CAN'T HIDE IT

' THE CLAIM IS A LIE '

Hayamei walked through the ash, boots crunching on charred wood.

On the wall, scrawled in black spray paint:
"YOU'LL NEVER BE FREE."

⸻

They hit three more locations in the next week.

TreyVon stayed ahead of them.

Every time, the place was either empty or booby-trapped.

He was playing with them now.

Hayamei started dreaming again—of her father's voice. Of Na'Nami screaming. Of Ghost lying in a pool of blood. She'd wake up swinging, drenched in sweat, pistol already in her hand.

Ghost held her once, when she broke down in the backseat of the car.

Didn't say a word.

Just held her.

She hated that she needed him—but she did.

⸻

Then, one night, Na'Nami spoke in her sleep.

"Mama... he said I gotta pick."

Hayamei turned in her seat.

"Pick what, baby?"

Na'Nami didn't answer.

Just mumbled: "You or Mr. Trey."

Hayamei's heart nearly stopped.

⸻

That was when she knew.

This wasn't just about revenge.

This was a game.

And TreyVon was trying to get inside Na'Nami's head—twist her loyalty, poison her memories.

Hayamei wasn't just fighting for safety anymore.

She was fighting for who her daughter would become.
Hayamei didn't sleep that night.

She sat at the edge of the bed, gun in her lap, watching Na'Nami's chest rise and fall in the pale light of dawn. Her daughter whimpered occasionally, whispering fragments of dreams—sometimes smiling, sometimes curling into herself like she was hiding from something only she could see.

Ghost was asleep on the floor in the other room, pistol under his pillow, a knife tucked in his waistband like always. His loyalty wasn't in question anymore.

But his judgment? His silence? That was a different conversation.

Hayamei stared at the wall until the sun burned the treetops gold.

Then she made a call.

⸻

The burner phone rang three times before it was answered.

"Thought you'd never call me back," TreyVon said, smooth as ever.

"I don't care what war you think you're fighting. Leave my daughter out of it."

"Oh, sweetheart. This ain't about her." His voice dropped, more serious. "This is about you. What you were. What you ran from."

"I didn't run," she growled. "I survived."

He laughed. "Same thing."

"You touch her again, I'll carve your name into my bullets."

"Oh, I believe you," he said. "But what you need to understand is... I'm not here to kill you, Hayamei. That would be too easy."

"Then what?"

"I want you to come back."

She blinked. "Back to what?"