Keifer POV
The tires of my SUV didn't just roll; they screamed against the asphalt, a mirror to the roar trapped in my chest. Beside me, Angelo sat in a silence so heavy it felt like lead. We weren't just driving to a location Alex had pinned; we were driving to the end of Lucas's life.
The warehouse was a skeletal remains of a shipping yard by the docks, shrouded in a fog that smelled of salt and rot. I didn't wait for the car to fully stop. I bailed out, the door swinging wide, my boots hitting the gravel with a crunch that sounded like breaking bone.
"He's in the back office," Alex's voice crackled through the comms. "He thinks he's waiting for a getaway boat. He has no idea the ghosts are coming for him."
I didn't sneak. I didn't hide. I kicked the corrugated metal doors open with such force the hinges groaned in agony. There he was. Lucas. He was packing a duffel bag, his face pale and sweating under the harsh flicker of a single overhead bulb.
"Keifer! Wait, I can explain—"
I didn't let him finish. I was across the room in three strides. My fist connected with his jaw, a sickening crack echoing through the hollow space. My first punch wasn't for justice; it was for the sound of Jay's scream
He hit the floor, and I was on him instantly. I didn't use technique. I used pure, unadulterated hate. I tackled him into the desk, the wood splintering as we hit the floor. I rained blows down on him, my vision a pulsing, rhythmic red.
Left. Right.
The copper tang of his blood sprayed onto my knuckles, but I didn't feel the impact. I only saw Jay's face, pale and broken under a mountain of tubes.
"Keifer! Stop!"
A hand caught my shoulder—Angelo. On the other side, Kyle grabbed my arm.
"Let go!" I snarled, my vision a blurring haze of red."Let me kill him! Let me finish it!" I screamed, blood—Lucas's blood—spraying from my lips.
"Not yet," Kyle said, his voice a low, vibrating hum of malice. His eyes weren't those of a brother; they were the eyes of a reaper. "Don't kill him yet. We haven't had our turn."
"Killing him is too fast." Angelo hissed, his eyes twin voids of black malice," We are going to break him piece by piece. He owes all of us."
I backed off, chest heaving, as the others filed in. A phalanx of vengeance. The Section E boys stood in a semi-circle, their faces devoid of humanity. Our fathers stood at the front, their grief having curdled into something far more lethal than anger.
"The rule is one hit," I said stepping forward. I looked like an aristocrat, but when I moved, it was with the lethality of a predator. "One hit with everything you have. For Jay."
Keizer ,my dad,stepped into the light.He didn't wait for a plea. He wound back and delivered a calculated, heavyweight hook to Lucas's ribs. I heard the distinct snap of three ribs caving in. Lucas wheezed, a spray of pink foam leaving his lips. He collapsed, a high, thin wheeze escaping his lungs as they were punctured by the shards of his own ribcage.
"That," My dad whispered, "is for the daughter I almost lost.
Jaspher, Jay's dad, stepped up next. His eyes were red-rimmed from crying, but his hand was steady as a mountain.He looked like a man who had aged ten years in a night, but his arm was steady. He drove a straight punch into Lucas's nose, flattening the bridge until it was a pulp of cartilage.
"For every tear my daughter shed," Jaspher whispered.
Then came the brothers.
Kyle stepped in, his face a mask of cold fury. He delivered a kidney shot so powerful it sent Lucas into a convulsing heap.
"For the fear you put in her eyes," Kyle growled.
Percy followed.He drove a heavy boot into Lucas's knee, the joint popping outward with a sickening crunch of ligaments.
"For the 'glitch' you thought was clever," Percy spat.
Aries stepped forward, his eyes twin pits of fire. He didn't punch; he drove his palm into Lucas's ear, rupturing the drum. Lucas let out a high-pitched, warbling scream.
"Listen to that sound, Lucas," Aries muttered. "It's the sound of your world collapsing.I want you to feel every second of this."
Angelo didn't say a word. He simply stepped over the groveling man and delivered a downward punch to his solar plexus, knocking the very air from his lungs.Lucas's shoulder, shattering the collarbone into fragments.
"For Jay," was all he said.
The Section E boys moved in like a well-oiled machine of destruction.
Yuri delivered a brutal cross to the temple. "For the family you tried to orphan."
Cin landed a blow to the gut that made Lucas vomit blood. "For the peace you stole."
Felix, Rory, and Edrix followed, each hit a thunderclap of raw power, targeting his limbs until Lucas was nothing but a shivering pile of bruised meat.
Blaster and Eren stepped in, their punches synchronization in violence. "Target acquired," Blaster mocked. "Target destroyed."
Josh, Drew, and didn't hold back, their hits landing on Lucas's chest and thighs, leaving deep, purple welts that bloomed instantly.
Ben landed a brutal blow to the temple that sent Lucas spinning. "For the girl you tried to ruin."
Max and Liam ended the line, Liam's fist catching Lucas's chin and snapping his head back. "You're a parasite, Lucas," Liam hissed. "And parasites get crushed."
The room fell silent, save for Lucas's ragged, wet breathing. I stepped back into the center of the circle. I looked down at the man who had tried to take my soul. I reached down, grabbed him by the hair, and forced him to look at me.
"You thought you were playing for a throne," I said, my voice echoing like a death knell. "But you forgot the golden rule: In this empire, Jay-Jay is the Goddess, and I am the devil that protects her. You don't get to die yet. You're going to live long enough to watch us take everything you ever loved and burn it to ash. I am going to make sure this world becomes your living hell. You will rot in a cage, and every time you close your eyes, you will see my face and remember the night you died while you were still breathing."
I delivered the final blow—a straight, devastating punch to his jaw that turned his lights out completely.He hit the floor, dead to the world.
------------------------------
Jane's POV
While the men were dealing with the monster, we were dealing with the architects.While they were unleashing the beast, we were the cold, silent blade.
The Mariano mansion was silent, smelling of expensive lilies and old secrets. Mr August and Mrs. Luna Mariano were sitting in their high-backed chairs like royalty awaiting a report.They looked up, startled, as we burst in.
Mia and Freya blocked the main exits, their hands on their holsters.
Ella stepped forward, her eyes flashing with a predatory gleam as she kicked the tea table aside, shattering the porcelain. "No more tea, you monsters," Ella hissed. "The only thing you're drinking today is the bitter truth of your failure."
Mica moved like a shadow, standing behind August Mariano's chair and leaning down to whisper in his ear. "I can hear your heart racing," Mica whispered, her voice a chilling monotone. "It sounds like a clock ticking down to your last hour of freedom."
Rakki stepped into the center, her jaw set in a hard line. She grabbed a heavy crystal vase and smashed it at their feet. "That's for the car," Rakki growled. "Next time, it won't be glass. It'll be your legacy."
"What is the meaning of this?" Luna Mariano blustered, her hands shaking as she set het teacup down.
"The meaning?" Tita Gemma said stepping forward , her voice was a low, dangerous vibrato. "The meaning is that you tried to kill your own blood for a bank account. You are not a grandfather. You are a carcass waiting for a grave."
"You're late," August Mariano sneered, his voice trembling despite his arrogance. "Is it done?"
Jeana, Our mother, walked straight up to him. She didn't look like the grieving woman from the hospital. She looked like a queen reclaiming her territory. She grabbed the front of his silk robe, hauling the old man to his feet with a strength born of pure maternal rage.
"It is done," she hissed, her voice a low, terrifying growl. "Your plan failed. Your grandson is a pulp on a warehouse floor, and your empire is a pile of ash. You tried to kill my baby. You tried to burn my heart. You are not a Mariano. You are a monster, and I will be the one who buries you."
Serina, Keifer's mother, stepped up to Luna Mariano, who was shrinking into her velvet armchair. Serina leaned down, her face inches from Luna .She tried to pull away, but Tita Serina grabbed her chin, forcing their eyes to lock.
"You thought your age and your name made you untouchable," Serina whispered, her voice like ice cutting through silk. "But you touched my son's heart when you touched Jay. You are a hollow, bitter shell of a woman.. I have spent my life building a name of honor, but for you, I will become a demon. I will make sure the last thing you see before you die is the walls of a prison cell."
"The police are at the gates," Freya said, her voice clear and commanding. "We have the server logs. We have the financial trail. And we have Lucas's confession, which he is currently bleeding into a warehouse floor."
Aya held her tablet high, the screen flashing with the digital proof of their murder plot. "Every encrypted message, every offshore payment—I have it all," Aya declared, her fingers trembling with a mix of rage and triumph. "You thought you were ghosts in the machine, but I am the one who owns the code."
The front doors burst open, blue and red lights strobing against the expensive wallpaper. Officers flooded the room, but they stopped when they saw the circle of women standing guard.
As the handcuffs clicked onto Mr. Mariano's wrists, he looked at Jane, his face twisted in a sneer. "You think you've won? We are the foundation of this family!"
I didn't flinch. I stepped closer, her eyes flashing with a bold, final authority.
"You aren't the foundation, you're the rot," I declared. "And today, we've finished the renovation. Take them away. I want them to rot in a cell where they can hear the silence of the empire they no longer own."
As they were dragged out, screaming about their legacy, Our mom shared a look. The battle for the streets was over. Now, the only thing that mattered was the girl in the ICU.
"Let's go," I said, turning toward the door. Jay is waiting."
------------------------------,