The Million-Dollar Heart

Noah joined the ranks of RST at seventeen, but by nineteen, the organization had splintered into GTO and CK after Jasper's devastating raid.

Assigned by F-Poison to infiltrate the Vanguard Agency as a mole at twenty, Noah figured he would bide his time, draw Vanguard's attention with GTO activities, and then slip back into the shadows of his true allegiance. But what he thought would be a brief chapter turned into nearly six decades-a lifetime invested and now, seemingly, lost.

"Tell me, Noah, in all the years you've been undercover in Vanguard Agency, what's GTO given you for your troubles? I'm genuinely curious. Heck, I haven't even caught a glimpse of the big boss's face. Have you?" Quincy asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Noah's frown was subtle but present. "You talk too much. When's my ride getting here?"

Quincy stepped back, a hint of apology in her voice. "Sorry, Noah, your ship isn't coming."

Noah turned, startled, only to be greeted by the dark mouth of a gun barrel.

"Master, there's no escape now," Vance said solemnly, gun in hand, a trace of sorrow in his eyes.

Instinctively, Noah stepped back, but another gun pressed against the back of his head.

"You know I don't move so fast anymore, Master," a familiar voice stated from behind him.

Noah exhaled heavily. "Let me guess, there's one more?"

As if on cue, Karen stepped out from Noah's side, her gun aimed at the man she once revered like a father.

"It's been a long time, Master."

Noah's gaze met Karen's. Her face, one he had not seen for years, suddenly before him, gave him a moment of stunned pause.

"All these years, and you haven't changed a bit, my little apprentice," he reminisced. "Back then, you and Daphne were the only girls among a sea of rowdy boys. Those were the days..."

"My mother couldn't make it. I'm here in her stead," Anna said, her tone as icy as her

gaze back on Karen. "Anything else

on her gun tightened, her breath

with your own hands, did you ever think

brief pause,

considered any of you my own. You were merely stepping stones on my path

Noah's profile. Even after all these years, he had clung to the hope that his master was not a traitor. Noah had carried him from the crossfire when he was wounded on the battlefield. He had been there for

it was Micah who first sought out Noah, sharing his suspicions of a mole

investigation had met a dead end for so many years, at most reaching the Deputy Director of the

had never suspected Noah. Everyone else, but

Vance's features. An orphan with no friends, his aloof nature meant he would do almost anything to achieve his goals, even if it meant hurting those around him. Noah had been the first to show

that was

seemed to be the very reason for Noah's manipulation

ruffled their

spirit in Ulysses,

waking up in a stranger's bed, it was Noah who helped her out of that darkness, giving her the strength of a father's support, enabling her to start anew. Now, here he was, spewing

sat down, checking his

you lured me here to flush out F-Poison? Sorry to disappoint, but even if you've turned this young lady against me, she knows nothing of F-Poison's

taught us to hit the enemy where

opened it, your phone was compromised. Every device near you now pings back to Karen's computer, all you calls,

of my apprentices. And

Martinez family's detectors that you've been waiting on? They have trackers