CHAPTER 3 — The Night Blackstone Fell
When the lights died, Blackstone became a cage full of monsters.
Guards shouted. Inmates screamed. Metal doors slammed open one by one.
Someone had unlocked the entire prison.
Warden Hayes grabbed Marcus and pulled him behind the steel table just as bullets shattered the glass window.
"Who are they?" Hayes shouted.
Marcus didn't flinch.
"The men who put me here."
A masked tactical team stormed into the hallway, but they weren't there to restore order.
They were there to erase Marcus.
Then something unbelievable happened.
The inmates began blocking the doors.
Men who had feared Marcus for years now stood between him and the gunmen.
One prisoner yelled, "Nobody touches Kane!"
Hayes stared in shock.
Marcus looked at him and said quietly,
"I protected their families from inside these walls. That's why they follow me."
They fought their way through the chaos until Marcus led Hayes to an abandoned medical wing.
Behind a rusted cabinet was a hidden wall safe.
Marcus opened it with the silver key.
Inside were files, photos, recordings...
And one old photograph that made Hayes stop breathing.
It showed Marcus standing beside a young woman and a baby boy.
Hayes whispered, "Who is that?"
Marcus' voice broke.
"My wife."
Then he pointed at the baby.
"And my son."
Hayes slowly turned the photo over.
Written on the back were three words:
Daniel Hayes Kane.
The warden's entire world collapsed.
Marcus looked at him with tears in his eyes.
"I didn't choose you because you were a good officer, Daniel."
He stepped closer.
"I chose you because you're my son."
Before Daniel could speak, the masked leader appeared at the doorway and removed his helmet.
It was the state governor.
The same man who had promoted Daniel to warden.
He smiled coldly.
"Touching reunion. Too bad neither of you leaves alive."
And then Marcus did the one thing Daniel never expected.
May you like
He stepped in front of his son...
And locked the door behind him.
