<b>Chapter </b><b>200 </b>
Author’s POV:
Eclipse stumbled through <b>the </b>side entrance of thepound, clutching his bleeding arm. Blood seeped between his fingers, staining his tactical gear. His face<b>, </b>usually a mask of cold professionalism, now betrayed genuine shock.
Ace of Spades looked up from his desk, eyebrow raised. “Problems?”
“She’s…” Eclipse paused, struggling to find words. “Her fighting style, her movements–they’re identical to Shadow’s. Exactly the same.”
A heavy silence fell over the room. Ace of Spades set down his ss, ice cubes clinking against crystal. “Are you certain?”
Eclipse nodded grimly. “I am.”
“How is that possible?” Ace of Spades rose from his chair, moving to the window. “Shadow died years ago. We
confirmed it.”
“I don’t know,” Eclipse admitted, applying pressure to his wound. “But I trained with Shadow daily. I know her movements like my own reflection.” His voice lowered. “If I hadn’t been staring directly at that girl’s face, I would have sworn I was fighting Shadow herself.”
Ace of Spades turned, eyes narrowing. “And her skill level?”
“I couldn’t gauge her full capabilities. She wasn’t fighting at maximum capacity.” Eclipse’s jaw tightened. “But her potential… I believe it matches or exceeds your own.”
The admission cost him–Eclipse was not a man who acknowledged others‘ superiority easily. Before Ace of Spades could respond, a soft scrape of metal against concrete drew both men’s attention to the balcony.
Jade perched on the railing, tactical knife gleaming in the dim light. “Let me correct you,” she said, voice eerily calm. ‘My skills exceed his.”
Eclipse instantly moved between Jade and Ace of Spades, drawing his weapon despite his injury.
Ace of Spades remained unnervingly calm. “Impressive entrance. Perhaps you’d care to introduce yourself properly? It seems only fair I know who I’m about to kill.”
Jade’s lips curved into a cold smile. “Ask King of Hearts when you see him.”
“Bold words,” Ace of Spades replied, reaching slowly for the gun holstered at his side.
Before he could grasp it, the main door crashed open. Night strode in, Ethan Haxton at his heels.
<b>8:27 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
“Hey!” Night called, his vic ent thick with amusement. “Your opponent is over here.<b>” </b>
Eclipse tensed, clearly calcting odds that had suddenly shifted against them.
“I don’t believe we have any quarrel,” Ace of Spades said smoothly, addressing Night and Ethan. “Perhaps there’s been a misunderstanding?”
“I don’t think so,” Jade replied, her voice ice. “I remember everything perfectly.”
969
The room exploded into motion. Jadeunched herself at Ace of Spades while Night and Ethan, in a rare disy of cooperation, moved against Eclipse. The two men who had been constantly at odds now fought with surprising coordination,plementing each other’s styles as they pressed Eclipse backward.
Throughout the building, the guards fell silently as Chris Jensen, Sloane, and Maverick systematically cleared each floor. rms red toote–thepound was alreadypromised.
Ace of Spades parried Jade’s attack with surprising speed, confirming Eclipse’s assessment. “You fight exactly like her,” he muttered, eyes widening as Jade executed a signature move only Shadow had mastered. “How is this possible?”
Jade didn’t bother responding, intensifying her assault. Each strike flowed into the next with lethal precision.
A sh of movement caught her peripheral vision–Ethan had momentarily lost focus, ncing her way. Eclipse seized the opportunity, his de slicing across Ethan’s arm. Blood bloomed through the expensive fabric of his shirt.
Ace of Spades, recognizing the losing battle, abruptly disengaged and vaulted over the balcony railing.
‘Shit!” Jade hissed, immediately in pursuit.
Ethan called after her, but Night’s sharpmand kept him focused on Eclipse. “Don’t get distracted! This one’s still dangerous!”
Sloane burst through the door, taking in Ethan’s injury with a single nce before joining the fight against Eclipse. “Go after her,” she told Ethan. “We’ve got this.”
Ethan didn’t need to be told twice. He sprinted down the stairs, leaving Night and Sloane to finish the battle.
Outside<b>, </b>Connor intercepted him. “Mr. Haxton, you’re injured-”
“Where’s Jade<b>?</b>” Ethan demanded, ignoring the blood soaking his sleeve.
“Miss Morgan took a vehicle and pursued someone heading southeast,” Connor reported, already moving toward
their car.
Ethan slid into the passenger seat, leaving Connor to drive. “Follow them. Now.”
8:27 Thu, <b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
<b>96 </b>
They sped through the darkened streets of Crimson Valley, heading away from the city center. Ethan’s arm throbbed, but he barely registered the pain. His eyes scanned the empty road ahead, searching for any sign of Jade.
“Twenty–two miles out, sir,” Connor noted as they continued their pursuit. “We might have lost them.”
“Keep going,” Ethan insisted, his voice tight.
The distant glow appeared on the horizon like a malevolent sunset. As they rounded a bend, the source became clear -two vehicles engulfed in mes, casting flickering shadows across the barrenndscape.
Connor slowed the car. “Sir, I don’t think-”
Ethan was already out of the vehicle before it fully stopped. The smell of burning fuel and scorched metal filled his lungs as he approached the wreckage. Blood stained the ground in dark patches, leading away from the crash. A charred bodyy half–ejected from one vehicle, features unrecognizable.
Ethan’s heart hammered in his chest until he spotted a ck jacket discarded nearby–Jade’s jacket. Something cold and terrible seized his chest. His brain hadn’t fully processed the implications before his body was already running toward the burning wreckage.
“JADE!” he shouted, voice raw with desperation.
Another explosion rocked the night as one of the vehicles‘ fuel tanks ignited. The st of heat forced Ethan back, mes leaping higher into the darkness. In the improved illumination, he could finally confirm the charred body
wasn’t Jade.
“JADE!” he called again, scanning the perimeter with increasing panic. “ANSWER ME!”
Thendscape remained silent except for the crackling mes. Ethan moved in widening circles, searching frantically for any sign of her.
A small stone skittered across <b>the </b>ground near his feet, deliberately thrown. Ethan whipped around, following its trajectory to a shadowy area beyond the road.
There, crouched beside a small stream, was Jade. She was methodically washing a deep gash on her forearm, her face an expressionless mask even as blood diluted in the water.
Ethan rushed to her, dropping to his knees in the mud. “Jesus Christ,” he breathed, taking in the wound–a jagged slice nearly six inches long that exposed muscle and tissue.
His hands shook as he pulled out his handkerchief, pressing it gently against the wound. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” His <b>voice </b>trembled despite his efforts to control it. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Does it hurt too much? <b>Just </b>hold on, I’ll get you back for treatment.”
Jade finally looked up<b>, </b>her expression unnervingly calm despite the severity of her injury. “The local territory wars are intense,” she observed clinically. “Ace of Spades is dead. Consider his territory yours–an birthday gift<b>.</b><b>” </b>
8:27 <b>Thu</b><b>, </b>Sep <b>25 </b>
:
Ethan stared at her in disbelief<b>. </b>Something inside him snapped. He pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her with desperate intensity,pletely heedless of his own bleeding arm.
“Shut up,” he whispered hoarsely against her hair. “Just shut up.”
<b>96 </b>
His heart hammered so violently he was certain she could feel it through his blood–soaked shirt. He held her tighter, as if afraid she might dissolve into the darkness if he loosened his grip even slightly.
Chapter Comments
凸 2