Chapter 4 - The Midnight Alliance
The journey back to the shipyard was different. We weren't sneaking; we were mobilizing. I brought my inner circle—the four men I trusted most, men who had questioned the "official" version of the Purge for years.
When we reached the locker, I kicked the door open. This time, I didn't hide. I held a lantern high, illuminating the cramped space.
Julianna looked up, her violet eyes widening. She didn't cower. She straightened her back, even in her weakened state.
"You look like your father," she said, her voice raspy.
I knelt by her side. "I am sorry for what was done to you. I was blinded by a mentor who saw me as nothing more than a weapon."
"Apologies don't buy back twelve years of sunlight," she said.
"I'm not here to buy back anything," I said, pulling out a burner phone. "I’m here to burn the house down. I have the ledger. I have the proof. But I need you, Julianna. I need your voice to break the myth."
"Thorne has eyes everywhere," Julianna warned. "If we move, he will kill us all."
"Let him try," I said, a dark smile spreading across my face. "He’s been playing on my turf for years. It’s time he learns that I don't follow his rules anymore."
I looked at Beatrice. "You’ve done enough. From now on, you’re not a maid. You’re a protector."
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We moved Julianna under the cover of darkness to a safe house—a high-security bunker beneath the city, equipped with medical supplies. As the doctors worked on her, the full extent of the horror emerged. She hadn't just been in hiding; she had been poisoned, subjected to experiments that were meant to keep her weak, a living leverage in case Thorne ever needed to blackmail the organization.
The drama had only just begun. Thorne wasn't just a retired boss; he was the head of a shadow council that controlled the city's infrastructure. By choosing to save Julianna, I had declared war on the most dangerous men in Illinois.
