The SUV tore through the deserted road, its headlights slicing through the darkness. Inside, tension simmered beneath the surface. The Syndicate’s ambush had been a close call, but that wasn’t what weighed on the group now.

It was a name.

Nathan sat in the passenger seat, staring out at the endless stretch of highway. His grip on his gun was tight, his knuckles white. No one had spoken since they escaped, but the silence was suffocating.

Lila, curled up in the backseat, finally spoke. “Why did that man call you Nathan Bennett?”

Her voice was quiet, but in the confined space of the car, it might as well have been a gunshot.

Mason, driving, let out a sharp breath. “Yeah, Kane. What the hell was that?”

Nathan didn’t answer. His expression was unreadable, his eyes distant.

Axel, from the back, leaned forward. “Look, man. We’ve all got pasts. But if there’s something we need to know, now’s the time to spill.”

Still, Nathan said nothing.

Eli, sitting beside Lila, glanced between them. He had seen Nathan dodge questions before, but this was different. This wasn’t just secrecy. This was something buried—something locked away.

“Nathan?”

Nathan exhaled slowly. He could feel their eyes on him, waiting.

He wasn’t ready for this.

He never would be.

But The Syndicate had forced his hand.

He closed his eyes briefly before speaking. “Nathan Bennett doesn’t exist anymore.”

Lila frowned. “But that was your name?”

A long pause. Then, finally—

“Yes.”

The single word sent a ripple through the car.

Mason shot him a look. “Okay. And you were planning on telling us this when?”

“I wasn’t,” Nathan admitted.

Eli folded his arms. “So, what, you just decided one day to change your name and pretend the old one never existed?”

Nathan turned his head slightly, his gaze locking onto Eli’s. “That’s exactly what I did.”

The weight of his words settled over them.

Axel shifted in his seat. “Why?”

Nathan stared ahead, watching the road disappear beneath them. He could hear The Syndicate’s voices in his head. The past clawing at the edges of his mind.

“I had to,” he said.

Mason scoffed. “That’s not an answer.”

Nathan’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t used to explaining himself. Wasn’t used to people demanding the truth from him.

Because no one had ever needed to know.

Until now.

“I wasn’t born into The Syndicate like some of their operatives,” he admitted. “I wasn’t recruited the usual way. I wasn’t supposed to be one of them.”

Lila leaned forward, listening intently. “Then how did you end up there?”

Nathan hesitated. His fingers tapped rhythmically against the armrest.

“It wasn’t a choice,” he said finally. “It was a sentence.”

Silence.

Mason’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “A sentence?”

Nathan’s voice was low, controlled. “I was taken. Brought into The Syndicate when I was barely older than Lila.” His eyes darkened. “They erased everything—my past, my name, my identity. Nathan Bennett died that day.”

Lila’s stomach twisted.

Eli frowned. “But if The Syndicate erased your identity, why did Damian call you that?”

Nathan’s expression turned unreadable.

“That,” he said, “is the real question.”

The weight of his words settled over them like a heavy fog.

Axel shook his head. “So, either someone in The Syndicate still remembers who you were… or someone never forgot.”

Nathan didn’t answer.

Because the truth was, he wasn’t sure which was worse.

Mason let out a long breath. “Damn, Kane. Or Bennett. Or whoever the hell you are.”

Nathan allowed himself a small smirk. “Nathan works just fine.”

Despite the levity, the tension remained. The Syndicate was sending a message.

They knew his real name.

And they wanted him to remember it, too.

Lila wrapped her arms around herself. She had known Nathan was dangerous. That he was a man shaped by violence.

But for the first time, she wondered what had shaped him before that.

Who was Nathan Bennett?

And why did The Syndicate want him to remember?

As the SUV sped down the empty road, one thing became clear.

The past wasn’t finished with Nathan.

And neither was The Syndicate.