Kieran's POV
I didn't go home.
I went underground.
There's a part of the city most people pretend doesn't exist—where neon signs buzz over rusted doors, and everyone knows your past before you say a word.
That's where I started.
The old fight ring. Now abandoned. But not dead.
People still whispered. About me. About Rael.
A guy named Knox ran surveillance now. Greedy, twitchy, but smart.
I found him nursing a bottle behind a half-lit bar.
"Cain," he said, voice raspy. "Thought you went soft."
I sat across from him. "You still trade info?"
Knox smirked. "Depends. What's it worth?"
I slid a flash drive across the table. "Encrypted code from Rael's old fights. Names. Payouts. All of it."
His eyes widened. "Where'd you get this?"
"Doesn't matter. I want one thing: Rael's location."
Knox tapped a finger, thinking. "He's slippery. Last I heard, he's using a false ID. Hiding behind shell businesses."
"Then find the shell. Crack it."
Knox looked up at me. "You serious about this?"
Dead serious.
"He came after someone I love."
Knox stared at me for a beat.
Then nodded. "I'll get you something by tonight."
---
Hours later, I sat on a rooftop across from an old building that Knox had flagged.
No signage. No lights. Just tinted windows and a steel door with a retinal scanner.
Rael's kind of place.
I watched as a black car pulled up. Two men stepped out. One looked familiar.
The other?
Rael.
Even from here, I could feel it—his smugness. His calculation.
He looked up toward my building.
Right where I was crouched.
For a second, I swore… he smiled.
Then disappeared inside.
My fist clenched.
I had him.
But not tonight.
This wasn't rage anymore.
This was war.
And wars aren't won in one strike.