Chapter -23
Nani woke up because someone was knocking.
Three sharp knocks.
He opened one eye.
"Who?"
Silence.
Nani frowned.
Another three knocks.
He sat up.
"Okay, that's creepy."
He grabbed his phone and checked the time.
2:17 a.m.
"Who the hell knocks at two in the morning?"
He walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
There was something beneath it.
A black envelope.
Nani stared at it.
"Nope."
He waited.
Nothing happened.
"Absolutely not."
He picked up the nearest pillow.
Then the envelope.
"If this contains a ghost, I'm throwing it back."
He opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Nani's blood ran cold.
It showed the old warehouse.
But this photograph wasn't from 2021.
It was recent.
There was a black car parked outside.
And someone had circled the vehicle in red.
On the back:
He still works for them.
Nani's stomach dropped.
"Who?"
A second line had been written underneath.
Ask Sky about the warehouse.
Nani stared at the words.
"...You sneaky bastard."
---
Downstairs, Sky was in the kitchen.
Apparently even terrifying mob bosses needed water at two in the morning.
He stood at the counter, sleeves rolled up, staring at his phone.
Nani walked in.
Sky looked up.
His eyes immediately moved over Nani's face.
"You should be asleep."
"So should you."
"I asked first."
Nani held up the photograph.
Sky's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Nani caught it.
"You know this place."
Sky didn't answer.
"Sky."
"I know the warehouse."
Nani's eyes narrowed.
"You said you only knew the symbol."
"I said I've seen similar markings."
"That's not what you said."
Sky set his phone down.
"Nani."
"Don't."
His voice sharpened.
"Don't use that calm voice when you're about to bullshit me."
Sky stared at him.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
Nani blinked.
"Why are you smiling?"
"You're cute when you're angry."
"I'm trying to interrogate you."
"You're doing a terrible job."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
Nani's mouth fell open.
Sky's smile widened.
"That sounded better in my head."
"You absolute-"
Nani threw the photograph at him.
Sky caught it.
"Focus."
"I am."
"You're flirting!"
"I can multitask."
"You're impossible."
"And you're standing in my kitchen at two seventeen in the morning."
Nani crossed his arms.
"Because you're hiding shit."
Sky's smile disappeared.
"Yes."
The blunt answer stunned him.
"...You admit it?"
"I know more about that warehouse than I told you."
"Why?"
"Because some of my people were there years ago."
Nani went still.
"What?"
Sky looked directly at him.
"But I wasn't."
Nani's heart hammered.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
"Then why tell me?"
"Because I'd rather have you angry at me than let someone else feed you lies."
Nani stared at him.
Sky stepped closer.
"Look at me."
Nani did.
"I have secrets."
Sky's voice lowered.
"But I won't make you one."
Nani's expression softened despite himself.
Then he remembered the photograph.
"So tell me."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know the whole story."
"Then find it."
Sky nodded.
"I will."
---
A noise came from upstairs.
Both turned.
Footsteps.
Nani whispered,
"Someone's there."
Sky immediately moved in front of him.
"Stay behind me."
"Don't order me around."
"Nani."
"I'm not five."
"I know."
Sky glanced back.
"That's exactly why I'm worried."
Nani's annoyance faded.
They moved upstairs together.
The hallway was dark.
A door stood open.
Nani's bedroom.
He hadn't left it open.
Sky entered first.
Nothing.
No person.
No broken window.
No forced lock.
Then Nani noticed something.
His bed.
The pillow had been moved.
He walked closer.
There was another object beneath it.
A small metal key.
Nani stared.
"The key..."
Sky picked it up.
Different from the first.
This one had a number engraved on it.
17.
Nani's breathing stopped.
"That's the same number."
Sky looked at him.
"You've seen this before?"
Nani shook his head.
"I don't remember."
Then-
A flash.
Rain.
A warehouse corridor.
A metal door.
Number seventeen.
A hand gripping his shoulder.
Nani gasped.
Sky caught him before he stumbled.
"Nani."
"I saw it."
"What?"
"The door."
His breathing shook.
"There was a door with seventeen on it."
Sky's expression hardened.
"What else?"
"A voice."
"Whose?"
Nani squeezed his eyes shut.
"I don't know."
Then one fragment surfaced.
A man's voice.
Low.
Angry.
"Take the boy outside."
Nani opened his eyes.
Sky went completely still.
"What did you say?"
Nani looked at him.
"I think..."
His voice trembled.
"Someone told them to take me outside."
Sky's jaw tightened.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
---
Across the city, the mysterious woman sat in silence.
Her phone lit up.
A photograph arrived.
Nani holding the key.
Her face went pale.
"No..."
She immediately called someone.
The call connected.
"He's found seventeen."
A man's voice answered.
"Then it's begun."
"No."
Her grip tightened around the phone.
"Not yet."
"You knew this would happen."
"I knew he'd remember eventually."
"And Sky?"
She looked toward the rain-covered window.
"Sky is already too close."
The man laughed quietly.
"You still trust him?"
The woman didn't answer.
Because she didn't.
Not completely.
---
Back at the villa...
Nani sat on the edge of his bed.
Sky stood in front of him.
"You're not going to the warehouse."
Nani looked up.
"I am."
"No."
"Sky-"
"No."
"You don't get to decide everything for me."
"I know."
"Then stop acting like it."
Sky's jaw flexed.
"I've buried enough people because someone thought they could walk into a trap alone."
Nani went quiet.
Sky looked away.
For the first time, the anger in his voice cracked.
"I'm not losing you to some fucking ghost from 2021."
Nani stared at him.
"You're scared."
Sky laughed without humor.
"Terrified."
Nani's expression softened.
He reached out and caught Sky's sleeve.
"Then don't lose me."
Sky looked down at his hand.
"That's not entirely up to me."
Nani stood.
"Then stay close."
Sky's eyes met his.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Nani's cheeks warmed.
"Don't make it weird."
"I wasn't."
"You were staring."
"I was thinking."
"About?"
Sky leaned closer.
"How you're somehow more dangerous to my concentration than an armed room."
Nani blinked.
"That's your flirting line?"
"It's honest."
"Terrible."
"You liked it."
"I absolutely did not."
Sky smiled.
"You blushed."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
Nani shoved his shoulder.
Sky caught his wrist-not roughly, just enough to stop him.
Their eyes met.
The teasing faded.
Sky released him immediately.
"Sorry."
Nani looked at his hand, then back at him.
"...It's okay."
The silence between them changed.
Closer.
Warmer.
Nani whispered,
"Just don't lie to me."
Sky's gaze held his.
"I won't."
Neither of them knew how dangerous that promise would become.
Because somewhere in an old warehouse...
Door number seventeen had just been opened.
------------
Nani waited.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Twenty.
Sky was still in his office.
Perfect.
That meant Nani had exactly one chance.
He grabbed his hoodie, slipped his phone into his pocket, and quietly opened the back door.
"Operation: Don't Get Murdered."
He paused.
"...Terrible name."
He stepped outside anyway.
---
The warehouse was nearly forty minutes away.
Nani kept checking the address.
The city grew quieter.
Streetlights became fewer.
Buildings turned into empty lots and abandoned factories.
His stomach twisted.
"Why the hell am I doing this?"
He knew the answer.
Because someone had spent days throwing pieces of his past at him.
And because he was tired of being the last person to know what had happened to his own life.
He stopped outside the warehouse.
The building looked abandoned.
Rust-covered gates.
Broken windows.
A faded number on the wall.
17.
Nani swallowed.
"...Great."
He pushed the gate open.
It creaked.
"Very welcoming."
He stepped inside.
---
Meanwhile...
Sky walked into Nani's room.
"Nani."
No answer.
He checked the bathroom.
Empty.
Guest room.
Empty.
Garden.
Empty.
Sky's expression changed.
"Nani?"
Nothing.
He called.
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then disconnected.
Sky stared at the screen.
His jaw tightened.
"Tee."
Tee appeared within seconds.
"Boss?"
"Find Nani."
Tee looked at his expression.
"...Now?"
"Now."
"Okay."
Tee grabbed his phone.
Sky walked toward the security room.
"Check every camera."
"We are."
"Cars?"
"None left through the main gate."
Sky stopped.
"Then how did he leave?"
Tee hesitated.
"Back entrance."
Silence.
Sky slowly turned.
"He's gone."
Tee nodded.
"And before you ask..."
Sky's eyes hardened.
"Warehouse?"
Tee checked the location.
His face dropped.
"...Yes."
Sky grabbed his coat.
"Get the cars."
Tee followed.
"Boss, wait."
Sky stopped.
Tee lowered his voice.
"If Nani went there alone..."
"I know."
Sky's expression had gone frighteningly calm.
"That's why I'm going."
---
Inside the warehouse...
Nani walked through the darkness.
His phone flashlight swept across the walls.
Old crates.
Broken machinery.
Dust.
Then-
A bloodstained patch on the concrete.
Nani froze.
His breathing slowed.
Something inside his head screamed:
Run.
But another voice whispered:
You were here.
He stepped closer.
There was writing scratched into the wall.
Most of it had faded.
But one word remained clear.
NANI.
He stumbled backward.
"No."
He touched the letters.
His fingers shook.
"Why is my name here?"
A sound came from deeper inside.
Clang.
Nani froze.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
He swallowed.
"Okay..."
He lifted his phone.
"If you're a murderer, please understand I'm extremely inconvenient to kill."
Silence.
Then-
Footsteps.
Nani backed away.
"Shit."
The footsteps stopped.
A figure appeared at the end of the corridor.
Nani couldn't see their face.
"Who are you?"
The figure didn't answer.
Nani took one step backward.
"Did you send the messages?"
Still nothing.
Then the figure turned and disappeared behind a metal door.
Nani rushed forward.
The door swung shut.
He grabbed the handle.
Locked.
On the wall beside it-
17.
Nani stared.
His memory suddenly cracked open.
Rain.
His father's voice.
A woman's scream.
A man's hand gripping his shoulder.
And-
Sky.
Not clearly.
Not a face.
Just a black coat.
A voice.
"Get him out of here."
Nani's breath caught.
"No..."
He staggered backward.
"Sky wasn't..."
He couldn't finish.
Another sound came from behind him.
A car screeched outside.
Nani's eyes widened.
Then he heard a familiar voice echo through the warehouse.
"NANI!"
His blood ran cold.
Sky.
---
Sky stormed through the entrance.
"NANI!"
No answer.
His men spread through the warehouse.
Tee shouted,
"Boss! Nothing on the east side!"
Sky kept moving.
His anger had burned past shouting.
Now it was something colder.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
He found Nani's phone on the floor.
He picked it up.
The screen was cracked.
Sky stared at it.
Then his eyes lifted.
"Nani."
A faint sound came from the corridor.
"Sky?"
Sky turned.
Nani stood at the end of the hallway.
Pale.
Shaking.
Alive.
Sky crossed the distance in seconds.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
Nani flinched.
Sky stopped himself.
His chest rose sharply.
He lowered his voice.
"Where were you?"
Nani looked away.
"I came here to find answers."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"Without telling me?"
"...Yes."
Sky stared at him.
"You could've been killed."
"I know."
"No."
Sky stepped closer.
"You don't know."
His voice cracked.
"I searched every room in that damn villa."
Nani looked up.
Sky's eyes were furious.
But beneath the anger was fear.
Real fear.
"I thought I'd lost you."
Nani went quiet.
"I'm sorry."
Sky exhaled.
"Don't ever do that again."
Nani whispered,
"But I found something."
Sky's expression changed.
"What?"
Nani looked toward the locked door.
"Someone wrote my name there."
Sky followed his gaze.
The moment he saw it...
His face went still.
Because he recognized the handwriting.
Not completely.
But enough.
Sky stepped toward the wall.
His fingers hovered over the letters.
Tee noticed his expression.
"Boss?"
Sky didn't answer.
Nani watched him.
"Sky?"
Sky finally looked back.
"Whoever wrote this..."
He paused.
"...knew you before you remembered them."
Nani's stomach dropped.
Then-
A metal door slammed somewhere deep inside the warehouse.
Everyone turned.
Tee reached for his weapon.
Sky stepped in front of Nani.
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
"Nani..."
Nani froze.
He knew that voice.
Not from the present.
From the memory.
A voice he'd heard five years ago.
And then the voice whispered:
"You finally came back."