Chapter 5 THE BLACK WAR

I didn't taste the air. I tasted blood. I tasted betrayal. And I was addicted to it.

"Move the cars. Shut the ports. Bleed every Aurelian asset dry."

My voice carved through the war room like a bullet.

"I want heads in bags by sunrise."

"Boss-" my enforcer's voice cracked. "They've already burned three of our warehouses. Hit two banks. They're ten steps ahead."

"Good. That means they'll think I'm desperate."

I slid a fresh clip into my gun. "Let's make them believe it."

The hunt was savage.

I burned clubs. Choked street runners. Torched hideouts.

I found their captains. Made them talk. Made them scream.

But they all said the same thing-the Aurelian Circle had already moved her.

The ropes cut into Sienna's wrists. Her jaw throbbed from the last punch, but the smile never left her lips. She was bait, and she knew it.

Kairos circled her like a wolf starved of purpose.

"How long do you think Silas will chase you, darling?"

"Long enough to kill you."

"You think you're his salvation? You're his collapse. You gave him your heart, but you belong to me."

His hand grazed the ring on her finger-the key to my kingdom, my offshore accounts, every kill switch I owned.

Silas isn't coming," Kairos whispered. "Not this time."

"He always comes for me."

"Not when your mother has finally taken the board."

Her pulse stuttered.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Call her." He tossed a burner phone on her lap. "Ask your mother who's really playing this game."

I burned through the docks, my pulse a detonator in my chest. My phone buzzed.

Sienna's voice hit me like a bullet.

"Silas... my mother... she's been working with them since before we met."

"What the hell are you saying?"

"She fed me to them. I'm the key, Silas. I was always the key. My mother used me to own your empire."

"I don't care."

I slammed another round into my Glock. "I'm still coming for you."

"Don't. It's a trap. They'll kill you."

"They'll have to try."

Another call. Another voice.

"Silas." My mother's voice slid into my ear like a blade. "You disappoint me. I raised you to be a king. Yet here you are, chasing a pawn."

"You raised me to be a weapon. But you forgot one thing-I don't follow your trigger."

"You're walking into your grave."

"I'll burn my grave to the ground."

Gunmen swarmed the streets. I gunned the car, smashing through their blockade. Bullets shredded the windshield. Glass exploded across my knuckles.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

I shot through the chaos, flipped their car over the bridge, and carved my way to the open streets.

"Silas," Sienna's voice cracked in my ear, trembling. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't know who I was in this."

"You're mine, Sienna. I don't care how bloody the path is-I'm still coming."

A new call sliced in.

A live feed.

Sienna.

Blindfolded.

Gun to her temple.

Kairos smirked into the camera.

"Midnight, Mavros. One bullet. One decision."

The feed cut. But I caught it.

Her hand. Three taps against the chair. Left. Right. Left.

Our code. Our war language.

She's telling me where.

She's telling me not to trust anyone.

Not even her.

I slammed the pedal down, the city collapsing behind me in flames. I don't knock. I detonate.

I ripped the club doors clean off the hinges, walked through gunfire like I was born in it.

One to the throat. One to the knee. Two down. Three bleeding.

Bodies hit the floor before my next breath.

"Where is she?" My voice didn't rise. It burned. "You've got three seconds."

The man, on his knees, spat blood.

"She's not here."

Two seconds.

I pressed my Glock to his temple.

"She's not here!" he screamed. "Your mother moved her!"

One second.

I pulled the trigger.

The next man folded immediately. "The warehouse! Dock 39! But you won't make it in time-"

I shot him in the leg. "Then I'll run faster."

I hit the streets, tires burning.

Another call.

"Silas," Sienna's voice whispered, raw and shaking. "They've moved me. I don't know where-"

I sliced through traffic. "Tell me what you see. What do you hear?"

"Chains. Cold metal. Seagulls-"

The docks.

Bang.

Bang.

I shot through a barricade. Broke through a side gate. Tore down to Dock 39.

But when I got there-

Empty.

Only her burner phone, still buzzing.

I picked it up. Kairos's voice dripped into my ear.

"You didn't think we'd make it that easy, did you?"

"Where is she?"

"She's already gone. But don't worry, I left you something."

The car behind me exploded.

The blast slammed me into the concrete. Blood in my mouth. Shrapnel in my ribs.

I staggered to my feet. My enforcer's voice blared through my earpiece.

"Boss, it's bad. The Circle just hit our offshore accounts. They're draining you."

"How?"

"The ring. The codes. She has them."

I clenched my jaw so hard I tasted iron.

"She's not betraying me."

"She's the only one with access."

I barely made it into my backup car when another call dropped in. My mother.

"I told you, Silas. Pawns don't outrun queens."

"You forget," I growled. "I don't play chess. I burn the board."

She laughed, cold, sharp. "This was never your game. You're not the heir. You're the weapon. And your real brother-he's the one holding the throne."

My lungs stopped.

What?

"You never wondered why I spared you, Silas? Why were you always the one sent to kill?"

The line was cut.

I slammed the brakes. My pulse tore through me like a blade.

Another brother?

Another heir?

And Sienna-where did she fit?

Was she in on this?

Was she playing me?

Another message pinged. A video.

Sienna.

This time she wasn't tied up. She was walking-walking freely beside Kairos. The ring on her finger glinted like it was always meant to be his.

Was she smiling? Or was it a lie?

Was she bait? Or had she chosen him?

Three taps.

Left. Right. Left.

Our code.

But was she sending me a location...

Or a goodbye?

I slammed the accelerator.

I'd find out the truth.

Even if I had to put a bullet through it. The streets blurred past me.

I wasn't driving. I was detonating.

The ring. The offshore accounts. The empire is bleeding under my feet.

And my mother's words-still ricocheting in my skull.

You're not the heir.

You're the weapon.

I slammed the steering wheel.

Bullshit.

The heir? There was no one else. My father was dead. His men answered me.

The Mavros Syndicate bled for me.

But her voice-her voice wasn't finished.

I played the voicemail again.

Her last words, her final dig.

"You've been cleaning his messes for years. Your brother, Silas.

Your father's real son."

My pulse fractured.

Another brother?

I would've known. I would've seen him. I would've hunted him.

Unless...

Unless I already had.

Unless I'd been pulling his strings the whole time. Protecting a ghost I didn't know existed.

I whipped the car around, gunning toward the syndicate's archives.

I needed proof.

Birth records. Ledgers.

Anything.

I tore through the files like a man possessed. My hands stopped on a red-sealed dossier: Project Aegis.

Buried. Classified.

My father's private label.

My breath was stuck when I read the first line.

"Aegis: Protection protocol. Operative Silas Mavros assigned to shadow Subject K."

Subject K.

Kairos.

The ink bled into me.

I'd been protecting him since we were kids. Every mission I'd been sent on, every target, every war-I was always a step behind him.

Not to kill him.

To shield him.

I wasn't my father's heir.

I was his sword. His bodyguard. His weapon.

Kairos wasn't just my enemy.

He was my brother.

I staggered back, my world folding in on itself, the ground falling out beneath me.

My phone buzzed.

Another video. Sienna. Blindfold gone. Ring flashing. Smiling next to Kairos like she belonged there.

Three taps. Left. Right. Left.

Was she calling me to rescue her-or to bury me?

The screen went black.

I squeezed the phone until it cracked.

I don't run.

I don't fold.

But right now, I don't know if I'm chasing my brother...

Or my executioner.

I slammed the drawer shut.

Project Aegis.

Subject K.

Brother.

The word didn't fit in my mouth.

Kairos?

No. No. Hell no.

I'd spent years hunting him, bleeding his crew, burning his territories.

I was trying to kill my brother?

Or was I never supposed to?

My phone buzzed again.

A message. Anonymous. One line.

"Check the ledger. You missed a page."

I tore back to the files. Pages stuck together, sealed by dust and time.

The last sheet hit me like a blade through bone.

"Subject K: Kairos Mavros.

Mother: Eirene Mavros.

Father: Konstantin Mavros.

Siblings: Silas Mavros."

I nearly shattered the floor with my rage.

My mother knew. My father knew. They let us tear each other apart.

Another message pinged. Same number.

"The throne was never meant for you. You're the one meant to die in his place."

Who the hell was feeding me this?

The next file slipped out like it wanted to be found.

Birth certificate.

Mother: Eirene Mavros.

Son: Kairos Mavros.

Father: Unknown.

Unknown?

I played my mother's last voicemail on loop.

"Your father's real son."

Did she mean Kairos?

Or did she mean someone else?

Another message dropped.

"Ask Sienna who your real father is."

What?

Another message.

"Ask her why she was sent to you before she even knew your names were tied."

I whipped the car around, the city splitting under my tires.

Sienna.

She knew. She always knew.

Or was she learning just as fast as I was?

A video call lit up my phone.

Sienna.

No chains. No bruises. Walking free beside Kairos. The ring was still on her finger. Her voice was tight, but her eyes-they flickered.

"Silas. Stop."

Her voice cracked like she wasn't sure whose side she was on.

"Don't come for me."

"You think I'd let you go that easily?" My voice was ice. "I told you, you're mine."

"You don't understand."

"Then make me understand."

Kairos's voice sliced through.

"She's exactly where she's meant to be."

"Say that again when you're bleeding on my floor."

He smirked.

"Your father would've been proud of you, Silas. He always knew you'd be willing to die for me."

I gritted my teeth.

"You don't get to call him your father."

"That's where you're wrong." Kairos tilted his head. "We're blood. And blood doesn't lie."

The screen glitched-just for a second.

Sienna's fingers. Three taps.

Left. Right. Left.

But her eyes-her eyes said something else.

I slammed the call off.

I wasn't just chasing a brother.

I was chasing a ghost.

And maybe-I was chasing a woman who was about to shatter me.