Chapter 1

My twin brother jumped from the school roof to his death.

My parents didn't call the cops.

Instead, they ordered me to come back from the frontlines of war, step into his shoes, and pretend to be him at school.

They wanted me to make every single person who bullied him pay in blood.

Even his golden-girl ex-girlfriend would soon be kneeling at my feet, begging for mercy.

On the other end of the line, my mother’s voice was broken, choked with sobs.

"Your brother... Leo is dead. He killed himself."

Those words hit my chest like a sledgehammer. I could barely breathe.

"Are you... are you sure?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but my hands were shaking.

"Yes, Cole. They bullied him. They ruined him... It was too horrible," she whimpered.

"Don't tell anyone. Don't call the police yet. Put him in the cold storage room. I need to see him myself." I forced myself to sound calm, though my tough exterior was cracking like cheap glass.

"I’ve done it. When will you be home?" she asked.

"Right now. I'm leaving the base immediately. Mom, hang in there." I hung up, my heart bleeding.

I had to find out what happened.

My baby brother—the boy I had spent my entire life protecting—was lying in a freezer.

How could he kill himself?

The moment my flight landed, I hopped onto the motorcycle my contact had prepped for me and tore down the highway toward our family’s country estate.

I bypassed the main house and went straight to the detached barn. In the driveway sat a commercial freezer truck my dad had rented through some underground connections.

The moment Mom saw me, she burst into tears. Dad just pointed a trembling finger at the heavy metal doors of the truck, unable to speak.

I stepped forward and pulled the latch. Inside, covered in a thin layer of frost, lay my brother. A white-hot rage flared in my chest.

Leo and I were identical. If we wore the same clothes, only our mother could tell us apart. Even our dad used to get us mixed up.

I immediately began examining his body. I needed to know exactly how he died.

What I saw made my blood run cold. His skin was a canvas of abuse.

Cigarette burns, deep blade cuts, crude surgical stitches... every mark screamed of the torture he had endured before he died.

My grief hardened into a deadly, murderous resolve.

I gently ran my hand over Leo's cold cheek. Images of him as a little boy, always running behind me and calling my name, flashed through my mind.

"This time, little brother, I’m going to tear their world apart."

I stepped out of the truck. Mom grabbed my hand, completely breaking down.

"He suffered so much, Cole..."

"Your father and I were useless. We went to the school, but they threatened us. We tried to get the local cops involved, but they just told us to settle it quietly. Nobody cared."

My chest tightened. I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I opened them, they were bloodshot with rage.

I needed names. I needed to know who pushed him over the edge.

I had spent years in a private mercenary group. I thought I was numb to blood and death. I thought nothing could make me feel pain again.

But looking at my twin’s corpse felt like having a piece of my own soul ripped out.

The legendary "White Wolf," the most ruthless mercenary of the squad, was gone. Only a vengeful brother remained.

Dad was sobbing quietly in the corner. The house was filled with a suffocating grief.

"Mom, where is Leo’s phone?" my voice was dangerously low.

She rushed inside and brought it to me.

I unlocked it. The notifications were a nightmare.

*“Yo, Leo, you dead yet? You skipped school today. I told you, today you're playing my dog and licking my shoes in front of everyone.”*

*“Where the fuck are you? You better have my two hundred bucks by tomorrow, or you're dead.”*

*“Leo, I still have that video of you and that fat, ugly chick naked. I wonder how your precious girlfriend Amber would feel if I leaked it? Show up tomorrow, or else.”*

Below the texts was a video file.

I clicked it. Leo was stripped naked, forced to kiss a crying, disfigured girl while a group of guys stood around them, laughing hysterically and kicking him.

Every single message felt like a knife twisting in my ribs.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the phone. I swore, right then and there, I would make them wish they were never born.