Chapter 24: Chapter 24: The Shattered Trust

The Night They Lost Everything

The squad room was a battlefield of ideas.

Maps were spread across the table. Screens flashed with surveillance feeds. Papers were scattered—plans drawn, strategies debated.

Sky stood at the head of the room, jaw tight, scanning their options. They were close—too close to backing Jason into a corner.

"Intercepting Jason’s next move is a priority," Perth said, fingers flying across his laptop. "If we can force him into a mistake—"

"He doesn’t make mistakes," Joong interrupted, arms crossed. "We need to make him feel cornered first."

Santa smirked. "Sounds fun. How do we make a billionaire crime lord nervous?"

Nani, leaning forward, exhaled. "We take away his leverage."

The room stilled.

Sky turned to him. “Thupa.”

Nani nodded. "Jason isn’t done with him. If we move first, we control the game."

Fourth grinned. "Now we’re talking."

Gemini nodded in agreement. "Interpol has a team on standby. If we coordinate, we could outsmart him."

Dunk leaned back. What if we hit Jason's account instead? We know he's consolidating power—cut the funds, cut the empire."

Perth shook his head. "He's too well—insulated. Even if we freeze one account, he'll have five backups."

Nani, walked towards the centre. "Thupa is our only laverage. Jason needs him alive. Which means we still have an advantage."

Dew, standing near the door, exhaled. "Which is exactly why we're not letting our guard down."

Benz nodded in agreement. "Security rotation remains tight. No one moves alone."

Gemini nodded. "A controlled risk. We can use that."

Sky exhaled sharply. "Then let's act fast before he flips the game on us again."

"I'll go check on Thupa." Nani said looking at Sky. "Fourth will come with me." He continues before Sky can say anything.

-----

As the team was closing in on Jason. They could feel it. Every conversation, every plan—they were getting closer.

Sky was running through final contingencies when the lights flickered.

A subtle glitch. Barely noticeable.

Perth frowned at his laptop. “Wait—”

Then—everything cut to black.

A second of silence.

And then—

All hell broke loose.

---

The Safehouse Falls

The power grid crashed.

Emergency lights flickered weakly, casting the halls in eerie red.

Perth’s hands flew across the keyboard.

“We’re locked out—someone just killed the entire system!”

Dew grabbed his radio. “Perimeter check, now—”

Static.

The comms were dead.

Dew immediately drew his gun. "Everyone—positions."

The doors slammed open.

Gunfire erupted.

Explosions rocked the building.

Jason’s men were already inside.

---

The walls shook from the impact of explosives.

Dust and debris rained down as the front gate blew apart.

Santa and Dunk hit the ground as bullets tore through the walls. “FUCK—where the hell did they come from?!”

Joong fired back, voice sharp. “They were already here—waiting!”

Perth ducked behind the overturned table, scanning the surveillance feed. “Multiple breach points! We’re surrounded!”

Sky’s heart pounded. This wasn’t an attack.

It was an execution.

---

Down the hall, Nani and Fourth were moving.

The alarms had barely died when they ran to check on Thupa.

Fourth’s grip tightened on his gun. "Something’s wrong. Stay close—"

A shadow moved behind them.

The blade sank deep.

Fourth gasped. The knife twisted.

Blood splattered onto the floor.

Nani whipped around—too late.

Laurent’s voice was calm. Too calm.

“You should’ve stayed dead.”

Nani’s fist flew.

Laurent sidestepped effortlessly. In a blink, he drove the knife toward Nani’s ribs.

Nani dodged—just barely.

But Laurent was faster.

A brutal hit to the back of Nani’s head.

His vision blurred.

He staggered.

Laurent caught him before he hit the ground.

Cold. Calculated.

He leaned in, whispering. “Jason’s been waiting for you.”

Then—darkness.

---

Sky’s Fury

Sky arrived seconds too late.

His heart stopped when he saw Fourth, slumped against the wall, bleeding out.

But where the fuck was Nani?

Sky’s grip on his gun tightened painfully.

He turned to Fourth, voice raw. “Where is he?”

Fourth gritted his teeth against the pain. "Laurent… took him…"

Sky’s blood turned to ice.

Then—

An explosion rocked the hallway.

Jason’s men were closing in.

Dew shouted over comms. "We are NOT holding this place—fall back! NOW!"

Sky wasn’t listening.

He was already seeing red.

His entire body burned with rage.

Then he heard it—

A chopper.

Sky’s head snapped up—through the shattered skylight, he saw it.

Jason was taking Nani.

Sky moved.

Ignoring the gunfire, ignoring the chaos—he ran.

Bullets whizzed past him as he charged up the stairs. If he could just reach the roof—

But the explosion came too fast.

The stairwell collapsed behind him.

Sky barely had time to dodge before flames engulfed the corridor.

By the time he reached the rooftop—

The chopper was gone.

Nani was gone.

Sky stood there, breathing hard.

The wind howled around him, but his world had gone completely silent.

Then, very softly—

Sky whispered Nani’s name.

And for the first time in his life… he felt powerless.

---

By the time the dust settled—they had lost.

The safehouse was in ruins.

Fourth was being stabilized by Dew’s team.

Thupa was gone.

And Nani…

Nani was in Jason’s hands.

-----

Smoke clung to the air. Bullet-ridden walls. The faint crackle of fire in the distance. Blood smeared across shattered glass.

But the worst part wasn’t the destruction.

It was the silence.

A suffocating, crushing silence.

Because this wasn’t just a loss.

They had been played.

Laurent had walked among them, sat at their table, spoken to them like an ally.

And then, without hesitation, he gutted them from the inside.

He had planned this. Every step. Every move.

And now—Nani is gone.

---

Sky didn’t move at first.

Didn’t speak.

His mind replayed it over and over.

Nani—right there. In reach. And then gone.

He had been too slow.

Too late.

His hands clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms.

And then—he moved.

Fast. Furious.

Before anyone could react, Sky grabbed Gemini by the collar and slammed him into the nearest wall.

The impact was bone-rattling.

"Where the FUCK was your team?" Sky’s voice was pure rage.

Gemini didn’t fight back. He barely reacted. Didn’t even flinch.

But his eyes burned.

His voice was lethal. “Laurent just stabbed my partner. Do you think I fucking knew about this?”

Sky’s grip tightened. His entire body shook with rage.

He wanted to kill.

He needed to kill.

Because this wasn’t supposed to happen.

He was supposed to protect Nani.

And he had failed.

But then—

A weak cough.

"Sky…"

Sky turned.

Fourth was on the ground, pale, barely holding on.

Blood soaked through the bandages hastily wrapped around his wound, his breaths shallow.

But his grip was firm when he reached for Sky’s sleeve. "Laurent…he planned this."

His voice shook.

"He knew the system. He knew everything."

Sky felt his stomach twist.

Laurent had used them.

Had laughed with them, worked with them, pretended to care.

And the whole time—he had been waiting.

Waiting for the moment to destroy them from the inside.

Sky staggered back. His vision blurred with red-hot rage.

He had never felt this helpless before.

Never.

And he hated it.

---

The Realization of Betrayal

Joong stood in the wreckage, jaw clenched so tight it ached.

Santa sat on the steps, hands in his hair. The usual smirk—gone.

Dunk paced restlessly, his movements jerky, uneven. “FUCK, man, we should’ve seen it. We should’ve—”

Perth’s hands hovered over his laptop, fingers shaking. He had already scanned the security logs a hundred times. Nothing.

Laurent had erased everything.

He hadn’t just turned on them—he had erased his footprints like a fucking ghost.

Perth muttered under his breath, voice hollow. “…We never even saw it coming.”

And that—that hurt the most.

---

Thanawat stood dead still.

Too still.

His fingers were clenched into tight fists.

Laurent had betrayed them.

Betrayed everything.

He had let this man into his unit.

Had trusted him.

And now, because of him—

Nani was in Jason’s hands.

Dew turned to him. “What’s the order?”

Thanawat didn’t respond immediately.

Didn’t look at Dew. Didn’t even blink.

Instead, he took one slow breath.

Then another.

And when he finally spoke—

His voice was lethal.

“…We burn them down.”

---

Santa, for once, didn’t smirk.

"No holding back?" His voice was low. Uncertain.

Thanawat’s gaze was ice cold. “None.”

Sky’s voice was quiet. Dangerous.

“…We get him back.”

Dew exhaled sharply. “And if Jason uses him against us?”

Sky’s eyes darkened.

He already knew the answer.

He had already decided.

Sky turned away, gripping the nearest chair so tightly it cracked under his hands.

And when he spoke—his voice was deadly.

"Then we make Jason regret ever touching him."

-------

The Wounds That Won’t Heal

The ride to Sakda’s house was silent.

Not the kind of silence that felt calm.

The kind that felt like suffocating.

The safehouse was gone.

Jason had taken everything.

And Nani—

Nani was in his hands.

Sky sat in the passenger seat, staring blankly out the window.

His hands were still bloody. From the fight. From holding Fourth down, trying to keep him conscious. From gripping his gun so tightly his fingers ached.

But none of that mattered.

Because no matter how much blood was on his hands—it wasn’t enough to stop this from happening.

From failing.

From losing Nani.

Dew, driving, kept glancing at him. His usual carefree expression was gone.

He knew.

Knew that this—this loss—was breaking Sky in ways no one had ever seen before.

No one had ever been taken from him before.

Not like this.

Not like Nani.

Dew exhaled through his nose. “We’re gonna get him back.”

Sky didn’t respond.

Didn’t even blink.

Because there was no ‘we’ in his mind.

He was going to get Nani back.

Even if it killed him.

---

The Base of War

Sakda’s home wasn’t just a house.

It was a fortress.

Hidden behind high walls, with security stronger than most government buildings. A place built to protect the people inside.

A place Sky and the squad had once considered safe.

Now?

Now, it felt like a graveyard.

Sky stepped inside first. The moment he crossed the threshold, Auntie Malee was there.

She gasped. “Sky!”

He barely had time to react before she pulled him into a crushing hug.

“You’re hurt,” she muttered, hands gripping his face, checking for wounds. “And exhausted. And starving. And—”

Sky exhaled. “Ma—”

“Sit down,” she snapped. “Before you fall over.”

Sky didn’t argue. He didn’t have the strength to.

He sank into the nearest chair, feeling the weight of it all crash onto his shoulders.

Auntie Malee turned, eyes fierce. “Where’s Nani?”

No one answered.

And that silence was all she needed.

Her face crumbled.

Dew, quieter than usual, murmured, “We’ll get him back, Ma.”

Auntie Malee clenched her fists. Her voice was unsteady.

“…You better.”

---

Thanawat stood near the dining table, arms crossed, his entire body radiating cold fury.

He had barely spoken since they arrived.

But when he did—his voice was deadly.

“From now on, we do nothing without a plan.”

The squad stiffened.

Santa, jaw clenched, muttered, “What the hell do you think we’ve been doing?”

Thanawat’s gaze snapped to him. “Losing.”

Santa fell silent.

Because he was right.

They had been losing from the start.

Thanawat exhaled sharply. “Jason has outplayed us at every turn. No more reckless moves. No more desperation.”

His gaze flickered to Sky. “No more running without backup.”

Sky didn’t react.

Didn’t flinch.

Didn’t even acknowledge the words.

Because in his mind—he wasn’t waiting for backup.

He was going after Nani.

Alone, if he had to.

Thanawat’s voice softened—just barely. “Sky.”

Sky finally looked up.

And for the first time—Thanawat saw it.

The devastation.

The pure, raw grief.

And beneath that—a fire. A rage that wouldn’t go out until Nani was back.

Thanawat’s jaw tightened. “…We will get him back.”

Sky’s fingers curled into fists. “I’m not waiting for permission.”

Thanawat’s expression didn’t change. “You’re not going alone.”

A heavy silence.

Thanawat turned to the rest of the squad. “From this moment forward, Jason is our only target. We bring Nani home. And we burn everything Jason built to the ground.”

No one hesitated.

Because there was no more room for doubt.

Only revenge.

---

Perth Finds a Lead

While the others regrouped, Perth worked.

No sleep. No breaks.

Only lines of code and firewalls and digital trails.

Jason had covered his tracks well.

But Perth was better.

Dunk, standing behind him, arms crossed, murmured, “Anything?”

Perth didn’t respond. His fingers never stopped moving.

And then—

Something.

A flicker. A ghost of a signal.

Perth froze.

Then, slowly—he pulled up the trace.

The room went still.

Dunk inhaled sharply. “Is that—?”

Perth’s voice was hoarse.

“…Nani.”

The squad was already moving before he even finished the word.

Because this time, Jason had fucked up.

And they were coming for him.