CALLAHAN POV
I broke out of the police van in forty-five seconds.
The officers didn't even see me move. One moment I was handcuffed in the back. The next I was standing outside while they bled out inside.
I didn't kill them. Just put them to sleep. Permanently.
My phone—the real one, hidden in my shoe—buzzed. I pulled it out.
Tracker signal from Vesper's ring: active.
She was still wearing it.
Even after everything. Even after telling me she wanted a divorce. She kept the ring on.
Hope and fury battled in my chest.
I pulled up the location. Warehouse district. East side. Fifteen miles from here.
Three hours if I ran. Two if I stole a car. One if I called in my team.
I dialed Seraphine.
"Tell me you're out," she answered.
"I'm out. Vesper's location is live. Send coordinates to the team. Full tactical. I want that building surrounded in ninety minutes."
"Callahan, it's a trap. You know it's a trap."
"I don't care."
"They're using her to draw you out. Kieran, Theron, all of them. They want you angry and stupid. If you walk in there—"
"I'm walking in there." I started moving, staying in shadows. "Vesper called me. Told me she wants a divorce. Told me not to come for her."
"So don't. Let her go. She's safer away from you anyway."
The words hit like bullets. "What?"
"You heard me." Seraphine's voice was hard. "You've manipulated her life for five years. Lied to her. Watched her without consent. Killed people she knew. You're not the hero in this story, Callahan. You're the villain. Maybe the best thing you can do is let her go."
"No."
"No? That's it? Just no?"
"She's wearing the ring." I ducked into an alley, stealing clothes from a homeless man—unconscious, not dead. "She told me to stay away but she's still wearing the tracker. She wants me to come. She needs me to come."
"Or she forgot to take it off."
"Vesper forgets nothing." I stripped off my bloody shirt, pulled on the stolen jacket. "She's the smartest person I know. If she's wearing that ring, she's telling me something."
"What? That she's bait?"
"That she trusts me. Despite everything. Despite the lies. She still trusts me to come for her."
Seraphine was silent for a moment. "You're going to get yourself killed."
"Probably." I spotted a car. Expensive. Easy to hotwire. "But I'm not losing her. Not to Kieran. Not to anyone."
"Kieran is your brother—"
"Kieran died twenty years ago. Whoever this is, whatever Theron Vex turned him into, that's not my brother anymore."
I broke into the car. Had it started in thirty seconds. Pulled out into traffic.
"The police have your name, your face, everything," Seraphine said. "You're the most wanted man in the country right now. You can't just drive through the city—"
"Watch me."
I hung up and drove.
Fast. Reckless. Every cop in the city was looking for me. Didn't matter. I had one goal: get to Vesper.
My phone buzzed again. Text from unknown number.
I opened it.
A photo appeared. Vesper. Unchained now. Sitting at a table with Kieran and Celestine Vex. She was holding a cup of tea. Smiling.
The message below read: She's not your prisoner anymore, brother. She's our guest. And she's choosing to stay.
I nearly crashed the car.
Another text: Want proof? Here's the video from ten minutes ago.
A video loaded. Vesper speaking to Kieran.
"I'll help you," her voice said. Clear. Steady. "But on one condition. When Callahan comes to save me—because he will come—I want to be the one who faces him. I want to be the one who asks him why."
The video ended.
My hands gripped the steering wheel so hard the leather cracked.
She was working with them. Actively working with them.
Or pretending to. Playing a role. Buying time.
I didn't know which.
Another text: She called you. Told you to stay away. She means it. She doesn't want you anymore. You destroyed her life. Now she's going to help us destroy yours.
I threw the phone across the car. It shattered against the passenger window.
Then I picked up the pieces. Found the tracker app still working.
Vesper's signal: unchanged. Still at the warehouse.
Still wearing my ring.
I drove faster.
The city blurred past. I ignored red lights. Ignored sirens starting to chase me. Ignored everything except the pull toward Vesper.
My phone—what was left of it—rang. I answered with broken glass cutting my hand.
"What?"
"It's me." Vesper's voice. Real. Live. "Don't come, Callahan."
"Too late. I'm already coming."
"I mean it. I don't want you here. I don't want your protection. I don't want—"
"Liar." I cut through her words. "You're still wearing the ring."
Silence. Then: "How did you—"
"Because I know you. I've known you for five years. I know when you're lying. I know when you're scared. I know when you're playing a role." I took a corner too fast. The car skidded. I corrected. "Are they listening to this call?"
"Yes."
"Good. Then they'll hear this too." I looked at my reflection in the rearview mirror. Blood on my face. Fury in my eyes. The monster everyone feared. "I'm coming for my wife. Anyone who tries to stop me dies. Anyone who touches her dies. Anyone who even looks at her wrong dies. You have two hours to let her go. After that, I burn that building down with everyone inside."
"Callahan—"
"Two hours, Vesper. Then I'm coming in. Be ready."
I hung up.
Checked the tracker. One hour and forty-five minutes to her location.
I pressed the gas pedal to the floor.
My phone buzzed one more time. Another unknown number.
I answered. "What?"
"Hello, Architect." Theron Vex's voice was smooth. Amused. "I've been wanting to talk to you for years. Finally, you're vulnerable enough to have a conversation."
"If you hurt her—"
"Hurt her? I'm helping her. Showing her the truth about what you are. What you've done." He paused. "Did you know your wife is brilliant? She figured out your entire financial network in twenty minutes. All your shell companies. All your hidden accounts. She's helping us dismantle everything you've built."
My blood ran cold. "You're lying."
"Am I? Check your offshore account in the Cayman Islands. The one with $500 million. Check it right now."
I pulled over. Grabbed Seraphine's backup phone from under the seat. Logged into my accounts.
The Cayman account: empty.
Transferred out thirty minutes ago.
"See?" Theron laughed. "Your wife is very good with numbers. Very good at destroying things when she's motivated. And right now, she's very motivated to destroy you."
"Let me talk to her."
"No. But I'll give you a choice. You can keep coming. Keep trying to save her. And watch her help us take everything you have. Or you can walk away. Disappear. Let her go. Let her live her life free of you."
"I'm not walking away."
"Then you're a fool. Because Vesper doesn't want you anymore. She wants revenge. Against you. Against everyone who lied to her. And we're giving her exactly what she wants."
The call ended.
I sat in the stolen car, shaking.
Vesper had access to my accounts. She knew my systems. If she wanted to destroy me, she could.
But she was still wearing the ring.
I checked the tracker again.
The signal moved. She was being transported. New location loading.
Not the warehouse anymore.
Somewhere else. Somewhere isolated.
The coordinates appeared: abandoned factory. River district. The same place where Kieran fell twenty years ago. The same bridge where I lost my brother.
Kieran was taking Vesper to the place where everything started.
To finish it.
I started the car again. Changed direction. Heading for the river.
My phone buzzed. Video message. I played it.
Vesper stood on the old bridge. The same bridge that collapsed under Kieran.
Kieran stood beside her, holding her hand.
"Hello, brother," Kieran said to the camera. "Welcome home. Let's finish what we started twenty years ago. Bring your wife. Bring your empire. Bring everything. Because tonight, one of us falls. Just like I fell. Just like you should have fallen."
He moved behind Vesper. Put a knife to her throat.
She didn't struggle. Just stared at the camera with those violet eyes.
"Come alone," Kieran continued. "Or I cut her throat and throw her in the river. You have one hour."
The video ended.
I looked at the time.
One hour to get there. To save her. To end this.
Or to lose everything.
I drove into the night, racing toward the place where my nightmare began.
Where it would finally end.
One way or another.