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BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 90
The air in the ballroom felt heavier, the eerie presence of the Revenant weaving its way through the crowd like a phantom. No one acknowledged its presence, yet every guest instinctively avoided its path, their masked faces turned away as if ignoring it would make it disappear.Samuel kept his stance firm, his fingers subtly adjusting the cuffs of his suit as he stole a glance at Sophia. Her face remained unreadable, but he caught the slight clench of her jaw—a sign she was calculating her next move.Lucas leaned in slightly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Tell me again how we’re supposed to pull this off when death incarnate is walking around like it owns the place?”Sophia didn’t flinch. “We follow the plan. I disable the wards while you all secure the ledger from Damian’s office.”Samuel’s gaze flickered toward Damian, who was still at the center of the ballroom, conversing with a group of powerful elites. His posture was relaxed, his charming demeanor a stark contrast to the m
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 91
Samuel kept his strides steady, his mind racing as he processed everything that had just happened. The Revenant, Damian’s awareness of their plan, and most importantly, whatever the hell Sophia had just done.She walked ahead, her shoulders squared, but Samuel could tell she wasn’t as composed as she appeared.Lucas caught up beside him, glancing back at the estate before muttering, “That was too close.”“No kidding,” Isabella chimed in. “We were one second away from becoming that thing’s next meal.”Samuel didn’t respond. Instead, he watched as Sophia reached the car, pausing before she opened the door. Her fingers trembled slightly.Not noticeable to anyone else.But Samuel saw it.She was still feeling the effects of whatever magic she had tapped into.He walked over, keeping his voice low. “You okay?”Sophia exhaled through her nose, shaking off whatever was lingering in her system. “I had to do something, Samuel. Damian wasn’t going to let us walk out of there.”He nodded. “I kno
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 92
Samuel stood in the center of the dimly lit room, his mind sharp as he processed the latest turn of events. Damian had countered them faster than expected, which meant two things—he was prepared, and he wasn’t going to play defense anymore. This was no longer a silent war fought in the shadows. It was about to get violent. Lucas’ fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to regain access to the Zurich account. “They’re good, but I can still mess with them,” he muttered, sweat beading on his forehead. “I can’t freeze the account completely anymore, but I can make transactions look suspicious enough to get flagged. If the bank starts an internal audit, Damian will be locked out for at least twenty-four hours.” Sophia crossed her arms, her jaw set. “Do it.” Lucas let out a shaky breath. “Alright, done. Now we wait and see how Damian reacts.” Samuel didn’t like waiting. Every second they spent waiting was a second Damian could use to retaliate. And knowing the Brook family, their r
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 93
The tension on the rooftop was suffocating. The armed men surrounding Samuel and Sophia remained still, their fingers twitching near their triggers. Damian Brook stood before them, a smirk playing on his lips, as if he had already won.Samuel’s mind worked fast, analyzing the situation. There were at least a dozen men, all well-trained. Fighting their way out was an option, but not without consequences.Sophia’s hand subtly reached for her concealed blade. She caught Samuel’s eye, a silent question in her gaze: Do we fight?Damian chuckled, tilting his head. “Oh, don’t look so tense, Samuel. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have invited you for a conversation.”Samuel didn’t move. “Then talk.”Damian stepped closer, his expression shifting into something almost casual. “I’ll make this simple. You and your little operation? It ends tonight.”Sophia scoffed. “And if we refuse?”Damian let out a low chuckle. “Then I make an example out of both of you.” He glanced around, then sighed dram
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 94
The Brook family’s fortress-like estate loomed in the distance, its high walls and armed guards a reminder of the power they wielded. But tonight, power meant nothing. Not when Samuel was already inside.He crouched behind a stone pillar, watching as the guards patrolled the upper balcony. His earpiece crackled softly as Sophia’s voice came through.“You’re clear to move.”With silent precision, Samuel slipped forward, his black attire blending into the shadows. He reached the service entrance, the lock already disabled by Victor’s earlier hacking.Sophia’s voice came again. “Damian’s in his office. Third floor.”Samuel smirked. “Time to pay him a visit.”He moved swiftly through the corridors, his footsteps ghost-like against the marble flooring. The Brook estate was lavish—gold-trimmed walls, crystal chandeliers, priceless paintings. It reeked of old money and corruption.At the grand staircase, two guards stood watch. Samuel didn’t hesitate. He moved fast—one punch to the throat, t
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 95
The city skyline blurred past as Samuel stared out the window, his mind racing with possibilities. The Brook estate was in flames, but Damian wasn’t dead. That meant the fight wasn’t over—far from it.Sophia sat beside him, reloading her gun with sharp, calculated movements. She hadn’t said much since their escape, but Samuel knew her well enough to sense her frustration.Lucas, in the driver’s seat, glanced at them through the rearview mirror. “We need a plan. Blowing up their estate isn’t going to stop them.”Samuel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “No. But it’s going to slow them down. They’ll be too busy cleaning up their mess to retaliate immediately.”Sophia finally spoke. “That gives us time to hit them where it really hurts—their money.”Lucas whistled. “You want to go after their finances? That’s bold.”Samuel smirked. “Desperate men make mistakes. If we drain their resources, Damian will get reckless.”Lucas nodded. “I can have my people dig into their accoun
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 96
The industrial district loomed ahead, a collection of abandoned factories and crumbling warehouses. The streets were mostly empty, save for the occasional flickering streetlamp casting eerie shadows.Samuel kept his gun at his side, eyes scanning the area as they approached the warehouse Marissa had described. The vault was hidden inside, buried beneath layers of security that only she could bypass.Lucas pulled the car into a secluded alley, shutting off the engine. “This place gives me bad vibes,” he muttered.Sophia checked her gun. “Everything gives you bad vibes.”Marissa sat in the back seat, her fingers gripping the edge of her coat. “We don’t have much time. Damian’s men could already be here.”Samuel turned to her. “Are you sure the files are still inside?”She nodded. “I checked the system remotely before we left. No one has accessed it yet, but that won’t last.”Samuel looked at Lucas and Sophia. “We move in quiet. No unnecessary risks.”Lucas smirked. “Define unnecessary.”
BENEATH THE MASK: REVENGE OF SAMUEL HAYES 97
The documents they had retrieved from the vault sat in the back seat, secured in a steel case that Marissa clutched tightly. The information inside was enough to bring Damian and The Syndicate crumbling down—but it also made them the biggest targets in the city.“We can’t go back to the safe house,” Sophia said, reloading her gun as she kept her eyes on the road behind them. “They’ll be expecting us.”Samuel nodded, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “We need a new location. Somewhere secure.”Lucas, sitting in the passenger seat, smirked. “I might know a place.”Samuel shot him a skeptical glance. “If it’s one of your old gambling hideouts, I swear—”“Relax,” Lucas said, holding up his hands. “It’s a penthouse. High security, private access. I haven’t used it in years, but it should still be off the grid.”Marissa finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you trust it?”Lucas shrugged. “I trust that nobody else knows about it. That’s good enough, right?”Samuel exchanged
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The aftermath of William Brook’s fall left an eerie silence in the grand hall. Smoke curled from the scorched remnants of his body, his power having disintegrated beneath Samuel’s attack. But despite the victory, the tension in the air remained thick, as though the battle had only scratched the surface of something much bigger.Evelyn stepped beside Samuel, her expression unreadable. “You look like you’re expecting another ghost to jump out of the shadows.”Samuel didn’t respond immediately. His senses were on high alert, his instincts telling him this wasn’t over. The Brook family wouldn’t take William’s downfall lightly. If anything, they’d retaliate with fury.“We need to move,” Samuel said, voice firm. “Now.”Evelyn smirked but followed as he strode out of the ruined hall. The moment they stepped into the corridor, the weight of their situation settled. The estate, once a stronghold of wealth and power, now felt like a battlefield.As they walked, Evelyn broke the silence. “So, wh
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Samuel stood at the center, his eyes dark with unreadable emotions, while the Brook family loomed over the negotiation table like vultures circling a fresh kill.“I don’t think you understand the weight of what you’re asking, Mr. Brook,” Samuel said, voice calm but edged with steel.Across from him, William Brook smirked, fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest of his chair. “Oh, I understand perfectly,” he mused. “What I don’t understand is why you’re hesitating. A merger between our companies would be beneficial for both sides. And yet, you seem... resistant.”Samuel’s jaw tightened. This wasn’t just a business deal. The Brook family had been subtly moving against him for months, and now, they were making their power play. He wasn’t going to let them win.“I have no interest in merging with a family that has done everything in its power to sabotage mine,” Samuel said coldly.“You wound me,” William chuckled, leaning back. “This isn’t about the past, Samuel. It’s about the f
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Vincent, still clutching his gun, scanned the perimeter of the room before finally lowering it. "We should be safe here for now."Evelyn rubbed her temples, her fingers trembling. "For now? That's not exactly reassuring. Those echoes... that wasn’t normal. Not even for this."Thorne stood near the doorway, his gaze distant. "It was an aftershock. The Devourer may be bound, but its influence lingers. The echoes were proof of that."Sophia crossed her arms. "Great. So what do we do? Just sit here and wait for another nightmare to show up?""No," Thorne said simply. "We need to sever the last ties."Samuel looked up. "Ties? You mean, there’s still something linking this place to the Devourer?"Thorne nodded. "The remnants of its presence don’t just vanish. The echoes were drawn to us because we disrupted something ancient. If we don’t finish what we started, this will happen again. And next time, we might not be able to outrun it."A heavy silence settled over the room.Vincent finally s
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The group moved quickly through the desolate landscape, the weight of what had just happened pressing down on them. The air still held the remnants of the Devourer’s presence, thick and suffocating. Samuel kept a firm grip on Mercer’s arm, making sure he stayed steady.Mercer, though exhausted, still managed to crack a weak smile. “You planning to hold onto me forever?”Samuel scoffed but didn’t let go. “You can barely stand.”Mercer sighed but didn’t argue. His body was covered in bruises, his clothes tattered, and his skin was still marked with faint traces of the dark tendrils that had bound him to the Devourer.Vincent led the way, his gun still drawn, eyes sharp and scanning the area for any threats. Evelyn walked beside him, her hands trembling slightly, though she tried to hide it. Sophia was a few steps ahead of Samuel and Mercer, her grip still tight on the dagger, ready for anything.Thorne, as always, was eerily calm, his presence steady. “We need to move faster,” he said.
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The second eye blinked open, followed by a third, then a fourth. The Devourer’s presence spread, a suffocating force pressing down on Samuel’s chest. The symbols on the ground pulsed in response, flickering like a heartbeat.Sophia’s grip tightened on the dagger she held, ready to intervene if things went wrong. Vincent and Marcus stood at the edge of the ritual circle, their eyes locked on Samuel, prepared for anything.The Devourer’s voice slithered through the air. “You… are tethered to the one we hold.”Samuel swallowed hard. “Yes.”The entity’s gaze burned through him, its presence creeping into the depths of his mind, sifting through his memories, his emotions, his very essence. A wave of nausea rolled through him as the connection strengthened.“You offer yourself?”Samuel’s fingers curled into fists. “I do.”Evelyn’s chanting shifted, the cadence growing sharper, more forceful. The mimic ritual had to remain convincing, and that meant making the Devourer believe it was getting
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The weight of Thorne’s words settled over them like a suffocating fog. A willing sacrifice.Samuel’s fingers curled into fists as he stared at the page in front of him. The ancient symbols meant nothing to him, but the implications were clear. To sever the Devourer’s connection to its feeding ground, someone had to die.“That’s not an option,” Sophia said, shaking her head. “There has to be another way.”Thorne leaned back in his chair, watching them with a measured gaze. “If there was, I would tell you. But Devourers are ancient creatures, bound by deep-rooted laws of existence. To break their hold, something of equal value must be given in return.”Vincent scoffed. “So you’re saying the only way to save Mercer is for one of us to die? Not happening.”Thorne sighed. “I understand your reluctance. But this is not a simple monster you can kill with bullets or fire. Devourers are entities of hunger and power. If you go in unprepared, you won’t just lose Mercer—you’ll all become part of
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Marcus kept one hand on the wheel while his other gripped his phone tightly. “We need to move fast,” he muttered. “The Brook family won’t just sit back and let us find Mercer first.”Samuel exhaled slowly. “Then we beat them to it. Whatever’s up there in that village, it’s dangerous. But Mercer is still alive. I can feel it.”Vincent scoffed from the backseat. “Feel it? Or just hoping?”Samuel ignored him. He wasn’t about to explain the gnawing pull in his chest, the unshakable certainty that Mercer was still out there, barely clinging to life.Sophia shifted uncomfortably beside him. “That thing in the village… It wasn’t human, was it?”Evelyn, who had been silent the entire drive, finally spoke. “No. It wasn’t.” Her voice was unusually quiet. “I’ve read about things like this before, but seeing it in person is something else.”Marcus frowned. “Read about it? What was it?”Evelyn hesitated before answering. “There are stories of ancient beings bound to certain places, creatures that
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The wind howled through the ruins, carrying an eerie whisper that sent a chill down Samuel’s spine. The inhuman eye within the darkness remained fixed on them, unblinking, filled with a hunger that made the air itself tremble.Sophia gripped Samuel’s arm, her breath shallow. “Samuel… what is that?”Vincent stepped forward, drawing his gun. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”Marcus cursed under his breath. “We need to get out of here. Now.”The trembling man on the ground clutched at Samuel’s sleeve. “You can’t fight it,” he rasped. “You can only run.”Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the shifting darkness. “No. We don’t run. We face it.”As if responding to her defiance, the shadows coiled like living tendrils, stretching toward them. Samuel barely had time to pull Sophia back before the darkness lashed out, striking the ground where she had just been standing. The impact left a deep crack in the earth, radiating an unnatural heat.“That’s not normal,” Vincent muttered.The villagers had
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The moment they stepped onto the tarmac, a biting cold wind greeted them, carrying the scent of damp earth and something else—something older, almost metallic, like the air before a storm.Samuel adjusted the collar of his coat, his eyes scanning the unfamiliar terrain. He wasn’t the only one on edge. Sophia wrapped her arms around herself, glancing toward Marcus."Are you sure your contact knows where Mercer is?" she asked, her voice hushed.Marcus checked his phone, his fingers typing rapidly. “He says Mercer was last seen near a village deep in the mountains. But it won’t be easy to reach. The roads are dangerous, and the locals avoid that area.”Vincent scoffed. “Of course they do. Let me guess—ghost stories? Cursed land?”Evelyn, standing slightly apart from the group, tilted her head. “It’s not just stories,” she murmured. “There are things in these mountains older than any of us.”Vincent rolled his eyes. “Great. More cryptic warnings. Love that.”Marcus ignored him and motione
