Chapter 68

Chapter 68
A sharp exhale left his lungs, but it didn’t ease the pressure building inside him. His body vibrated with something volatile, something on the edge of breaking. He pressed his hands to the table, steadying himself, forcing the fury into something controlled, something he could use.
Mika was watching him. He could feel her eyes on him, studying him, waiting for the explosion. But he didn’t give her one.
Instead, he let the silence stretch, let the truth settle deep into his bones. Then, finally, his lips curled into something sharp, something dark.
"That bastard really thought he owned me."
His voice was quiet, deadly. He lifted his gaze, meeting Mika’s eyes. The storm had passed over his face, replaced with something colder, something lethal.
He let out a breath, steady, controlled. "He spent his whole life making sure I’d never turn against him. That I’d never be anything but his weapon."
A beat passed. Then another.
And then Seamus smirked.
"Guess I’ll have to teach him how wrong he was."
Mika’s expression hardened, her own fire reflecting back at him. "We take him down. We end this."
Seamus nodded, rolling his shoulders, shaking out the last remnants of hesitation. The war had always been personal, but now it was something else.
It was revenge.
And he wasn’t going to stop until Kiernan O’Sullivan was nothing more than a body in the dirt.
Seamus sat in the dim glow of the bunker’s only desk lamp, his fingers flying across the keyboard of his encrypted laptop. The reality of what was coming settled deep in his chest—cold, unshakable. He knew how this would end. One way or another, the war with Kiernan would claim him.
He wasn’t afraid of dying. He had made peace with that a long time ago. What unsettled him now was the idea of leaving Mika behind with nothing.
She had to survive.
And if he wasn’t there to protect her, he would damn well make sure she had everything she needed to disappear.
He logged into an offshore account under one of his many aliases, his gaze flicking toward the series of numbers displayed on the screen. Millions. More than enough to buy freedom, to buy a new life. With a few keystrokes, he transferred the entire balance into an untraceable account under Mika’s name, securing it with multiple layers of encryption so that only she could access it when the time came.
She’d fight him on it if she ever found out. But she wouldn’t—at least, not until it was too late to argue.
Next, he pulled up a series of false identities—passports, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, all meticulously forged, all tied to bank accounts, properties, and escape routes. He adjusted the details, aligning them all with Mika’s image, her fingerprints, her future. If she had to run, she wouldn’t just be a ghost. She would be untouchable.
He leaned back, exhaling slowly. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. But it was something. It was a safety net she didn’t even know she needed.
Then, Seamus moved on to the contingency plans.
He drafted encrypted messages to some of his underground contacts, the kind of people who didn’t ask questions, who owed him favors—ensuring that if Mika ever needed assistance, there would be hands willing to pull her from the fire. Weapons caches, safe houses, hidden stashes of cash—he marked locations, set up failsafe instructions, pre-recorded messages that would only trigger if he didn’t check in after the final showdown with Kiernan.
His chest tightened.
He didn’t let himself think about what it meant. Didn’t let himself dwell on the idea of Mika finding these files without him there to explain.
He just kept working, kept securing every possible way out, kept building a future for her—even if he wouldn’t be in it.
The only thing he couldn’t prepare for, the only thing he had no answer to, was whether or not she would even take it.
Would she run?
Would she leave him behind, or would she come back for his body?
Seamus clenched his jaw, forcing the thought away. It didn’t matter.
All he could do was give her the chance to live.
Whether she took it was up to her.