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Chapter 7

We left before the sun touched the sky.

The snow was thick, swallowing our footprints as fast as we made them. Trees loomed over us, dark and skeletal, their branches weighed down by frost. The forest was so quiet it felt like even the animals knew to stay hidden. Danger was coming—and we were walking straight into it.

He led the way, careful but fast. His limp from the fight was still there, but he didn’t complain. He moved like a soldier—sharp, focused, deadly. Every step we took brought us closer to Radek’s stronghold.

To the place where everything ended.

I followed, my legs shaking, but I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t. Not now.

“You said you’ve been there before,” I asked, breath fogging in the cold. “How?”

“I let myself get caught once. On purpose.”

I stared at his back. “Why would you do something that stupid?”

“Because I needed to know who was behind everything. The money, the system, the chains… all of it. And I knew I’d never find Radek unless I got close enough to bleed for him.”

The silence that followed was thick. I didn’t ask what they did to him. I didn’t have to. The haunted look in his eyes whenever he wasn’t talking was enough.

We traveled for hours, only stopping once to drink from a frozen stream. My strength was barely holding, but every time I felt myself slipping, I looked at him. And I kept going.

By the time the trees thinned and the mountain came into view, the sun was just beginning to rise behind the clouds, casting a pale light over the snow.

The base wasn’t obvious. It was buried deep within the rocks, disguised by nature and silence. But he knew where to look. He led me to a narrow crevice hidden behind a cluster of jagged stones. We squeezed through, scraping skin and fur against cold rock until we reached the other side.

A steel door, half-covered in ice, stood before us.

“This is it,” he said, lowering his voice. “Back entrance. Only used by supply runners. It’s not guarded from the outside—Radek doesn’t think anyone is stupid enough to get this close.”

“Is he wrong?”

He looked at me and gave the smallest smile. “He’s about to find out.”

He pulled out a hidden blade from under his belt—curved, silver, stained with old blood. I remembered it. He used to carry it everywhere when we were younger. Back when he thought a blade was enough to protect us from the world.

“You still carry that?”

He nodded. “It’s the only thing I brought with me when I left.”

I pressed my hand against the metal door. It was cold, lifeless, silent.

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

He didn’t tell me not to be. He didn’t lie.

He just took my hand and said, “So am I.”

We stood there for a long moment, the past pressing down on us from all sides.

Then he pushed the door open.

It creaked, slowly, revealing a dimly lit corridor that smelled of blood, oil, and secrets. The walls were stone and metal. The air was stale and thick. I could feel it—the presence of pain, like it lived in the walls.

This was Radek’s world.

And we were walking into the heart of it.

He stepped in first. I followed.

And we didn’t look back.

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