The warehouse loomed at the edge of the docks, its steel ribs creaking in the damp night air. The fog wrapped around it like a shroud, muffling the footsteps of the men Ken had positioned around the perimeter. From inside came the faint hum of a generator, the smell of oil, and the low voices of Fernando's guards.
Aaron pushed open the south-side door, the rusty hinges groaning. He entered first, gun drawn, Ken covering his flank with a blade glinting at his hip. The air was heavy with dust, every sound echoing off the high rafters.
At the far end of the warehouse, under a single hanging lamp, sat Fernando. He was waiting. His cigar glowed red in the dark, his posture loose, as if he'd been expecting guests all along. Around him, a handful of men stood stiff, their weapons half-raised.
Fernando's smile spread slowly and poisonously. "So the ghost finally steps out of the shadows."
Aaron's boots clicked across the floor, each step deliberate. He stopped a few feet from the circle of light, his face unreadable. "I'm no ghost. I'm the reckoning you thought the fire erased."
Fernando leaned back in his chair, exhaling smoke. "You look just like her." His voice cracked faintly, though his smirk remained. "Your mother. God, I loved that woman."
Aaron's chest tightened, fury knotting inside him, but he didn't move.
Fernando's eyes sharpened. "She should have been mine. She was mine, before your father stole her. And for that, I killed them both. You want truth, boy? There it is."
The words sliced through Aaron's chest, deeper than any blade. For a heartbeat, silence swallowed the room. Then Aaron's voice dropped, low and trembling with rage. "You loved her… and you still put a knife in her chest."
Fernando's laugh was jagged. "Because love is weakness. She made me weak, and I'll never be that man again." His grin widened. "But you—you're still weak. Look at you. Shaking. You can't even pull the trigger."
Ken shifted slightly, his voice cutting through the tension. "You talk too much for a man with a chair under him."
The guards twitched, but Aaron raised his hand, keeping them still. He stepped closer, the barrel of his gun pressing against Fernando's forehead. His eyes burned like wildfire.
"You didn't kill her because she betrayed you," Aaron whispered. "You killed her because she chose him instead of you. And tonight, Fernando, the world will remember your end not as power—but as envy."
Fernando spat blood at him
Fernando spat blood at Aaron's boots, laughing even as the cold metal pressed harder to his skull. "Then finish it, Vetercio. Prove you're more than your father's shadow."
Aaron's finger tightened on the trigger.
The warehouse held its breath.