The empire felt colder and the air heavy after Kane's escap, not because of him, but because of what it meant.
A mole
Parasite
Betrayal.
He didn't need to scream it out loud. His silence was worse. It seeped through the halls, into the barracks, across every corner of the compound. Men whispered when they thought no one was listening. Guards checked their backs twice. Recruits sweated under their uniforms. Everyone knew the Boss was watching , planing , baiting…..
The captains were called into the war room. The map of the city spread wide across the table, red pins marking enemy territories, blue pins marking Dominic's own.
"Three shipments leave the port tonight," Dominic said smoothly, his voice calm, steady. "One is real. Two are bait."
He let his gaze sweep across the room, slow steady , dangerous ... No one dared meet his eyes for long.
"Anyone who leaks the wrong shipment…" He poured himself a drink, swirling the amber liquid lazily. "…is the rat."
A chill settled over the room.
Mark shifted beside him, hands folded behind his back, his presence solid as stone. The recruits watching from the shadows said nothing.
It was a game of patience now. Dominic's kind of game.
John's throat went dry. He could feel the Boss's eyes brush over him like a blade. Dominic wasn't looking directly at him, but he might as well have been.
John told himself he was safe. Kane was gone, vanished into the cracks of the city. No one could tie him to this. Not yet, But the empire didn't feel safe anymore. Every corner felt like a noose tightening
The night air outside Dominic's compound tasted sweeter than Kane remembered.
Freedom. A gift wrapped in betrayal .
John had done his part. Slipped him the key, opened the back door, and whispered only one word before disappearing into the dark: Run.Kane hadn't needed to be told twice.
Now, miles away in a safehouse hidden beneath an old butcher shop, he stitched his wounds by candlelight. Every pass of the needle through his flesh reminded him: Dominic Moretti wasn't untouchable. His empire wasn't airtight.
"Your own man, Dom," Kane muttered under his breath, a grin splitting his bloodied face. "One of your dogs opened the cage for me."The thoughts of the betrayal fills him with a twisted form of happiness "you aren't as invisible as I thought " Dominic ruled through fear, but fear was a brittle leash. All it took was one man willing to break. And Kane had found him.He would rebuild. Slowly, quietly. Find the cracks in Dominic's walls and dig his claws into them until the whole fortress came down."Enjoy your empire while you can, Moretti," Kane whispered, licking blood from his lip. "Because I've already poisoned the roots."
At midnight, Dominic added another layer. He called all the recruits into the courtyard. Rain poured down, soaking them to the bone. Torches burned against the storm, the firelight flickering on their faces.
"You want a place here?" Dominic's voice cut through the storm. "Then you prove you bleed for me,you earn it blood for blood.life for life "
He tossed a duffel bag to the ground. Inside: disassembled rifles, live magazines, and time ticking against them.
"You have fifteen minutes to assemble, load, and fire. Miss the target once, and you're out. Fail to finish in time…" His eyes lingered on Elena, then on Jay, then swept across the rest. "…and you'll wish you were out."
The recruits scrambled, hands shaking in the rain, trying to prove their worth. Jay's movements were smooth, precise—like a man who had studied every video, every whisper of Dominic Moretti's legend. Elena's eyes were cold, her focus unbroken, even as water ran down her face and Dominic? He just stood there, arms folded, watching. Not for speed. Not for skill. For weakness. For cracks. For a traitor's twitch.
By dawn, the recruits had passed—or broken. Two had collapsed from the pressure, their weapons clattering uselessly into the mud. Dominic didn't even look at them.
Instead, he returned to his office, the reports already waiting on his desk. One of the false shipments had been hit overnight.
A smile curved across his lips.
The rat had bitten...hard
Meanwhile, in the safehouse, Kane stretched his battered body and looked at the men gathering in the dark corners of the butcher's cellar—thugs, mercenaries, enemies of Dominic who smelled weakness like sharks in blood.The whispers had already begun: Kane is back. Dominic bleeds.
And Kane fed them with a smile.
The game had shifted. Dominic was hunting the rat inside his empire. But Kane? He was building an army outside it.