Rex’s blood turned to ice as he raised the gun, aiming it directly at Xia’s head.
“You may have made a fool of me with that hoax of the banking hack,” Dominic said.His voice dripped with venom.“But you misjudged the status I hold in The Consortium.I’ll soar even higher without you.I’ll find a hacker who knows more.There’s always someone smarter.”His finger whitened on the trigger.“But you?You’ll drown in the guilt of her death.Every time you close your eyes, you’ll see her face.And you’ll know it was your fault.”
Rex straightened and slowly pushed Xia behind him, but she resisted, trying to protect him.Rex saw the flash seconds before the gun exploded, and the shot cracked through the room like a thunderclap.He spun and yanked her behind him.His body jerked as the bullet lodged into his shoulder blade.White-hot pain seared through him, but he didn’t stop.He shoved Xia to the floor and ordered in a dark voice, “Stay down, Xia.Don’t you fucking move again.”
Then he swiveled.Faster than humanly possible, he spun into a high roundhouse kick—Krav Maga precision.It was a blurred arc of death, and with one move, he disarmed the two guards, their guns clattering to the floor, snapping their jaws with the return kick.They crumbled to the floor.
Rex didn’t stop but surged forward.Dominic fired again.One bullet seared through Rex’s inner thigh, drawing blood, the next one slammed into his side.He barely flinched, instead, he kept charging.
His muscles bunched as he pulled back and snapped out a brutal front kick—full force and steel-toed boot to the sternum.Dominic flew backward, crashing into a low brick wall.The horrific crack of shattering bone echoed through the room.Dominic screamed with a high, animal sound, before crumpling to the floor—his spine broken, his legs useless.
“Y-you broke m-my back...”he whimpered.
Rex stood over him, his breath ragged and his eyes sparking black fury.“Pity,” he said, deadly calm.“I was aiming for your neck.”
Dominic whimpered, trying to sit up.
“You’re pathetic,” Rex spat.“When you threaten someone with a gun, you shoot to kill.You had your chance.”He stepped closer, his boot pressing down on Dominic’s throat.“Now it’s mine.”
A commotion at the door drew Rex’s attention, followed by the loud explosions of gunfire.Four muzzle flashes—Max, Jax, Dexter, and Axel—standing in the doorway with their weapons smoking.The two guards hit the floor, dead before they landed, two bullets buried in each of their skulls.
Max lowered his gun, his voice brittle with anger as he looked at Xia.“Sorry for the interruption, Rex.Do continue.”
Rex stared down at Dominic, the man who had once been his friend, his partner, a brother in their group.
“What happened to you?”His voice was raw.“We were friends.What the fuck turned you into this?”
Dominic coughed, blood bubbling at his lips.His eyes burned with hatred.“You’re always looking for reasons that make sense,” he rasped.“All of you.So righteous.So naive.The world isn’t black and white, Oliver.It’s gray.And in that gray, there are people who rule everything.You’re just too blind to see them.”
He laughed, a wet, gurgling sound as his gaze flickered to Xia.“Maybe you saved her,” he said.“Maybe you won’t carry the burden of her death.”His eyes shifted to the five men as his voice dripped with venom.“But tell me, you fucking motherfuckers...how are you going to forgive yourselves for the death of the hundred people having the time of their lives up there at the resort?”
A cold dread slithered down Rex’s spine as Dominic laughed and blood-stained teeth smirked.
“The whole place is rigged,” he wheezed.“That’s my encore.It’s about to blow the fuck up.And there’s nothing you can do.”
The demon inside Rex didn’t just wake—it unleashed.It screamed through his veins, a black tide of fury that drowned every last shred of mercy he might have had left.His boot—heavy, unyielding, became a weapon as he twisted his foot with a violence that came from deep and primal, beyond thought and reason.The crack of Dominic’s neck was loud enough to echo in the silence of the room.It was a sickening snap like a dry branch breaking under too much weight.His body went limp, and his eyes glazed over as he slumped against the cold floor, his life ghosting out of him in an instant.
The air in Rex’s lungs turned to lead.His chest was too heavy, as if the weight of what he’d just done was crushing him from the inside out.He stared down at Dominic’s corpse—seeing the boy who had shadowed him all those years ago—but now, he was nothing more than a broken bag of bones on the floor.For a single, suffocating moment, the world stopped.
“It’s done, Rex.It’s over,” Max said quietly behind him.
Rex whirled toward him.“The resort—we need to evacuate it.Now.”The words ripped from his throat like barbed wire.
Max’s face was a mask of cold precision.“It’s already done,” he said, his tone deceptively calm.“We triggered the alarms the second we arrived back from the forest.Hopefully, everyone’s far enough to be safe.”
Hopefully.The word hung in the air like a curse.Rex felt their fear, since their women were up there...
“FUCK!”Axel roared in a howl of pure terror that cut through the violence and the death like a knife.His voice cracked, his body already moving as he tried to shove everyone toward the door.“Get to the ocean!We’re too fucking close!”
Rex and Max scooped Xia up between them.He winced at how limp and fragile her body was.She was barely conscious.Rex held her tight, concerned about her shallow and ragged breathing.It was the sound of a woman clinging to reality by a thread.They broke into a sprint, their boots muted against the sand as they charged out of the house, desperate to put as much distance between them and impending doom.
A deafening roar split the night, a sound so vast, so all-consuming, it didn’t just shake the ground—it shattered it.The shockwave hit them like a freight train, a wall of fire, debris, and heat slamming into their backs, lifting them off their feet, and hurling them forward as if the earth itself had decided to spit them out.The heat was unbearable, a living thing, searing their skin, and stealing the air from their lungs.The resort—what was left of it—erupted in a fireball, a monstrous, hellish bloom of orange and black with the flames licking at the sky like the fingers of some ancient, vengeful god.
The silence wasn’t true silence.It was the white noise that followed after something so loud, so violent, that your ears rang with it.It was really just the absence of everything else, the screams of the people in the far distance, the crackle of flames, and the wail of sirens—all of it drowned out by the sheer, overwhelming force of what had just happened.
Rex gasped for air.Everything ached as he looked down at Xia.Her face was pale, her eyes half-lidded, and unfocused.He pulled her closer, tightening his arms around her as if he’d never let go.
“I’ve got you,” he said.“I’ve got you, angel mine.You’re safe now.”
