Chapter 29 -The Entry of Beginning.
The wind howled through the shattered windows of the abandoned hotel, carrying the scent of rain, blood, and the ghosts of old betrayals. The dim light from a flickering hallway bulb cast long, shifting shadows across the room, making reality feel unstable, like it was teetering on the edge of something terrible.
Subey stood in the center of it all, his chest heaving, his hands trembling—not with fear, but with the weight of everything that had brought him to this moment. His knuckles were bruised, his lip was split, and blood ran down the side of his face from a wound he barely registered. Across from him, John slumped against the cracked wall, his smirk infuriating even through the mask of pain that covered his face.
"You still think you can win this, Subey?" John rasped, spitting blood onto the floor. His voice was weak, but there was a mocking lilt to it. "You're just running in circles, chasing ghosts."
Subey exhaled through clenched teeth. His grip on the knife in his hand tightened, the metal pressing cold against his palm. He had dreamed of this moment, imagined it countless times, but now that it was here, it didn't feel like victory. It felt like drowning.
"This isn't about winning," Subey said, his voice thick with rage and grief. "It's about ending what you started."
John exhaled a weak chuckle, shaking his head as if he found the whole thing pitiful. "And what exactly did I start?"
Subey took a slow step forward. His body ached from the fight, from the exhaustion settling into his bones, but he didn't stop. He couldn't. "You killed Caroline." His voice wavered slightly, but the words were steady, unwavering. "You took everything from her. From me."
John's smirk didn't falter, but something in his eyes changed—something dark flickered there, something cruel. "You think you know the truth?" he whispered, his voice carrying an unsettling calm. "You have no idea what Caroline really was."
Before Subey could respond, the sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway. Slow. Measured.
His pulse spiked. His grip on the knife tightened.
The door creaked open.
Mia stepped into the dim light.
A gust of wind swept through the broken window, whipping her dark hair around her pale face. Her eyes—once sharp, filled with fire—were now hollow, haunted by something even she couldn't name. The storm outside rumbled, lightning crackling across the sky, illuminating her in flashes of cold blue.
"You're both fools," she said, her voice devoid of warmth. "Fighting over a dead woman's secrets like rabid dogs."
Subey swallowed hard. He hadn't seen Mia in weeks, not since she vanished without a trace. Yet, here she was, standing before them like a ghost from his worst nightmares.
John let out a low chuckle. "And here comes the prodigal sister." His voice was thick with amusement, though his body remained slumped, too weak to stand. "Did you finally decide to pick a side?"
Mia didn't move, her gaze locked onto Subey. "I was always on one side," she said. "Mine."
Her words were ice, cutting through the tension like a blade.
Subey took a step toward her, his heart pounding. "Mia, why are you here?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she glanced at John, then back at Subey. "You really think this is over?"
Subey clenched his jaw. "It should be."
Mia shook her head, her lips curling into something almost like a smirk, but there was no humor behind it. "You don't know half of what's coming."
John groaned and shifted against the wall, blood staining his shirt. "Oh, let him have his little moment, Mia. He thinks he's finally the hero in this story."
Mia let out a slow, sharp breath. "Heroes die first."
Subey felt the weight of her words like a blade pressed against his throat. There was something different about Mia now—something he didn't recognize.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Mia stepped further into the room, her boots clicking softly against the cracked floor. She walked with a precision that set Subey on edge, like every movement was calculated. "You think you have all the answers," she said, tilting her head. "That John is the villain. That Caroline was innocent. That I was just another victim in this mess." She scoffed. "You don't understand anything."
Subey frowned. "Then tell me."
Mia's expression darkened. "You're not ready."
John let out a pained laugh. "He never was."
The room crackled with tension, the only sound the distant roll of thunder and the dripping of rainwater from a hole in the ceiling.
Subey's grip on the knife didn't loosen, but doubt crept into his chest like a slow-moving poison. "Mia, what are you saying?"
She exhaled through her nose, then reached into her coat pocket.
Subey tensed, expecting a weapon.
Instead, she pulled out a small, black USB drive.
She held it between her fingers, letting the dim light catch its surface. "Caroline wasn't who you thought she was," she said. "Neither was John."
John's smirk faltered for the first time. "Mia—"
She shot him a cold glare. "Shut up."
Subey's stomach twisted. "What's on that drive?"
Mia flicked it between her fingers, her gaze never leaving his. "The truth."
For the first time, uncertainty flickered through Subey's mind. He had spent so long believing he had pieced everything together, that he understood the depths of the betrayals surrounding him. But as he looked at Mia—at the way her hands were steady, at the way John's cocky demeanor had vanished—he realized something.
He didn't know the full story.
And he wasn't sure he was ready to.
Mia extended the drive toward him. "Take it," she said. "And decide if you really want to know."
Subey hesitated.
The storm outside raged on, but inside, the silence was heavier than any thunder....
Chapter 30 has blasting entry and climax
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To Be Continued....