Ashes of steel
Ashes of steel
Chapter 80: Ashes of Steel
(Federal Prison – Visitors Room, 9:42 AM)
(Jake)
Jake Fraser was a shadow of the man he used to be.
The prison had stripped him down to bone and steel. The softness in his cheeks was gone, the defiant youth in his walk had hardened into quiet calculation. But his eyes—those damned, haunted eyes—still burned. With guilt. With memories. With fire that refused to die.
Since the last letter he got from Valerie, he wasn’t expecting anyone, but hopefully to see his family soon, after Valerie exposes Dr Martin and Mr Maxwell.
Just then, he got an invitation for a visitor, although he wasn't expecting anyone,
The door creaked open. Jake glanced up...and froze.
Mr. Maxwell strode in like a storm in human form. Gray trench coat, leather gloves, and an expression carved from frozen granite. He didn’t speak. Didn’t greet. Just placed a slim silver case on the table and snapped it open like it held the end of the world.
Jake pushed himself halfway to standing, instinct taking over. “What the hell are you doing here?”
No answer.
Maxwell clicked a button. The mini projector purred to life, casting flickering light against the far wall.
Jake didn’t know what he was about to see.
But he would never forget it.
A dim room. Concrete walls stained with shadows.
Then......her.
Valerie.
Bound to a chair, blood dripping from her temple, her hair matted and dirty. Her mouth was bruised, but her eyes—God, those eyes—were wide open. Alive. Defiant.
Then came the voice.
Calm. Precise. Poison in silk.
Dr. Martin.
“Say your name.”
The silence stretched.
Jake’s heartbeat pounded in his ears.
Valerie inhaled shakily, lips trembling but voice clear:
“My name is Valerie Greene… and I’m not afraid of you.”
She stared into the camera like it was the man she would take to hell herself.
Then the screen went black.
Jake’s fists clenched so hard that the skin across his knuckles split.
He hadn’t even realized he was breathing until he heard the shallow rasp coming from his own throat.
Maxwell finally spoke.
“Three days ago, she was taken during the Vault Echo raid. She was injured., and we captured her..... Now... we are using her. And if you don’t cooperate she’s dead within the week.”
Jake looked up slowly. His voice was hoarse. “Why are you showing me this?”
Maxwell didn’t blink. “Because you need to see for yourself, You need to understand what’s at stake. And because we need something only you can give.”
He slid a thick folder across the table. The manila surface was worn at the edges. Jake opened it, fingers trembling, and was greeted with chaos. Satellite images. Blueprints. Network maps. Photographs of known operatives.
But there was more.
A final page. One sentence is underlined in red.
Primary Objective: Fraser Legacy Protocol – Transfer of Ownership.
Jake frowned, scanning the words again, disbelief twisting his features. “You want me to give up Fraser Industries? That’s what this is about?”
“No,” Maxwell said. “This is about leverage. We need access to the Fraser network—its systems, accounts, shell companies, and private servers. All of it. You sign the transfer, we run a ghost operation through the assets, and you get her back.”
Jake leaned back in his chair, the weight of the past three years crashing down like a tombstone. “And what do you want me to do exactly?”
Maxwell’s eyes narrowed. “Closure. Redemption. A chance to fight for something you didn’t know you might lose".
Jake stared at the table. Valerie’s face flickered in his mind—bloodied but unbroken.
“She never cried,” he said quietly. “Not even when I left. She just… watched me walk away.”
Maxwell was already rising. “You’re not getting out, Jake. But that doesn’t mean you’re useless.”
He turned to leave, gloves creaking as he reached for the case.
Then paused at the door. “You have twenty-four hours.”
Jake remained still long after Maxwell disappeared.
Alone again.
But not empty.
He stared down at the folder, at the coordinates, the images, the fragments of a world he once ruled. A name whispered in his skull louder than a scream.
Valerie.
For the first time in three years, something inside him shifted.
Not just guilt. Not just regret, but hunger for revenge.
A few minutes later,
He dragged the folder toward him, opened a pen, and stared at it for a longer time, then paused
Jake stared at the folder again, every nerve in his body screaming. The page in front of him wasn't a contract—it was a coffin. A clean, sterile grave for everything he had built, inherited, and betrayed.
just then Maxwell came back,
he didn't leave.
Not yet.
He stood by the door, watching.
Jake’s voice came low, rough with disbelief. “You’re asking me to transfer everything. My birthright. My family’s legacy. Everything my Father died trying to protect.”
Maxwell didn’t flinch. “We’re not asking. We’re telling you the cost of her life.”
The words landed like a punch.
Jake slammed the folder shut, jaw clenched. “Why not go to my board? To my lawyers? Why drag me into this if you’ve already buried me in here?”
Maxwell took a slow step forward. “Because the last firewall—your Father's final protection requires you. A biometric seal and a verbal override keyed to your heartbeat. he built it to make sure no one could take Fraser Industries from you. Not even the government. Not even us.”
He leaned closer.
“He trusted you, Jake. Even when you stopped trusting yourself.”
Jake’s breath caught.
He remembered his Father's voice—soft, almost fragile—telling him on the night He died that the world would come for his soul wearing different masks. That the true war wasn’t fought with bullets or boardrooms—but with choices.
And now the mask wore Maxwell’s face.
Jake's voice trembled despite the steel in it. “And if I give you this, you’ll bring her back?”
Maxwell’s expression twisted—just slightly. “We’ll try.”
Jake’s world tilted.
Try?
“Try?” he echoed, his voice rising, shaking. “You want me to burn my name to the ground for a chance—a goddamn maybe?”
“She’s not the only one, Jake,” Maxwell said quietly. “There is Audrey, your daughter.. ... Dr Martin’s building something big. You don’t just owe this to her. You owe it to your daughter too”
Jake fell silent. Something cracked in him. Something old. Heavy.
He looked back at the projector, now dark. But he still saw her. Her eyes. Her blood.
Her strength.
Valerie never begged.
And she sure as hell wasn’t begging now.
But he was.
To the part of himself that had nearly died here. The man who once held her like she was the only thing that made sense. The boy who never knew he could destroy her.
He reached again for the file.
“You said biometric,” Jake muttered. “That means you need me alive.”
Maxwell nodded once.
Jake looked up, eyes filled with something new—something ancient.
“Then I have conditions.”