FAR GONE

Chapter 7

The hum of the car was steady until Darren killed the engine in front of the old Chinese store. The place looked the same as it always did—red lanterns swaying tiredly, dust on the windows, the smell of spice and tobacco drifting faintly out.

Darren unbuckled, stretching his arms. “I can’t go empty-handed there,” he said, glancing at me. “My father-in-law will skin me alive if I show up bare.” He forced a grin. “Help me grab some good wine inside?”

I smirked faintly, pushing open the door. “Wine for your father-in-law, huh? Expensive taste.”

Darren pulled a few bills from his wallet and pressed them into my hand before I could argue. “Don’t give me that look. Just get something decent. I’ll wait in the car.”

“Lazy bastard,” I muttered, stepping out and shoving the money into my pocket.

The bell above the shop door chimed as I walked in. The air was thick with incense, heavy and sweet. Shelves lined with foreign labels and glass jars crowded the aisles. My boots thudded on the wooden floor as I scanned the wines.

Something caught my eye on the third shelf—a bottle of deep red, sleek design, golden dragon etched around its neck. Darren’s father-in-law would eat that up. I picked it up, tilting it in the light. A dollar sticker clung loosely under it—cheap branding trick, but it would pass for classy.

Perfect.

I brought it to the counter where an old man sat cross-legged on a stool behind the register, eyes half-shut as if he hadn’t seen daylight in decades. “Ring it up,” I said, sliding the bottle across.

He scanned it lazily. “That will be sixty-five.”

I tossed the bills down, didn’t bother waiting for change. My head was already elsewhere. Because as I turned to leave—

I froze.

By the door, a man lingered. Black clothes, face cap pulled low. He wasn’t looking at the shelves—he was looking at me. Cold. Calculated. My pulse spiked instantly.

“Raven…” I breathed it under my breath, the name tasting bitter on my tongue.

The psychopath. The one the President had warned me about. Malik Radwan was dangerous, but Raven? Raven was chaos dressed in skin.

Our eyes locked.

For a moment, the world shrank to nothing but that stare. His lips curled into the faintest smirk before he spat out one word.

“Shit.”

Then he bolted.

I shot forward instantly, weaving past a rack of noodles and slamming the door open with my shoulder. Raven was already sprinting across the lot, his movements sharp and wild. He didn’t look back. He dove into a black sedan waiting at the curb, the tires screeching as he gunned the engine.

“Darren!” I roared, sprinting toward our car.

Darren jerked upright, wide-eyed. “What the hell’s going on?”

“No time!” I yanked his door open. “Other side—move!”

“What—Kael—”

“Move!”

He scrambled over to the passenger seat, and I slid behind the wheel, slamming the ignition. My hands gripped the steering like steel.

The chase was on.

The sedan peeled out onto the crowded street, weaving through carts, motorcycles, pedestrians who scattered like birds. I floored the gas, the roar of the engine swallowing Darren’s curses.

“Jesus, Kael, watch out!” Darren shouted as I swerved hard left, narrowly missing a fruit vendor’s stall. Oranges spilled across the asphalt like shrapnel.

“Eyes forward, Darren,” I growled, but even I felt my chest tighten. The crowd blurred past me, shouts rising behind us. Raven was cutting through the chaos like he owned it, every turn sharper than the last.

I pushed harder. Tires screamed against the pavement as I jerked the wheel, clipping a cart of fish that exploded in a spray of water and scales.

“Are you insane?!” Darren barked, gripping the dashboard.

“Hold on.”

I stomped the accelerator, the world smearing into streaks of color. My heart hammered with each second, vision locked on the black sedan darting ahead. Raven was fast—but I was faster.

Just as I closed the gap, the wail of sirens split the air.

Blue lights flashed in the rearview mirror. A patrol car barreled into the street, another joining from the crossroad. The cops had picked up the chase.

The steering wheel felt like it was burning under my grip, my focus narrowed on the dark road cutting ahead. Darren’s voice cracked through the silence.

“Kael! The police are after us—stop the damn car!”

I didn’t even glance at him. The rearview mirror told me everything—red and blue lights bleeding into the night, their sirens tearing through the streets like wolves howling at prey. Then came the voice over the loudspeaker, sharp, mechanical, echoing across the chase.

“Attention! Vehicle ahead, you are ordered to pull over immediately! Stop your car and comply!”

Their words felt distant. My blood was already fixed on one thing—catching that bastard, Raven. He thought he could run. He thought tonight was his victory. I wasn’t giving him that.

I didn’t answer Darren. My jaw clenched, my eyes pinned to the road. But then, from the corner of my vision, headlights cut in. Not one. Two.

Two black vehicles surged from the side streets like predators closing the hunt. One slid against my left, the other against Darren’s side. Tires screeched, engines growled, and then the windows rolled down.

Metal glinted under the streetlamps.

Gunmen.

My heart thundered.

“Down!” I roared, shoving Darren by the shoulder. Bullets ripped through the air, glass shattering, sparks flying as the rounds chewed against metal. I ducked, fists tightening on the wheel, swerving us hard between the lanes as the rain of fire followed us.

Think, Kael. Think fast.

I slammed the brakes for a split second, jerking the car back, forcing the gunmen’s vehicles to overshoot. The screech was deafening. Then I yanked the wheel right, smashing the side of our car into the rear axle of the one on Darren’s side. The impact sent it veering left, colliding into its partner.

Metal against metal. A brutal crash. The sound of death twisting steel. Both cars flipped, rolling like carcasses, then bursting into flame behind us.

But fate wasn’t gentle with me either. The recoil from the hit threw our car sideways, the tires shrieking as I fought for control. The wall of a building rushed toward us like a fist.

“Hold on!”

The crash came like thunder. The windshield spiderwebbed, metal groaned, smoke rising. Pain shot through me as my body slammed against the restraints. Darren cursed beside me, alive but shaken.

I shoved the door open, lungs dragging in the taste of fire and dust. My legs trembled, but I forced myself upright, dragging Darren out with me.

And then I saw him.

Raven.

His silhouette against the flames, calm, walking away as if the chaos around us was nothing but theater made for his amusement.

My heart pounded harder, not from the crash, not from the gunfire, but from the truth sinking in—he wanted me alive tonight. He wanted me to see this.

My fists curled.

“What are these evil people planning again…?” I muttered under my breath, eyes locked on him, my gut already twisting with the certainty that the night was only the beginning of something darker.

And then the sirens closed in. The police finally caught up, surrounding us with guns raised, their voices barking commands I couldn’t hear.

Because all I saw was Raven’s back disappearing into the dark.