Silver Blood, Twins Shadows.

002. Shattered chains.

*Sam*

Kai’s small body trembled against my chest, his cries muffled by my jacket. My heart hammered so hard I could barely hear Marcus’s threat over the roar of blood in my ears.

“Don’t even think about it,” Marcus growled, finger tight on the trigger. “Hand it over. Ruger wants whatever that woman was protecting. And you know what happens when you disobey.”

I stared at him, sky-blue eyes cold even as chaos raged inside me. This is it. The moment everything shatters. Fifteen years of training screamed at me to drop the baby and finish the mission. To stay loyal. To survive.

But Eleanor’s words kept echoing louder: Find love. Live.

And this tiny, warm weight in my arms… he felt like the first real thing I’d held in years.

Marcus’s eyes flicked to the bulge in my jacket. Suspicion turned into something darker — greed. He wanted the prize for himself. I could see it.

I took one slow step backward toward the large window. Rain pounded against the glass like it was trying to break in.

“You’re really going to do this?” Marcus spat. “After everything Ruger gave you? You owe him, Nyx.”

Kai started crying again at the loud voices. I looked at Marcus — my rival for years, the man who had hated me since the day I outperformed him in training — and made my choice.

“I owe him enough blood to drown in,” I muttered. “Tonight ends it.”

His gun stayed trained on my chest, but he didn’t fire.

Gang rule. The one sacred law in the Shadow Syndicate: You do not kill or seriously harm your own. Not without Ruger’s direct order. Breaking it meant a slow, painful death for the offender. Marcus wanted power, but he wasn’t stupid enough to risk becoming the next example.

That hesitation was all I needed.

I shifted Kai higher against my chest with one arm and lunged toward the window. Marcus cursed and rushed forward, but I was faster.

With my free hand, I yanked a small glass canister from my tactical belt — one of the smoke-and-glass bombs I carried for escapes. I hurled it hard at the concrete floor between us.

The canister shattered on impact. Thick, choking white smoke exploded outward, mixed with thousands of tiny glass shards that glittered like deadly confetti. The cloud instantly blinded Marcus and stung his eyes.

“Damn you, Nyx!” he roared, coughing violently and covering his face.

I didn’t wait. I slammed my elbow into the window. Glass exploded outward into the night. Cold rain and wind whipped inside as I climbed through the jagged opening onto the fire escape. Shards bit into my palm, but I barely felt the pain.

Kai let out a sharp cry as rain hit his face. I tucked him deeper into my jacket, trying to shield him with my body.

“Shh, little one,” I whispered, voice rough. “I’ve got you. Just stay quiet for me.”

Below, the alley was dark and slick with rain. Two stories down. Doable.

Marcus’s voice bellowed from inside the smoke-filled room. “Nyx! Get back here!”

I swung over the railing and dropped.

The impact when I hit the ground jarred my knees and sent fresh pain shooting up my legs, but I rolled with it, protecting Kai as best I could. He wailed louder now, frightened by the fall and the storm.

Footsteps pounded somewhere above.

Marcus was already recovering.

I pushed myself up and ran.

The alley twisted into a maze of narrow streets behind the warehouse district. Rain soaked through my clothes instantly, turning my silver ponytail into a heavy, dripping mess. Every breath burned. My mind raced faster than my feet.

What the hell am I doing? I killed two Venom Daggers tonight. Worse… that woman. Her face haunted me with every step. Why did she look like me? Why trust a stranger with her child?

I couldn’t think about that now. Not yet.

Keep moving. Don’t think. Just move.

Sirens wailed in the distance. The other gangs were still tearing each other apart inside the warehouse. Good. Let them stay distracted.

I ducked into a narrower side street, pressing my back against a brick wall to catch my breath. Kai’s cries had quieted into soft, hiccuping whimpers. His tiny hand clutched the front of my shirt like he was afraid I’d disappear.

“I’m not leaving you,” I whispered, even though I had no idea if I could keep that promise. “Not tonight.”

My shoulder suddenly itched — the tracker device Ruger had implanted years ago because I refused to get a gang tattoo. The Shadow Syndicate’s symbol. I had never wanted their mark permanently on my skin. Now that decision might save me… or doom me.

I needed to get it removed. Soon.

A sharp crackle came from somewhere behind me. Marcus must have called for backup already.

I pushed off the wall and kept moving, sticking to shadows, avoiding main roads. My mind kept circling back to the woman’s final words.

Protect him for five years… then return him to his father.

Five years. That was a lifetime in my world. Could I even survive that long with a child, while being hunted?

And yet… when Kai’s small fingers curled tighter around mine, something warm and terrifying stirred in my chest. A feeling I thought had died years ago.

Maybe Eleanor was right. Maybe this is what living feels like.

I glanced down at the baby’s face, rain dripping from my lashes. His eyes — strange, swirling with colors that didn’t look fully human — stared back at me with unsettling trust.

“Kai,” I murmured, testing the name. “Your mother said to name you Kai.”

The name felt heavy. Important.

Behind me, I heard Marcus voice carried through the rain, reporting back to Ruger.

“Ruger! Nyx has gone rogue! She escaped through the west window with the target. It’s a baby — some important kid. We need to track her now. Activate the device!”

My blood ran cold.

They were coming.

I reached my hidden bike, strapped Kai securely against me, and sped through the storm toward the hospital.

********************

I drove like the devil himself was chasing me, heading straight to the hospital. Eleanor had to be okay. She had to be. This was supposed to be my last job. We had plans — passports packed, new identities ready, tickets to start fresh in another country. Just the two of us.

Twenty minutes later, I slipped through the back entrance of St. Agnes Hospital, soaked in rain and someone else’s blood. The baby had finally quieted, exhausted from crying. my hands shook as i made my way to Room 312—the room where Eleanor had been recovering.

I pushed the door open.

The sight punched the air from her lungs.

Eleanor lay on the bed, her frail body covered from head to toe with a stark white sheet.

“No…” I whispered, voice cracking. “No, that’s not right.”

I checked the room number again. 312. It was hers.

My hands shook as I approached. grabbed the edge of the sheet and pulled it back.

Eleanor’s face — pale, peaceful, but unmistakably gone — stared up at me.

A sound tore from my throat, raw and broken. I dropped to my knees beside the bed, clutching her cold hand. “No… no, no, no! Eleanor!”

Tears I hadn’t cried in years flooded down my face. “Why? I was coming back… I was going to take you away from all this. We had passports. Tickets. A new life in Italy… Why did you leave me?”

I pressed my forehead to her hand, sobs wracking my body. “Was God punishing me? For all the blood on my hands? I finally wanted to be better… for you. And now you’re gone.”

The door opened behind me. I barely registered the footsteps until a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

“Sam…” Nurse Mira’s voice was soft, shocked. She had treated me after that bad injury years ago and had somehow become the closest thing I had to a friend besides Eleanor. “Oh God, Sam… I’m so sorry.”

I looked up at her, face streaked with tears and blood. “She’s gone, Mira. They killed her. I was supposed to quit after tonight. We were leaving together… Italy. A small house by the sea. She was going to teach me how to cook real food, not just survive.” My voice cracked. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

Mira knelt beside me, pulling me into a hug despite the blood. “You’re allowed to break, Sam. She was your family. The only real one you had.”

I clung to her, sobbing harder. Kai stirred against my chest and let out a small cry.

Mira pulled back, eyes widening as she noticed the bundle. “Sam… whose child is that?”

I wiped my face with a bloody sleeve and looked down at Kai. His tiny hand gripped my finger again. The strange pull I felt earlier returned, stronger now. I promised her.

“Mine now,” I whispered, voice raw but steadier. “His mother… she died tonight. Asked me to protect him. I can’t fall apart. Not yet. Not when he needs me.”

Mira didn’t ask for more details. She had worked in this city long enough to know when questions were dangerous. Instead, she helped me to my feet.

“You’re hurt,” Mira said, noticing fresh blood seeping through Sam’s clothes. “And they’ll be coming for you. There’s a tracking device, isn’t there?”

I nodded numbly.

Mira worked fast. I lie on the small couch in the room while she sterilized a scalpel and gloves. With steady hands, she cut into the skin just below my shoulder blade and removed the small metal tracker. I barely flinched—pain was an old friend.

The moment the device was out, Mira crushed it under her heel.

Marcus and Ruger’s men would be coming. I could already feel the net closing in.

Mira pressed a set of car keys into my hand. “My old car in the back lot. There’s a wig in the glove compartment — dark brown, shoulder-length. Use it. Get out of the country tonight. Go to Italy like you planned. It’s quiet. Small towns where no one asks questions.

“Stay strong, Sam. For that baby… and for Eleanor.”

I hugged her fiercely. “Thank you. For everything. I stood over Eleanor’s body one last time. brushed a strand of white hair from the old woman’s forehead. Please… help me give Eleanor a proper burial.”

Mira nodded, tears in her eyes. She scribbled a number on a piece of paper and pushed it into my hand. “Call me when it’s safe. I’ll help however I can.”

I nodded and slipped out the back, wearing the dark brown wig to hide my striking silver hair. In a cheap motel on the edge of the city, I dyed my hair a deep, fiery red. The color felt like armor — a new version of myself.

Before leaving for the airport with my forged passport, I looked down at Kai, now sleeping peacefully in a makeshift carrier.

I boarded the flight to Italy that night, a ghost with red hair, a baby who wasn’t mine, and a heart full of grief and vengeance.

I cradled Kai against my shoulder as he slept peacefully, unaware of how much our lives had changed.

“I don’t know who you really are, little one,” I murmured softly. “But I’ll keep you safe. For five years. Then I’ll take you home.”

I stared out the window, my voice hardening with quiet promise.

“And after that… I’m coming back for revenge. For Eleanor. For every drop of blood they spilled.”

No matter what it cost me.

The old Samantha — Nyx — was dead.

The new one would burn the world if she had to.