The Rise of Mackin Jones

Chapter 97

The town they arrived in starkly contrasted everything Luis and Maria had known.

No sprawling skyscrapers, no flashing lights, no constant hum of chaos beneath the surface. The quiet countryside felt like another world, an escape from the fire they had left behind in the city. But as they moved through the small streets and settled into the new life they had planned,

Luis couldn’t shake the feeling that the city was still with him, lingering in the back of his mind like a distant, fading nightmare.

The house Maria had secured was on the outskirts of town, nestled among trees and far enough from the centre to provide the privacy they needed. It was a modest place compared to the luxury they had lived in before—no penthouse view, no high ceilings, just quiet.

Maria, ever efficient, had already begun setting things in place. While Luis spent his time staring at the vast open space of their new surroundings, she was organising the details of their new lives. New names, new identities. It was almost too easy for her—like flipping a switch, moving from one life to another without a second thought.

But Luis wasn’t sure if it was that easy for him.

“You need to let go, Luis,” Maria said one evening as they sat in the small living room, the fire crackling softly in the hearth. Her eyes were steady, overseeing him, but there was something colder behind them, something more detached.

Luis didn’t respond right away. His gaze was fixed on the flames, the soft orange glow reminding him too much of the fires they had left behind. The empire they had built, the chaos they had caused—it was all gone now, reduced to ashes. And yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“I thought it would feel different,” Luis said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Leaving it all behind.”

Maria leaned back in her chair, her expression unreadable. “We made the right choice. You know that.”

Luis nodded, though the motion felt hollow. “Yeah. We did.”

But that didn’t mean it was easy. Walking away from the city, from everything they had fought for, hadn’t been the clean break he had imagined. The city had taken so much from him—his time, his energy, his soul—and now, even though they had left it behind, a part of him still felt tethered to it.

Maria sipped from her glass of wine, her gaze still on him. “It’ll take time. But eventually, this will feel normal.”

Luis didn’t believe her, not really. He wasn’t sure if this kind of life—quiet, peaceful, removed—could ever feel normal to him. The city had changed him, moulded him into something else, something that wasn’t built for this kind of life. But maybe that was the point.

“And if it doesn’t?” Luis asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

Maria’s eyes narrowed slightly, the sharpness in her gaze returning. “It will. You just have to let go.”

But could he? Luis wasn’t sure if he even knew how to. The city had been everything—the reason he woke up every morning, the driving force behind every decision he made. It had shaped him and turned him into the man he was now. And now that it was gone, he wasn’t sure who he was anymore.

“I keep thinking about what we left behind,” Luis said after a long pause. “The people, the power... all of it.”

Maria’s expression hardened slightly. “We didn’t leave anything behind that mattered.”

Luis glanced at her, the cold detachment in her voice unsettling. “Didn’t we?”

Maria set her glass down, the sound of it hitting the table sharper than it should have been. “We did what we had to do. You need to stop questioning it.”

Luis could hear the edge in her voice, the impatience creeping in. Maria had always been the pragmatic one, the one who never let emotions get in the way of what needed to be done. But Luis was starting to realise that maybe he wasn’t like her. Maybe he couldn’t just walk away from everything without feeling the weight of it.

“I’m not questioning it,” Luis said, though the words felt like a lie. “I just—”

Maria stood abruptly, cutting him off. “We’re here. We’re safe. That’s all that matters now.”

Luis watched as she walked to the window, staring out into the dark. The tension between them had been growing since they left the city, but now it felt like it was threatening to unravel everything. They had always been a team, but now... now something was different.

“You’ve changed,” Luis said quietly, his voice barely audible.

Maria didn’t turn around. “We both have.”

The days passed slowly in the quiet town. Luis found himself wandering through the fields and the small streets, trying to settle into this new life. But everywhere he went, the city followed him. He saw it in the faces of strangers, in the flickering streetlights at night, in the way his mind kept drifting back to the empire they had left behind.

Maria, on the other hand, seemed to thrive in this new environment. She had thrown herself into their new life with a cold, calculated precision. She was planning, always planning, and Luis could see that she was already thinking about what came next. But for him, there was no “next.” There was only the weight of the past.

One evening, as they sat together in the dimly lit kitchen, Luis couldn’t take the silence anymore. The questions that had been gnawing at him finally bubbled to the surface.

“Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we stayed?” Luis asked suddenly, his voice cutting through the quiet.

Maria didn’t look up from the book she was reading. “We would have been taken down. You know that.”

“But what if we hadn’t?” Luis pressed. “What if we had found a way to survive it?”

Maria’s gaze flicked to him, her expression hard. “There was no surviving that. We did the only thing we could.”

Luis stared at her, the tension between them thickening. “You don’t ever think about it? About what we lost?”

Maria closed the book slowly, her eyes locking onto his. “What we lost doesn’t matter, Luis. We’re alive. We’re free.”

But Luis wasn’t sure if he believed that anymore. He wasn’t sure if freedom was what he had found here, in this quiet town, away from the chaos of the city. It felt more like a prison—one built out of his regret.

“Are we?” Luis asked quietly.

Maria stood, her patience worn thin. “What do you want me to say, Luis? That I miss it? That I miss the blood, the deals, the constant looking over our shoulders?”

Luis didn’t answer. He could feel the anger rising in her, but it wasn’t just about him. Maria was struggling too, even if she refused to admit it. They had spent so many years fighting for control, for power, and now that they had left it behind, neither of them knew what to do with themselves.

“This was supposed to be the end,” Maria said sharply. “We won, Luis. We got out.”

Luis shook his head, his voice low. “But did we?”

Maria’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, her anger simmering beneath the surface. “You need to stop this.”

Luis stood, his heart pounding. “Stop what? Thinking about everything we left behind? Everything we built?”

“Yes,” Maria snapped. “Because none of it matters anymore.”

Luis’s gaze softened, his voice quieter now. “It matters to me.”

Maria stared at him for a long moment, her eyes hard, but there was something else there too—something fragile. “Then maybe you should have stayed.”

The words hung in the air between them, heavy and final. Luis felt them hit him like a punch to the gut. Maria turned and walked out of the room, leaving him standing there, alone with his thoughts.

Later that night, as Luis lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Maria had said. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should have stayed. Maybe he wasn’t meant for this kind of life—for quiet, for peace, for freedom.

But he knew, deep down, that it wasn’t just about the city. It was about who he had become. The city had changed him, shaped him into someone who thrived on control, on power. And now, without it, he didn’t know who he was anymore.

As the night stretched on, Luis made a decision.

He wasn’t done yet