Ash's POVI spent the next two days desperately trying to gather all the manpower that I could. I knew that Richard was planning something big, and even though I didn't have any specifics from the warning I got from the assassin then, I knew enough to not take it lightly and do my best now that I had the chance to still affect whatever was going to happen.I called in all my debts from people who were owing me, and requested a couple of favors also from some powerful people who weren't in my pack. Counting my men now, I got a round figure of 150,000. I looked at them all for a couple of seconds, trying to figure out if they were actually enough.I closed my eyes, trying to think so that I could remember how many had been with them then. It didn't take much effort because I usually saw Richard and his assassins in my dreams and wanted more than anything to end them completely. Before long, I could see myself back in the warehouse, surrounded by thirty of them who were actually, for som
Ash's POVI called Sage immediately and told him that we would be having a meeting. Naturally, he wouldn't say that he was obliged to come, but he agreed, making me feel very safe. More relieved that I still had him on my side, at least.I stormed out of the office immediately, only to see my men still waiting for me at attention."Don't worry," I said. "You guys can do whatever you like. Probably start some training session or so. I'll be back," I told them. "I have an important meeting to attend to.""They're in the barracks, you know?" one of them said."Yes, sir. They're also in the mission."It's actually weird, I wondered for a moment if they were actually one-minded. And was it even possible for them to be in so much synchronization with each other? Maybe soldiers are just involved nowadays, I thought to myself as I walked out of the barracks and into the surrounding compound that was fenced by high walls.It's probably not just their soldiers that have the ability to wake up a
Ashes' POVHe looked at me for a couple of seconds before stepping back, a little fright in his eyes. He claimed his truth after that, and stepped forward with obviously false confidence, taking a seat among us as if he deserved it."Well, we have a meeting now, don't we?" he questioned. "I suggest we start. Are we not going to talk about anything?"He questioned, saying that none of us was saying anything. "You are late," Sage responded in a cold tone of voice."Oh, are we not going to talk about that? Are we just going to pretend as if that didn't happen?" "Oh," he responded with a frown on his face. I was happy that his expression fell at the accusation, and waited for him to come up with a defense."I'm sorry," he said, backing down and making me frown. It wasn't exactly his style to do such a thing.I looked at him, waiting for his excuse to come after."You want to hear it, don't you?" He questioned, "Why I'm late?""You can't come to such an important meeting without a good
Sage POVA quiet victory The look of uncertainty on his face was still there, and honestly, I was starting to doubt my decision. Why would I go for such a thing in the first place anyway? It was utterly ridiculous to involve myself in his personal problem more than I was already involved.Although there was a much higher probability of success now that I was going all out and putting my soldiers among his own, I still didn’t feel comfortable doing it. It was like I was taking drugs for another man’s sickness, even though he was a good friend to me."Thank you," he said, taking my handshake, the confused expression still in his eyes. It was best that I didn’t have to explain anything to him because I was honestly at a loss for words. I wouldn’t be able to think up a good enough excuse if I wanted to, so it was wonderful that I didn’t have to.He looked a lot happier and somehow a lot less younger all of a sudden. Now that his one major problem was basically solved, he had the manpower
Luke's POVSomething was different about the way Sage acted. All of a sudden, I couldn't believe for the life of me that he would actually be so sacrificial to us, to lend Ash so much resources and manpower for nothing at all. It was ridiculous to think of it, but there it was. It happened right in my presence. There was no denying the fact that he was someone I needed to look at carefully. Maybe I hadn't figured him out exactly like I thought.I glanced at Ash, but didn't look at him for too long. Clearly, he was probably still angry with me, and I couldn't keep on disturbing him because of that. What's more, I couldn't blame him for being angry with me. Anyone would be if I suddenly let someone that he needed to have reverence for personally go without any form of payment for what he had done. The assassin had actually gone scot-free all because of me.A silly mistake on my part, but I had to bear the blame, not Ash. If he wanted, he could be angry with me for the next one week or m
Ash's POVThe entire group disbanded after a while, each of us going to our separate houses, our separate ways. I was more than happy about the test development, so I went, first of all, to check on my own soldiers. They were training diligently, just like I had instructed them before leaving, making me feel like we were indeed onto something. Everything seemed a lot more real and, at the same time, a lot more possible.Now, I was not quite... I saw a phone call, and a frown came on my face suddenly, not knowing what Cassie would want with me at this moment."Hello?" I asked, picking up the phone call. "How are you doing?" I asked again, but she didn't reply."There's some news," she said in a hushed tone. "Terrible news. My dad seems to have found out about my involvement in the capture of the assassin."I froze completely, hearing her piece of information."Where are you right now?" I asked, my heart beating fast in my chest."I'm with him currently," she said, her voice getting eve
Ash's POVI looked at them all after giving them the news, waiting to see their reactions. Sage looked lost for a moment, with his eyes almost completely white. As for Luke, he looked completely devastated. It was not strange, considering that he now knew she was his sister. For this to happen to a relative, it had to be pretty hard on him, personally.Sage suddenly grabbed his phone with a little too much force and started dialing a number without any hesitation. I was about to ask him what he was actually doing when he finally started speaking."Hello, who is this? This isn't Cassie.""Indeed, it's not her," a voice replied, and I froze, still as ice, recognizing the voice even though I wasn't near, even though it wasn't on loudspeaker."She's your daughter," Sage said in a rage. "What are you going to do with her? So what? She might have said some things about you and given you away, but it was all our fault. We made her do that. You don't have to kill her for no reason at all."
Sage's POVThe words he spoke were like a thunderbolt, hitting me through the heart. It was our own personal secret, and we'd only done it once or twice. Yet, now it was public knowledge, and all my friends knew.The one question ringing in my head now was how. How had it come out so quickly? What happened to make Richard informed about it? Could it be that Cassie told him? No, she couldn't have. She wouldn't do such a thing. And in the first place, she never told her father anything about us.What then? Could it be that she was actually silent about it, and he still managed to know? In that case, then, I would have to check myself. Someone must have been spying on me from within my own territory. In other words, I had a couple of traitors by my side who were feeding my enemies information.I could hardly believe it. This was more than a traumatizing experience for me because I had completely trusted everybody around me up until now. It just couldn't be. But if it was, then, I would b
Ash's POVI wasn't exactly sure what to say, so I glanced at my friends, but from the looks in Luke's eyes, I knew that he was completely baffled by the situation. His eyes were hard, contrary to Sage, who looked soft and ready to give in at any moment."I can't believe we are even doing this," he said, his voice expressive as he stepped forward, his eyes flashing. "We shouldn't be bargaining with you; you are in no position to say anything at all.""Am I now?" he asked, his knife pressed a little more to her neck. I could tell that he was about to make a rash decision that would definitely cost him his life, but I was afraid of it costing Cassie's life also."Please," I said to Luke, putting my hand on him. I knew how much he loved his sister and didn't want her to die, so why was he actually acting like this? Luke glanced at Cassie, his eyes rigid as if trying to tell her something. His eyes were fixed on her, but he didn't see anything else, staying in his position with hardly any
Ash POVWe all stayed rooted to the spot, except maybe for Sage behind me, who had taken a subconscious step back. Maybe it was a good idea for us to back away after all—maybe back away out of the room entirely so that I could give Sage a good pep talk and make him gather himself and understand what was actually at stake here.Weakness was the one thing that would actually cost Cassie her life, nothing more. If we played this right, from the position of strength that we actually were in, then we could get her back, though it wasn't certain if we could get Richard and bring him to book along with that; that would actually be asking for too much. One small mistake and our victory had turned into a break-even, or maybe a possible loss if we didn't play our cards right and made another small mistake to add to the former one.I looked at our opponent, the one that we had nearly defeated, for a couple of seconds and finally decided to at least talk with him. If he killed Cassie, then the en
Luke's POVEverything was closing in on me, and I knew that it was too late for me to run away by now. My chance was gone. Looking at my opponent, who was now getting into the attack once more and covering all spaces for me to run into, I knew that he wouldn't let me go. He knew just what I could be thinking at this time, and he also knew that most likely I would try to run away. He was doing everything to prevent that, not wanting his prey to go.I knew that when he won this, he was going to put me along with Cassie and torment us for a very long period of time before killing us eventually. Yes, he had given me my chance to join him, not that I would ever do that, but I hadn't agreed to him, and now he was going to make me pay the price. I was pretty sure of it.I felt a certain feeling of discomfort, knowing how things were about to end, but still staying here anyway. I should be doing my best to run away and break free from his grasp, but I didn't do that for some reason. I just st
Luke's POVIt was honestly very troubling how I was still struggling with Richard after such a long time, and how someone would have thought that by now I would be done with defeating him, especially after I had come to the brink of beating him so many times now. But for some reason, he was always bouncing back and staying up above water, to the point that I was actually pressured by him at times, and even now, I was still pressured. Honestly, I was starting to wonder whether there was something wrong with me, or whether we were just evenly matched. Every time I came to the brink, ready to defeat him, there was one small mistake, or one small thing that happened to make him come back again. And then we started the sequence all over again.It dawned on me now that I would not be able to defeat him, not today, not now. I wasn't strong enough. In fact, I would even be considered lucky to not be defeated by him myself. Remembering clearly how easily he had taken me on previously, I knew
Sage's povThe first thought that came to my mind after he said that was that this was simply too good to be true. I couldn't believe it even now. However, that was a fact. But if he was actually the one keeping Sage from coming here, then he was a true hero. He was the one doing much more work than us and our soldiers who brought the army to the gate and the fight from the outside, because he is definitely the one that brings the fight from the inside, which is the real fight.I looked at Ash, wanting to see how convinced he was. And from the looks of it, he seemed completely convinced by it. When I thought about it, I didn't see any other reason why this could be happening. For one thing, I hadn't heard from Luke at all, indicating that there was a good chance that he was busy. And the fact that, at the same time, Richard was nowhere to be found, made it a little too much to be a coincidence. Most likely, the two of them couldn't be here because they were busy with each other, fight
Sage's POVI didn't really know whether I was safe when I started easily winning the entire fight. It was not much of a battle anymore. If anything, it was starting to become something of a slaughter. I didn't see any reason why I would have it so easy fighting against the man that I was up against—the man who had been rumored to be far stronger than a lot of people and would be a very formidable enemy.I had heard that he was planning some tricks for me, and I also knew that he was skewed and poisoned because that's what I heard from the assassin the time we asked him about Richard. That was enough information to be wary of him, knowing that he could actually be planning something else entirely while we were busy here. But as it happened, maybe he was just all talk after all, and there was nothing to actually be fearful of. He seemed pretty tame to me right now, not at all a threat, no matter how I looked at it.In my planning, I decided to draw back a little and let my men do some o
Ash's POV I join in and things get easy The progress was slow but steady. I knew that it wouldn't be long before we finally reached my territory. Then, I would have the opportunity to take back what was rightfully mine.I could almost see it happening already. As my soldiers marched forward, each with a certain determination in their eyes, I was sure we stood a huge chance of winning this. The moment I got to Richard, I would make sure to rip his eyes out and kill him for everything he had done, especially for killing my father. Until then, I had to make do with what I had and bide my time until everything was set.I had the patience to wait because I had been waiting for this moment all my life. So, even if it was just a couple more hours, I could wait again. It would end in my victory.Setting my eyes on the bigger prize, I kept moving, knowing it would be worth it. I was starting to get tired after marching for what seemed like forever. The soldiers, for their part, seemed much s
Sage's POVMy men started marching forward after I gave the order, each of them moving valiantly. These were pretty much all my forces because the ones I left to defend my home weren't too many anymore and wouldn't really account for much. In other words, if an attack actually started on my home while I was gone, then it would be pretty much defenseless against this attacker, and they would be able to do some large amount of damage to it.It was very precarious, but I knew that if I didn't take as many people as I could with me, then it was highly unlikely that we would win. I had no idea how many people Richard had with him, but I knew that he definitely had a lot of people with him, and that if I took only half of my army, it might not be enough, even when added to what Ash was bringing.I didn't want to take any chances on this because it was pretty much my only chance. If I was going to help, then I was going to help him completely and make sure that we won this. If we didn't win,
Sage's P.O.V.I went home driving in my car at full speed because I wanted to get there as soon possible. Who could have thought that I would be so excited and so fired up about fighting another man's war? It was a big pleasure for me to involve myself to such a large extent like this. But actually, I didn't see myself doing anything else in this particular situation.Cassie had been taken, and this could surely well be the only way I could free her since I couldn't really depend on Luke to do the job for me. Everything seemed to have gone south in this situation and personally, I was feeling affected. I felt incomplete, especially because of the lack of Cassie around, and I also felt a little guilty even though I hadn't exactly done anything.Something told me that the person who had actually caused all this personally didn't even feel guilty himself, and that person was Luke. So, I tried to make myself a little happier knowing that since he wasn't killing himself for what he actuall