Madrid – – 07:02 AM
La Latina District – Rooftop Cafe
Nox stirred a shot of espresso into something darker—coffee black as war. Across the table sat Lucía, a disavowed intelligence contact with skin like weathered marble and a Glock tucked into her yoga pants.
"You're burning daylight," she said, sipping a smoothie with insulting calm. "Ortega's hosting the buyer tonight. Final deal. They'll all be there."
Nox flipped through photos on a burner. The buyer's face—a clean-shaven man with vulture eyes—was marked with a red slash.
"He's not the real buyer."
Lucía raised a brow. "Ghost?"
"Maybe. Or bait."
She chuckled. "You ever smile, Reyes?"
"No," Nox said, and left her with the check.
Campus – Park Fountain – Noon
Ash spun in circles with a melting ice cream cone while Leo snapped candid photos on a disposable camera.
"You look like a lost child!" Leo called out.
"Blame my genes!" Ash shouted, nearly tripping over a toddler on a scooter.
They laughed until their sides hurt.
Then Leo's phone buzzed in his back pocket.
He ignored it.
Instead, he snapped a photo of Ash laughing, sun catching in his eyelashes.
Ash plopped beside him on the grass. "I didn't think you were the 'hang-out-in-the-sun' type."
"I'm trying new things."
"Like friends?"
Leo smiled. "Yeah. Like that."
Madrid – 19:47 – Gallery Perimeter
Nox crouched in shadow, adjusting the collar on his tactical jacket. His comms were silent. He didn't need backup.
He was backup.
A flash of headlights marked the buyer's arrival. Ortega stood at the gallery door, flanked by Luis and Marcos, his personal enforcers. Both ex-special forces. Both kill-on-sight trained.
Inside, crates of weapons stood displayed like cursed art.
From his perch, Nox scanned the guests—corrupt ministers, cartel lieutenants, one foreign diplomat.
Then: her.
Lucía, dressed to kill in a slitted gown, sidled up to Ortega with a wine glass and a smile full of poison.
He didn't blink.
He started the clock.
Campus – Dorm Kitchen – Night
Ash was making popcorn, shirtless, yelling about seasoning.
Leo leaned against the counter, face soft with ease.
"Do you think this is what people mean by normal?" Leo asked suddenly.
Ash blinked. "What? Bad food and corny movies?"
Leo shrugged. "Just… this."
Ash looked thoughtful. "Honestly? If it is, I'll take it."
The microwave dinged.
Outside, no one could see the dark van parked two blocks down the street. Inside, two guards scanned rooftops, one nursing a bleeding arm from a failed ambush earlier that day.
Leo would never know.
Not if Nox had done his job right.
Madrid – 21:12 – Inside the Gallery
The deal was moments from execution.
Nox slipped through the service entrance wearing a stolen waiter's jacket. His knife was taped under a tray of champagne flutes. Gun holstered at the ankle. Mask stashed in his inner pocket.
He moved with the confidence of someone no one would notice.
That was the first mistake they made.
Lucía caught his eye from across the room—then tilted her head subtly.
Three targets were marked. Ortega. The diplomat. And the buyer's bodyguard—who was actually the buyer himself.
The real Ghost was still missing.
But the bloodbath was just beginning.
Campus – Rooftop – Midnight
Leo and Ash lay on a blanket, heads tipped toward the stars.
"You ever think about what you'd be if you weren't an art student " Ash asked.
Leo thought too long.
"Maybe a sculptor."
Ash turned. "You already are."
"No. I mean… just that. Just someone who makes art. Without all the... glitter ."
Ash didn't pry. "Then be that ."
Leo nodded, but in his chest, something trembled.
He was lying to himself. But it was such a nice lie.
Madrid – 22:00 – The Shot
The first kill was clean. Ortega went down in the wine cellar—one blade between the ribs, one whisper in the ear.
"Tell Ghost I said hello."
Second kill was louder. The diplomat tried to run. Two shots silenced him. Panic spread like fire.
The buyer—real name Anton Vasyl, ex-KGB, war criminal—drew his weapon and used a guest as cover.
Nox rolled, fired, missed intentionally to draw fire away from Lucía's retreating figure.
Then came the explosion.
A flash-bang planted hours earlier under a statue.
Screams. Smoke.
Nox slipped through chaos like death itself.
One more body down.
Still, no sign of Ghost.
Campus – Leo's Room – 01:33 AM
Leo lay on his bed, Ash passed out in a bean bag with his mouth open and half a popcorn stuck to his cheek.
Leo's phone buzzed again.
Father: They tried to breach your perimeter. We took care of it. Do not go outside alone. Do not answer strangers. Return.
He turned the screen off.
He looked at Ash. At the sketch pinned on the wall. At the camera on the desk.
This was his world now. This illusion.
A lie.
But maybe—maybe—he could live inside it long enough to make it feel real.
Madrid – Lucía's Apartment – 03:10 AM
Nox stitched up a wound on his side in silence. Lucía handed him whiskey.
"One more down," she said.
"But not the last."
"Ghost?"
Nox nodded. "He watched tonight. I felt him."
Lucía looked wary. "Then he's already playing you."
"Let him try."
End of Chapter 37