Chapter 0040: The Last Betrayal
The fire roared behind them, casting long shadows. Samantha's grip on the gun was steady, her finger resting on the trigger. Damian was finished.
Or so they thought.
Claire took a step forward. "It's over, Damian."
Then he laughed.
A low, raspy chuckle that sent a chill down her spine.
"You think you've won," he said, shaking his head, blood dripping from his temple. "That's cute."
Claire narrowed her eyes. "You have nothing left."
Damian's gaze flickered to Samantha. And then—he smirked.
Samantha hesitated.
Her fingers twitched on the gun.
And in that split second—she turned.
The gun went off.
Claire barely had time to react before the bullet slammed into Alexander's side.
"NO!"
Alexander staggered, blood blooming across his shirt. Claire lunged forward, catching him as he collapsed.
Her ears rang. Her mind screamed.
Samantha… betrayed them.
Damian grinned, wiping blood from his mouth. "Did you really think she was ever on your side?"
Samantha stepped back, her face blank. "I never had a choice."
Everything. Everything had been a lie.
Claire's hands trembled as she pressed against Alexander's wound. His breathing was ragged. This wasn't happening.
She looked up, rage and devastation twisting inside her.
Samantha dropped the gun at Damian's feet.
And then—she whispered, "Run."
Damian's smirk widened. He grabbed the gun, stepping backward into the smoke.
And just like that… he was gone.
Claire's vision blurred with fury. With betrayal. With fire.
This wasn't over.
Not until Damian was dead.
Not until she made Samantha pay.
She clenched her jaw, eyes burning.
They wanted war?
She'd give them hell.
Claire's Reckoning
The world blurred around her. The fire, the screams, the betrayal—none of it felt real.
Alexander's blood was on her hands. Samantha had done this.
Claire's breath hitched as she cradled him, his body trembling from the pain. His lips parted, his voice weak. "Don't… lose yourself."
Too late.
She wasn't Claire anymore.
She was something else. Something ruthless.
Her head snapped up, her gaze locking onto Samantha. The woman who had stood by her side through everything—who had just put a bullet in the man she loved.
Samantha stared back, her expression unreadable.
"Say something," Claire whispered. "Tell me why."
Samantha's lips parted, but before she could speak, Claire moved.
Bang!
Samantha flinched, the bullet missing her head by inches.
"You don't get to walk away from this," Claire seethed, eyes burning with fury. "You don't get to betray me and live."
Samantha's hands curled into fists. "You don't understand—"
"Make me."
Claire lunged, slamming Samantha against the wall. Firelight flickered against her face, illuminating the conflict in her eyes. There was something deeper here.
But Claire didn't care anymore.
She pressed the gun under Samantha's chin. "Give me a reason not to pull the trigger."
Samantha swallowed hard. "Because… if you do, Damian wins."
Claire's grip tightened. "What does that mean?"
Samantha exhaled shakily. "I wasn't betraying you, Claire. I was saving you."
Silence.
Claire's pulse thundered. The words dug into her like knives. "Liar."
"Think, Claire! Damian never plays fair. He made me choose—you or Alexander. If I refused, he would have killed both of you. I had to make it believable. I had to make you hate me."
Claire's fingers trembled on the trigger.
Samantha's eyes locked onto hers. "Damian wants you broken. He wants you to lose control. He wants you to kill me."
Claire's breathing was uneven. This wasn't just a betrayal.
It was a game.
And she had almost lost.
Alexander groaned, snapping her back. She glanced at him—pale, barely conscious.
She had a choice.
Kill Samantha. Give Damian what he wanted.
Or trust her. And take the fight to him.
Claire's jaw clenched. Her gun lowered.
Samantha sighed in relief.
Then Claire whispered, "I'm trusting you."
Samantha nodded. "Good."
And then—BOOM.
A deafening explosion rocked the building, throwing them apart. The last thing Claire saw was the ceiling collapsing—and Damian's laughter ringing through the flames.
No Way Out
The explosion swallowed the world in fire and smoke. Claire barely had time to react before she was thrown backward, slamming into the cold, unforgiving ground.
Silence.
For a moment, everything was still—except for the ringing in her ears. Her vision blurred as dust and debris settled around her.
Where was Alexander?
Her heart pounded. She tried to move—pain tore through her ribs. She gritted her teeth, pushing up onto her hands.
A shadow moved through the smoke.
Damian.
He walked toward her, slow, deliberate—like he had all the time in the world. Behind him, his men emerged from the destruction, guns trained on her.
Claire's fingers curled into fists. Trapped.
Damian smirked, crouching in front of her. "I told you, Claire. You were never going to win."
She spat blood onto the ground. "Go to hell."
He laughed, eyes gleaming with victory. "Oh, I'll be taking you with me."
A flick of his wrist. A gun pressed against her forehead.
"Any last words?" he asked.
Bang.
A shot rang out—but it wasn't Claire who hit the ground.
Damian staggered, a bullet ripping through his shoulder. His men turned, gunfire erupting in every direction. Chaos.
Claire used the distraction. She lunged, grabbing Damian's wrist, twisting—his gun clattered to the floor.
"You should've killed me when you had the chance," she hissed.
She drove her knee into his ribs, sending him crashing down.
But Damian only laughed. Blood dripping from his mouth.
"You still don't get it, do you?" he wheezed. "You think you've won?"
Claire didn't hesitate. She grabbed his own gun, pointing it at his head. "I don't think, Damian. I know."
He grinned—and then she heard it.
A distant beep.
Claire's blood turned to ice. No.
She whipped her head around—a bomb. Strapped to Alexander's barely conscious body.
Damian's voice was a whisper, soaked in cruel amusement.
"Checkmate."
The Final Move
Claire's breath caught in her throat.
The blinking red light on Alexander's chest pulsed like a heartbeat—a countdown to destruction.
She lunged toward him, hands trembling as she searched for a way to disarm it.
30 seconds.
Damian groaned, blood dripping from his mouth as he propped himself up on one elbow. And then he laughed.
"Go ahead, Claire," he rasped. "Save him. Be the hero. But you know what happens next, don't you?"
Her hands froze.
Damian's smile widened. "This isn't just any bomb. It's connected to the city's gas lines. You disarm it wrong? Boom. Half the district goes up in flames."
Her mind raced. A trap within a trap. If she cut the wrong wire, not only would Alexander die—thousands would burn with him.
She turned to Damian, fury in her eyes. "How do I stop it?"
Damian coughed, spitting blood onto the ground. "Oh, sweetheart. You already know the answer."
20 seconds.
A cold wave of realization hit her. There was no way to stop it. Not completely. The only way to prevent the full-scale explosion was…
…to detonate it early.
Claire's vision blurred. If she triggered it now, she could contain the blast. The building would be obliterated, and she—along with Damian and his men—would be caught in the explosion. But the city… the city would survive.
Alexander's voice was weak. "Claire…"
She looked into his eyes. If she did this, he'd live. He'd get out. She wouldn't.
Damian saw the decision in her face and grinned. "Oh, this is beautiful. The almighty Claire, sacrificing herself. Just like I planned."
Her fingers clenched around the detonator.
10 seconds.
Damian chuckled. "You think you're in control?" He lifted his hand, revealing a small switch—a second detonator. "We go together, or I take everyone with me."
Claire's world shattered.
This wasn't just a trap. This was checkmate.
Alexander reached for her hand. "Claire, don't do this."
5 seconds.
Her grip tightened around the trigger.
Damian whispered, "Game over."
3…
2…
Claire exhaled. "No, Damian. I win."
1.
The Detonation
Zero.
BOOM.
The world erupted into fire.
The shockwave hit first—a thunderous force that shattered glass, ripped steel from its foundations, and sent a tidal wave of destruction tearing through the city's core. Heat seared Claire's skin, the force throwing her backward.
Everything blurred. Sound warped. The only thing she could feel was the weightlessness of being torn from reality.
Somewhere through the chaos—Alexander's voice.
"CLAIRE!"
Her body crashed through debris. The ground trembled beneath her as flames engulfed the rooftop. Smoke billowed into the sky, thick and choking. The city wasn't just burning—it was crumbling.
But Claire was still alive.
She forced herself onto her hands and knees, coughing blood, vision swimming.
And then—a laugh.
Damian.
He was still alive too.
Through the smoke, she saw him—half-buried under rubble, blood smeared across his face, a broken monster still clinging to life.
"Y-you… you really did it," he wheezed, chuckling through the agony. "You actually—hahaha—pulled the trigger."
Claire staggered forward. Every muscle screamed in protest, but she didn't stop. She couldn't.
Damian grinned through the pain. "Tell me, Claire… was it worth it?"
Her eyes burned with something colder than fire. This wasn't about revenge anymore.
She crouched beside him, gripping the knife at her belt. "You lost."
His grin widened. "Did I?"
And then—the second explosion.
A hidden charge—one last part of his twisted endgame. The rooftop buckled. The entire building gave way beneath them.
Claire fell.
The wind screamed in her ears as she plummeted into the abyss. Debris tumbled alongside her—shattered glass, broken steel, the remains of the empire they had built and destroyed.
For a single moment, time slowed.
She saw the fire above, swallowing the skyline. She saw Alexander, reaching for her—too far away.
And she saw Damian—falling with her, laughing until the very end.
This was how it ended.
Or…
Would she survive the impossible one last time?
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(To be Continue...)