t in love. Not really.

But we had... moments.

Nights when plans blurred into touch, into lips, into promises neither of us meant but both of us needed.

And now she was gone.

Because of him.

Because of Raymond. Jayson.

The man who wore his brother’s name like a weapon.

I leaned down, gently brushing a blood-matted strand of hair away from her face.

“You still owed me a goodbye, you cruel bitch,” I whispered. “You said I’d outlive all of them. You weren’t supposed to be one of them.”

I sat there for what felt like hours. Could’ve been five minutes. Could’ve been fifty.

And then…

Footsteps.

I turned sharply, eyes burning.

Kelly stepped through the door, dressed in black, blood spattered across the front of his shirt. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

We stared at each other.

“You knew,” I said bitterly, rising to my feet. “You knew he’d kill her.”

Kelly’s jaw flexed. “I suspected. Not this fast.”

“Why are you even here?” I snapped. “To finish what he started?”

He looked past me to Diane’s body. His expression didn’t change.

“No,” he said. “I came to offer you something.”

I laughed, wet and sharp. “You want to console me now? You’re Kane’s brother, Kelly.”

“I’m not Kane,” he said quietly. “And you and I both want the same thing.”

I folded my arms, heart pounding. “You’re playing both sides?”

“I’m ending both sides,” he replied. “Raymond thinks I’m still in his pocket. Kane thinks I’m his ally. Neither of them realize I’m just waiting for the perfect moment to bury them all.”

I stepped closer, cautious. “And Diane?”

“She was a threat. She wanted her own kingdom.”

“She didn’t deserve this.”

“No,” Kelly admitted. “But we don’t get to pick who bleeds in this game. We only get to decide who survives.”

I studied him.

This was Kane’s blood. The same steely glare. The same ruthless logic.

But something in Kelly was colder. Sharper. As if he’d already died once and was just walking around out of spite.

“You’re serious,” I said slowly.

He nodded. “Help me kill Kane, and I’ll help you take down Raymond. The real one. Not the mask.”

I hesitated. “Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t,” he said, stepping around Diane’s body and kneeling beside it. “But you can believe one thing—I hate Kane more than you do.”

I stared at him.

And then at her.

Diane Ross. Dead. Cold. Gone.

I owed her nothing anymore.

But I owed them.

And I owed myself.

Slowly, I nodded.

“Then let’s burn them all.”