For one terrifying second, Hayamei's stomach dropped.
Then TreyVon leaned in and said something that made Ghost's expression change.
He looked straight up at the hill.
Straight at Hayamei.
And nodded.
Go. Now.
She dropped the scope and bolted for the truck.
⸻
TreyVon wasn't alone.
Three men emerged from the SUV's back seats, guns drawn.
But Ghost was faster.
He spun, shot two in the knees, and tackled TreyVon just as the third opened fire.
Hayamei was already moving down the hill, a knife in one hand, pistol in the other.
By the time she reached them, TreyVon was on his knees, bleeding from his mouth, and still laughing.
"I knew she wouldn't let you handle it alone," he coughed.
Ghost punched him again.
Hayamei stared down at him, chest heaving.
"You think this ends with you choking on your own teeth?"
"No," TreyVon said. "It ends when you become what you were born to be."
She raised the pistol.
"No," she said softly. "It ends now."
She fired once.
Clean.
Between the eyes.
⸻
The body was never found.
They burned it in a barrel behind a construction site an hour later. Ghost scattered the ashes across the Alabama river. Hayamei didn't speak during the drive back.
She didn't cry.
Didn't tremble.
She just kept checking the rearview, making sure no one followed.
⸻
That night, she tucked Na'Nami into bed like always.
The little girl stirred, eyes half open.
"Mama... is the bad man gone now?"
Hayamei kissed her forehead.
"Yeah, baby. He's gone."
"Forever?"
Hayamei hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Forever."
Na'Nami fell asleep smiling.
⸻
Ghost stepped out onto the porch, smoke curling from a cigarette he didn't light.
"You okay?" he asked when Hayamei joined him.
"No," she said. "But I will be."
He nodded. "TreyVon was the last real threat. Anyone else coming after you now... they'll be nothing but dust in the wind."
"I don't want peace," she said quietly.
He turned to her. "Then what do you want?"
She looked up at the sky.
"I want power."
He raised a brow.
"You mean it?"
"I'm tired of hiding. Tired of being hunted. My father built an empire off fear. I'm gonna build one off respect."
Ghost stepped closer.
"And if I follow you...?"
She met his gaze.
"Then we do it together."
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