Chapter 13 - The Price of Revenge
Power always came with a price.
I learned that lesson long before I met Samantha.
Every empire demanded sacrifices.
Every victory created enemies.
Every person who stood at the top eventually discovered the same truth:
The higher you climb, the more people wait for you to fall.
But I had always accepted that price.
Until Samantha.
Because before her, I only had something to lose.
After her, I had someone to protect.
And Adrian Cross knew that.
The first sign that something was wrong came from silence.
Adrian had stopped attacking.
No messages.
No threats.
No media leaks.
Nothing.
That was more dangerous than any attack.
A desperate enemy made noise.
A patient enemy waited.
I stood in my office reviewing security reports when my phone rang.
It was one of my oldest contacts.
“Gareth.”
His voice was tense.
“We found something.”
“What?”
A pause.
“Adrian isn’t targeting the Harrington company.”
I looked at the screen.
“What is he targeting?”
The answer came quietly.
“You.”
I frowned.
“He has always targeted me.”
“No.”
Another pause.
“He’s targeting the part of you that isn’t the Shadow.”
I immediately understood.
Samantha.
I arrived home thirty minutes later.
Samantha was sitting at the dining table, reviewing company documents.
She looked up.
“You found something.”
Again, she knew.
I hated how well she could read me.
“Adrian changed his strategy.”
She closed the folder.
“What does that mean?”
“It means he stopped fighting the Crimson Shadow.”
A pause.
“He’s fighting Gareth.”
Her expression became serious.
“How?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Because I already knew.
The only way to destroy a person like me was not through enemies.
It was through doubt.
Through fear.
Through making the people closest to me question whether they ever knew me.
Two days later, the first betrayal appeared.
A video was released online.
Old footage.
Before I met Samantha.
Before I changed.
The video showed me entering a warehouse.
Men standing around me.
People who looked afraid.
The media immediately created the story.
“The Crimson Shadow’s Violent Past Revealed.”
“Samantha Harrington Married a Dangerous Man.”
The public reaction was exactly what Adrian wanted.
Fear.
Suspicion.
Doubt.
But he underestimated one person.
Samantha.
I expected anger.
I expected questions.
I expected hesitation.
Instead, she watched the video once.
Then turned it off.
“That’s not the man I know.”
I looked at her.
“You don’t have to defend me.”
“I’m not defending your past.”
She stood.
“I’m defending the truth.”
I stayed silent.
She walked closer.
“Gareth, I know you did things before me.”
A pause.
“I know there are parts of your life I will never fully understand.”
Then she placed her hand over mine.
“But I also know the man who stayed beside me when nobody else came.”
My expression softened.
“Samantha.”
“No.”
Her eyes became serious.
“You saved my life.”
She looked directly at me.
“Now let me help save yours.”
That night, I made a decision.
A decision I had avoided for years.
I would stop running from the Crimson Shadow.
I would face everything.
Every enemy.
Every mistake.
Every person who wanted revenge.
Because Samantha was right.
Secrets did not protect people forever.
Eventually, they became weapons.
The next morning, I called my organization.
For four years, I had kept my distance.
Now I gave one command.
“Activate the council.”
The response was immediate.
“Understood.”
A pause.
“Welcome back, Shadow.”
The name felt different this time.
Not like a prison.
Like a responsibility.
The meeting took place that evening.
The people who once followed me gathered again.
Executives.
Strategists.
Security leaders.
People who knew exactly who I was.
One of them asked:
“Are we going after Adrian?”
I looked around the room.
“No.”
They looked surprised.
“Then what is the objective?”
I answered:
“Protect Samantha.”
Silence.
Because they understood.
This was no longer about revenge.
It was about survival.
But Adrian moved first.
The next morning, Samantha disappeared.
Not kidnapped.
Not taken.
Something worse.
She left voluntarily.
I found only one message.
A handwritten note.
If you come after me, he wins.
My entire world stopped.
Because Samantha had finally understood something.
May you like
Adrian was not trying to hurt her.
He was trying to use her.
