January 4, 2026 – Lake Michigan Fishing Boat Time: 7:15 a.m.
The sound of the explosion in the middle of the lake echoed across the water and reached me to my very bones. When I saw that black smoke rising from my father's side of the city skyline, I felt something inside me fall silent forever. Richard Hale was no longer just in my heart; he didn't even have a gravestone in this world. My uncle Thomas... Asher Burke, had killed my father a second time.
"That son of a bitch..." I muttered. My voice sounded foreign even to my own ears.
Ivy came closer to me. She placed her trembling hand on my shoulder, but this time I didn't push her away. As Ivy's warm, anxious breath hit my neck, I could see the sickening admiration in her eyes deepen. My broken but upright state fed the darkness in her soul.
"Michael, we have to go," Ivy whispered. "Coast Guard will be on alert because of the explosion. Chicago is like a beehive right now."
"We're not going," I said, my eyes fixed on the black smoke. "We're going back."
Natalia yelled at us from the helm of the boat: "Are you crazy? Going into Chicago right now is suicide! Carter and the feds are waiting for your head on every corner!"
I turned to Natalia. The look on my face made her pause for a moment. "Natalia, they blew up my father's grave. They erased my past. If I run now, Asher Burke will always be a shadow behind me. But if I go to that bridge... I'll drown that shadow in his own blood."
Time: 09:00
Chicago South Shore – Abandoned Pier
When we docked the boat at a deserted pier, the fog settling over Chicago provided us with some protection. Elara sat in the corner of the boat, her knees pulled up to her chest, watching us with blank eyes. For her, the world was now an incomprehensible tunnel of fear.
"Elara," I said, crouching beside her. "I know it's all too much. But I promise you, when tonight is over, you will be free."
Elara lifted her head, her tears having washed away the heat on her cheeks. "Freedom, Michael? Will you set us free by burning everything around us? You... you're becoming more terrifying than my uncle."
Those words sank deeper than any bullet. But I couldn't stop. My father had taught me a thousand times on those firing ranges that to stop a monster, you had to become a bigger monster.
Time: 11:30
Safe House – Operation Prep
The latest intel from the Alchemist was on the table. Dawson Bridge had been turned into a fortress by Asher's men. But Michael had an advantage: he knew every bolt under that bridge, that concrete chamber where his father had hidden the body 15 years ago, and the tunnels by heart.
"Ivy," I said, preparing my weapons. "Tap into the Chicago Police radio frequency. I need to know where Carter and the feds are, second by second. Natalia, you need to reach that 'honest' minority within the FBI. It's time to expose Carter's connection to Luca. Chaos the city so I can be alone with Asher on that bridge."
Ivy came to my side, sheathing her knife as she looked into my eyes. "What if you don't come back?"
"I won't come back, Ivy," I said. "People who want to come back have a home. I only have a target now."
Ivy suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to my ear. "If you die there, I'll kill you before Asher does, Michael Hale. Because I'm too attached to you to let you just leave this world like that."
Time: 11:45 p.m.
Dawson Bridge – Ground Zero
The bridge rose like a giant skeleton in the fog. The lights were dim. Police sirens could be heard in the distance; the chaos Natalia and Ivy had created had drawn the feds to the other side of town.
In the middle of the bridge, a single lamp was lit. Under the lamp stood a man wearing a stylish coat, holding an hourglass in his hand. My uncle, Thomas Hale.
I quietly emerged from the concrete compartment below. I had taken the old, rusty key my father left me. As my footsteps echoed on the metal floor of the bridge, Thomas slowly turned to me. His face was a sharper, more ruthless version of my father's.
"Welcome, nephew," Thomas said, his voice mingling with the howling wind. "Your father's grave made a lot of noise, didn't it? But sometimes you have to blow up the old foundation to build a new structure."
"You're sick, Thomas," I said, pointing my gun at him.
"No, Michael, I'm an artist. And you are the final touch to that masterpiece your father left unfinished. The night you pulled the trigger on that bridge, you actually took your first step into my world. Your father didn't try to protect you; he raised you for me."
My finger tensed on the trigger. But just then, dozens of spotlights at both ends of the bridge flashed on simultaneously.
"FBI! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Agent Carter was shouting over the loudspeaker. But there was someone else beside Carter. Luca D'Angelo. Luca was holding a remote control.
Thomas smiled. "A game within a game, Michael. Luca didn't buy Carter; I bought both of them. And now, on this bridge, not only you, but all the Hale family's secrets will be buried in concrete."