Gunshots. Shouts. Footsteps. The metallic clang of pipes. The smell of dust and broken wood.
Cyrus had rallied half the underground groups in the area—every idiot who had ever held a grudge against Jay or Keifer.
Cin, bleeding from his lip, took down another guy with a cracked skateboard he had picked up from the floor.
"DAVID! BEHIND YOU!"
David spun, kicking a guy into a stack of crates.
"We need to get inside!" Felix shouted, elbowing someone in the throat.
Cin dialed Keifer with shaking hands.
Ring.
Ring.
Keifer picked up instantly.
"What happened?"
Cin's voice cracked."She went inside. With Samuel, Mason, Alex. Adam kidnapped. Cyrus called more groups. We're trying to hold them—"
A loud crash cut through as someone tackled Cin from behind.
The phone slipped.
Static.
Call ended.
Cin didn't pick it up again—he didn't have time.
Now, his car tore through the highway like an unleashed beast, Rory and Edrix holding onto anything they could.
"BRO YOU'RE GOING TO BREAK THE ENGINE!" Rory shouted.
But Keifer didn't hear anything.
All he saw was Jay.
All he felt was cold fear clawing at his chest.
A fear he never admitted to anyone.
He punched the steering wheel.
"Hold on, Jay… I'm coming."
His foot slammed harder on the accelerator.
Every traffic light meant nothing.
Every honking car blurred behind him.
He only knew one thing—
If anything happened to her, he'd burn the world down.
jay Her head throbbed from the blow of the wooden plank. She could still hear the echo:
THUD.Her knees collapsing.The world tilting.And then—
Him.
Her stepfather's face emerging from the shadows.
The same eyes that haunted her nightmares.
The same smirk that once meant pain.
The same monster she thought the world had buried.
"That look," he said now, leaning close, his voice a twist of poison. "Still the same frightened little girl."
Jay's breath trembled, but her stare stayed sharp.
"I'm not scared," she whispered.
"Not yet," he chuckled. "But you will be."
"JAY!" Mason's muffled scream broke in cracks.
She wanted to answer.Wanted to tell them to calm down.Wanted to say she'd cut them free.
Darkness tasted like rust and dust.
Jay's vision blurred in and out as she blinked awake, wrists burning where the rope bit into her skin. A single flickering bulb hung above her, painting the abandoned warehouse in sickly yellow.
Her breath hitched.
Her legs wouldn't move.
She was tied to a steel chair—arms behind her, ankles bound, tape across her abdomen to restrict movement. The cold metal felt like needles against her skin.
But the ropes dug deeper when she moved.
Her stepdad stroked the side of her face and Jay jerked away with pure disgust.
"You know this one," her stepdad whispered, admiring the syringe as if it were an art piece. "Serina lasted the longest on it. 2 weeks days."Jay inhaled sharply. Her heartbeat hammered.He leaned closer. "Let's see if you can beat her record, hm?"
Jay felt her stomach drop.
He used this on Serina.
On Keifer's mother.
On the woman Jay respected more than any soul alive.
Her jaw clenched so hard she tasted blood.
And now—Injected into Jay's neck moments ago—when she was half-conscious.
Her veins burned.Her breath stuttered.
But she didn't let her panic show.
Because showing fear meant losing.
And Jay Mariano never lost.
Jay's vision flickered again.
Everything felt heavy.
Her fingertips tingled.
The drug… spreading.
Her stepdad crouched in front of her like a man admiring his masterpiece.
"You know… Jeana ruined me," he sneered."And you? You destroyed my life.."
Jay's jaw clenched.
"You should have stayed dead," she spat.
He backhanded her.
Her lip split. Blood tasted metallic.
From the corner, Kaizer Watson approached with slow, confident steps.
His eyes glinted with amusement.
"So this is the famous Alpha," he laughed. "Pathetic."
Jay smirked.
Even half dying—she could still fight with words.
"You'll need an entire army to kill me."
Kaizer twirled a knife."Oh … we already have one."
Behind him—masked men appeared.And among them, Cyrus stepped forward, wiping blood from his mouth from their earlier fight.
"You're not walking out today," Cyrus hissed.
Jay's grin widened.
"Then carry me out. I'll still win."
Kaizer's grin dropped.He slapped her across the face.
Jay didn't even flinch.
Her stepdad crouched, gripping her chin like she was a specimen."Little Jay… still pretending to be brave?"
"Still pretending to be human?" she shot back. "Or did that rot off years ago?"
He slapped her.
Sam jerked against his restraints. "DON'T TOUCH HER—!"
Kaizer struck Sam with a metal pipe, sending him to his knees.
Jay's eyes flickered with a flash of panic—but not for herself.
For him.
For all of them.
Her stepdad smirked. "Seven days, Jay. If Keifer doesn't find you in time? Your organs will collapse one by one."
He tapped her cheek.
"Just like Serina."
Jay felt the rage burn her throat.
"You really think you can scare me," she whispered, voice low. "I already survived you once."
He leaned close. "You didn't survive. You ran."
Jay's breath hitched.
Her chest tightened.
For the first time—fear flickered in her eyes.
Kaizer saw it.
He grinned.
A hiss echoed.
Sam, Mason, and Alex were tied to a long industrial beam across the room—their hands bound behind them, rope cutting into skin. They looked beaten, exhausted, but alive.
Cyrus' men had dragged them here after an hour of ambusand brutal hand-to-hand combat. The floor was still vibrating from Cin, David, Calix, and Felix fighting downstairs.
Yuri stepped from the shadows
Jay coughed hard, breath shallow from the injection.Her head swayed.
"You…" she rasped at Yuri. "You did this?"
Yuri's eyes softened behind the mask.
"對不起… Jay," he whispered.(I'm sorry.)
Her vision blurred.
Her head fell forward.
And the world went dark.
The building shook.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The metal door snapped off its hinges.
Keifer stormed in first—eyes wild, chest heaving, hair disheveled, breathing like he'd sprinted through hell.
He saw her.
Jay.Tied.Bruised.Bleeding.Barely conscious.
And everything in him snapped.
"JAY!" he roared.
Behind him—Angelo.Aries.Michael.Percy.Mayo.Kit.Eman.Josh.Drew.Blaster.Tiger.
All furious.
All ready to kill.
Kaizer smirked."Perfect timing."
The room shook with the force of their arrival.
Keifer's eyes scanned the chaos—
Then he saw her.
Jay.
Tied.
Bruised.
Neck swollen from injection.
Head hanging.
His lungs stopped working.
"Jay…" he whispered, stepping forward like his soul had left his body.
Kaizer laughed. "Aww. Touching."
Keifer snapped.
The entire warehouse broke into chaos.
Aries roared and tackled Cyrus.keifer punched Kaizer's jaw.Angelo drew his gun at Jay's stepdad.Michael attacked masked men with deadly precision.Tiger jumped into the crowd like a beast.
But Jay—Jay's eyes were only on Keifer
Keifer moved like a demon—every punch bone-breaking, every kick lethal.
"WHERE IS SHE DRUGGED?" he roared.
Kaizer smirked. "Oh, the neck. Same as your mother."
A fire lit in Keifer's eyes.
"YOU—"
He tackled Kaizer into steel crates.
Fists flew wild and vicious.
Kaizer laughed through blood. "You look just like Serina did—right before she begged."
Keifer slammed him again. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"
Keifer fought like a storm unleashed—dodging Cyrus's wild swings, landing a sharp elbow to his jaw before whipping toward Kaizer.
Rage burned through him. He blocked Kaizer's blade with his forearm, blood spraying, yet he pushed forward, grabbing Kaizer by the collar and slamming him into the wall.
"Stay away from Jay," he growled, striking again, unrelenting.
Keifer rushed toward Jay, cutting her restraints open—
When a shadow stepped behind him.
A knife glinted.
A hand trembled.
"Keifer…" Yuri whispered, tears streaming. "對不起…我沒有選擇…"(I'm sorry…I don't have a choice…)
Keifer turned, shocked—
STAB.
The blade plunged into his side.
Not deep enough to kill.
But enough to drop him to one knee.
Blood dripped.
Jay's eyes snapped open in horror.
"KEIFER!"
Yuri sobbed as he pulled the blade out, shaking violently, falling to his knees.
"I… I have to protect her… my 母親… they have her… I didn't want this—I didn't want to hurt you—"
Keifer grabbed Yuri's collar, breath weak but furious.
"YOU BETRAYED US YOU BETRAYED JAY. YOU BETRAYED ME "
Yuri cried harder,
The betrayal hung in the air like a knife.
Kaizer added lightly, "Yuri's better than you, Watson. Smarter. Stronger. More loyal."
Keifer stepped back like he'd been punched.
"Yuri…"He whispered."Say it's a lie… please."
Kaizer laughed in the background.
Jay's stepdad smirked, enjoying every moment.
And Jay—drugged, weak, tied—watched as the boy she trusted stabbed the boy she loved.
Her world cracked.