Crimson Bonds

Prologue: A Night of Blood

The city was quiet, too quiet for his liking. The air felt wrong—thick, heavy, charged with a tension that pressed down on his chest. Something was coming, and in his gut, he knew it. He'd felt it all night, a gnawing dread that had crept into his bones. But no one else seemed to notice. Not even his little sister.

She was humming softly beside him, her voice sweet and innocent, completely unaware of the danger lurking just out of sight. She was always like that—a ray of sunshine in the darkness of their lives, the one thing that still made him feel human. Even when the weight of their family's name pressed down on him, threatening to crush him, she had a way of making him forget.

But not tonight.

Tonight, he couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. He glanced down at her, his jaw clenched, eyes scanning the empty street for any sign of movement. She smiled up at him, her big brown eyes gleaming in the dim light. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice light and teasing. "You're too serious again, bubba. You're going to get wrinkles."

He tried to force a smile, but it came out tight. "I just don't like being out this late," he muttered. "We should've stayed home."

She laughed, shaking her head. "You worry too much. No one's going to mess with us. Not with you around."

If only that were true, he thought bitterly. He wanted to believe her, but the shadows felt like they were closing in, and every instinct screamed at him to get her out of here—now.

But it was too late.

The first shot rang out like a thunderclap, shattering the silence. He barely had time to react before the world erupted into chaos. Screams echoed through the narrow street as figures emerged from the shadows, armed and masked. His sister's laughter cut off sharply, replaced by a soft gasp of surprise.

"Run!" he shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her behind him. His mind raced, calculating every possible escape route, every move he needed to make to protect her. But there were too many of them, and they were closing in fast.

Before he could react, a hand grabbed his sister's other arm and yanked her away from him. She screamed, her small body stumbling as she was dragged back toward the group of men who had surrounded them.

"No!" he roared, his heart slamming against his ribs as he lunged after her. But another man stepped in his path, a cold smile playing across his lips as he raised a gun to ML's chest.

"You think you can protect her?" the man sneered, pressing the barrel against his shirt. "You think you're invincible?"

The world seemed to slow down, the sounds of the city fading into a dull hum. Aiden's eyes darted past the man to his sister, her face pale and terrified as she struggled in the grip of her captor.

"Please," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Please let me go."

"Shut her up," another man growled. And then everything happened too fast.

There was a flash of movement. A glint of steel in the dim light. And then his sister was on the ground, a pool of blood spreading beneath her as she gasped for air. Her tiny hands clutched at her throat, desperate to stop the blood, but it poured out between her fingers, unstoppable.

Aiden screamed—a sound that didn't even feel like it belonged to him. It was raw, animalistic, the sound of something inside him breaking beyond repair. He threw himself forward, but the man with the gun shoved him back with a vicious grin.

"Watch," the man hissed, his voice a low snarl. "Watch as she dies."

His breath came in ragged gasps, his vision blurring as he stared down at his sister's crumpled body. Her eyes were wide, filled with pain and fear, but still, she reached for him, her fingers stained with blood.

"Bubba," she choked out, her voice barely a whisper now. "I'm scared."

He dropped to his knees beside her, grabbing her hand, but he knew it was too late. Her skin was already growing cold, her breath shallow and fading. He couldn't save her. He couldn't do anything but watch as the light in her eyes slowly dimmed, until there was nothing left but emptiness.

She was gone.

The men laughed—a cruel, mocking sound that cut through the haze of grief like a knife. They didn't even care. She was nothing to them, just another casualty in the endless war they waged in the shadows of the city. And now, she was gone. His little sister, the only good thing left in his life, was gone.

Something inside him snapped.

He stood slowly, his hands shaking, his heart pounding in his chest. The men were still laughing, still gloating, but their voices were distant now, like they were coming from somewhere far away. All he could hear was the rushing of blood in his ears and the sound of his sister's last breath echoing in his mind.

"Do it," one of the men taunted, waving the gun in his face. "You want to kill me, don't you? Go ahead."

His fists clenched at his sides. Every fiber of his being screamed for vengeance, for blood. But he didn't move. Not yet. Instead, he looked down at his sister's lifeless body one last time and whispered a silent promise.

I'll avenge you.

He would burn the world down to make them pay. All of them. Everyone involved. No one would be spared. Not until he had hunted down every last person responsible for her death.

The men began to retreat, their laughter fading into the distance as they disappeared into the shadows. They thought they had won. They thought they had broken him.

They were wrong.

The switch had flipped. And now, nothing could stop him.

As he knelt beside his sister's body, the night around him grew cold, and he vowed, through clenched teeth and tearless eyes, that this was only the beginning.

When the time came, he would make them regret the day they ever crossed him.

And when he rose to his feet, he wasn't the same boy who had once sought to protect the people he loved. That boy was gone, buried beneath the blood and ashes of the night.

What stood in his place now was something else entirely.

Something dangerous.

Something unstoppable.