Chapter 1

2105. Sinhle Spaceport of Europa, Jupiter's moon.

Aiden boarded the space prison shuttle at Sinhle Spaceport and left Europa so he could finally meet the man who murdered his fiancée.

It had taken him two years to get here, to set everything in place. He'd changed his name and the way he looked. He was no longer Aiden Gray, the ambitious architect months away from marrying the love of his life; he was Aiden Kesley, a man who had nothing left to lose.

Squeezing the amber stone in his pocket, he looked out the window just as the spacecraft cleared the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon. He usually liked this part, the lurch in his stomach at the awe-inspiring view of the unfolding universe, and just like always, he couldn't look away. Whether it was the floating field of reflective rocks and metallic junk from a derelict space vessel that orbited Europa, or the cerulean and violet brushstrokes of a cluster of nebulae only visible due to the viewport's enhanced glass, the dark abyss of space was a novelty that never got old no matter how many times he witnessed it.

Except that this time it lacked something, just like it had since the day his world had shattered.

Aiden caught the reflection of the interior light strips in the glass and stared at it blankly. He rubbed the stone again. He'd gotten rid of the rest of his and Claudia's rock collection, donated their belongings, but the amber… he just couldn't bring himself to throw away. It felt like a piece of her was with him, here to remind him of his mission so he could see it through to the end.

For a while, Aiden let his mind wander, remembering bits and pieces of the woman he loved as he stared at his reflection in the window. Her smile hurt the most, and so did the spark in her eyes.

"When I take over the DuLaurent Corporation, I'm moving the Headquarters back to Earth,"she'd said more than once, set on that from the very start.

"Why Earth?"

"Our home is here." She'd smile then and a twinkle of amusement would give her eyes that gold-like gleam which matched the hue of the stone in his pocket. "It makes it easier to go to work than having to commute to Mars every time I need to attend some conference, don't you think?"

Aiden had loved that decisiveness, that drive and determination. Her unapologetic ambition, her courage, the way she wasn't afraid to challenge her father, Marcus DuLaurent, if she needed to. He and his daughter were so alike in so many things, except Claudia was ten times better, a leader in the making who would, no doubt, surpass the most influential man in the world.

None of that mattered now. Her potential was gone, her brilliance extinguished. Only memories remained, painful and suffocating. Claudia was dead and Aiden was out of tune with himself, his mind and body as if drifting aimlessly in open space with no purpose to ground them. He was a passenger with no real destination, who only had one sole purpose—to make sense of a death that, to this day, made no sense.

To punish a murderer who'd gone unpunished for too long by those supposed to uphold justice.

The spaceship tilted to one side and began its descent to the prison station, making Aiden's stomach squeeze with nerves. His phone rang just as the shuttle slowed down and entered the docking area. He fished it out of his pocket and frowned at the name. It was Rick, his best friend.

How long had it been since they last talked? Probably too long. It had to be why Rick was calling instead of texting him.

Aiden contemplated tucking the phone away, but he was sure ignoring his friend now was only going to make Rick worry. He didn't deserve that, just like he didn't deserve the lies Aiden kept feeding him, so the least Aiden could do was answer the call.

A robotic voice announced the shuttle's arrival at the Horizons' Space Prison Facility. Aiden waited until it was quiet again and flicked his finger over the holographic screen of the phone.

"Hey. I was starting to think you wouldn't pick up," Rick started with, chuckling with fake amusement. "What are you up to?"

A bolt of guilt shot through Aiden as he cast his gaze around the spaceship's interior. He was tired of lying, but he also didn't want to listen to reason; he was far too gone for that. He needed his resolve and that single-minded focus so he could see this mission through and find out the truth once and for all.

"I considered it," he confessed, carefully opening the overhead compartment. "I'm just about to head to work."

"Oh. You finally landed something?"

Aiden rubbed his forehead, suppressing a sigh. "Yeah. It's a… construction company here on Europa. The pay isn't amazing, but it's a start. They've put me on a… renovation project for one of the local space stations orbiting it."

There was some truth in his words, but he still hated himself for twisting the truth.

"Hey. That's great," Rick said from the other end. "I'm glad you are… taking steps. I really am, so don't get discouraged. I'm sure you'll climb the ranks in no time."

"Wish I had half your confidence."

Claudia's death had broken him. The lack of justice during her murder trial haunted him. It robbed his sleep, gnawed at his sanity, made him into this new him who couldn't move on like everyone else had until he figured out why she had had to die so suddenly.

"You do. You are simply not allowing yourself to feel it," Rick argued with a scoff.

A brief pause followed and a foreboding sensation twisted Aiden's stomach, making his throat dry. He knew what Rick was about to ask even before the words came through.

"How are you holding up? How's your sleep? Please tell me you aren't spending your nights still trying to figure out where they locked up that psychopath…"

Aiden gritted his teeth, digging his fingers into the seat's headrest. The police and the justice system were useless no matter which planet he went to. They'd let Darren Howe live despite the laws in place for premeditated murder. They'd let him escape real punishment despite the incriminating phone call between him and his benefactor. They'd given him prison time instead of the death penalty despite his full confession.

Aiden tried to reel in the anger. He needed to keep his cool, now more so than ever. He was so close, he could taste it in the spaceship's stale air.

"Aiden… You haven—"

"I'm fine, I know what I am doing. I just… I miss her so much, Rick. She's gone and her murderer is still out there, alive."

"I know it's unfair, but I wish you could stop obsessing over it. He's in prison and he'll stay there until he dies."

Aiden knew that, logically. But it didn't change how he felt. It didn't stop the merciless hand grasping his heart every time he thought about the woman he'd never see again and the monster who'd extinguished her light. There were so many unanswered questions still plaguing him every night, so many things that didn't add up in the way the case had been handled. The entire thing stank wrong, and Aiden had to understand why.

"I need some closure. That's all. Please don't try to talk me out of it," he said calmly, hoping his friend would stop probing.

Rick made a sound of protest, but didn't argue. "Okay… But you'll tell me when you locate him. And you won't do anything stupid like trying to meet him. Promise me that."

Aiden glanced out of the window, the endless dark space peeking through the barrier between the gunmetal gray walls of the station. "It's not like they'd let me even if I found out where he's detained."

"I suppose not," Rick said with a sigh. "I wish there was something I could do. I hate seeing you like this. It's been two years. Everyone else has moved on. Even her parents…"

In these two years, Aiden hadn't been allowed to see the court proceedings or the report from Claudia's investigation and autopsy. He'd not been granted a phone call with Darren Howe, a chance to understand why this monster of a man had taken her from him. And he needed that, to look the killer in the eye and ask him why. To wrap his hands around Darren Howe's throat and squeeze hard until everything was put right.

Aiden closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. Soon, he would get his opportunity. For revenge and for the answers the authorities had refused him. He was going to figure out exactly what was happening,because he knew, deep down in his gut, that there was a missing piece. Or several of them. Something was transpiring behind the scenes—had been for the past two years—and he wasn't allowed to know about it. He had no idea why that was, but he was going to get to the bottom of it, to discover the truth so he could fill this hole in him that kept growing.

"You still there?" Rick's deep voice pulled Aiden out of his head.

"Yeah, sorry. Just a lot on my mind. Listen, I have to go or I'll be late. I can call you later?"

Someone shouted Rick's name in the background. "I've got a busy week, but I'm planning to stop by Europa soon. We can catch up then. I'll let you know the dates."

"Sounds good. It's been a while."

Rick huffed a sarcastic laugh. "A while? It's coming up to six months. You're a terrible friend for not coming to Mars even once."

"I'll make up for it." And for all the lies he'd told the one man who'd stayed his friend even when everyone else had given up.

After hanging up, Aiden grabbed his backpack from the overhead compartment and made his way to the shuttle's airlock. Outside, the docking clamp was already in place and the energy barriers were down, sealing the interior from the deadly vacuum of space. Inhaling slowly so he could chase away the agitation and ground himself to the present, he reminded himself of who he was now—Horizons' substitute warden. He had a mission and a plan, and no matter what happened, he was going through with it.

Tablet and data drive in hand, Aiden got off the shuttle and marched across the stained concrete of the domed space prison station. Europa, one of Jupiter's moons and where he currently lived, disappeared from view when he rounded the corner.

"Mr. Kesley, welcome. This way, please." The chief guard, Nigel as per his badge, tipped his shaved head toward the entry checkpoint to the right of the elevator.

His muscles bulged underneath the arm plates and his neck was at the very least the size of Aiden's thigh. Big didn't quite capture how enormous this giant was, or, for that matter, how massive all the guards of Horizons were, but after the couple of visits Aiden had paid the facility for various health and safety trainings, he'd almost gotten used to it.

Once Nigel searched him and gave him a taser bracelet for self-defense that all staff were required to wear, Aiden stepped inside the barred glass elevator, brushing off the flaky dust his slate suit had collected during the short walk through the docking sector. The debris fallout that had damaged a section of the station and ruined the play field some months back was at fault, but he intended to take care of that inconvenience as soon as he'd settled.

The doors hissed closed, and a monotone female voice announced they were going up. Under different circumstances, Aiden would have lost himself admiring the cutting-edge architectural feat that the prison station was, the way it was delved into the massive oblong asteroid without breaking it apart. The landing platform where the shuttle had dropped him off was located on the left side of the rock's prolonged trunk-like body, while the prison itself was built at the top, jutting out like a mushroom crown.

Still, the impressive structure brought flashbacks from the last few projects he'd designed, no matter how hard he fought to keep them at bay. He'd left that life behind after Claudia's death, so he had no reason to lament about it, quickly shutting down his wandering thoughts.

"We cleared out your office, but left the furniture as is," Nigel said when they reached the prison floor.

"I hope you didn't toss the paperwork," Aiden joked with no humor.

The guard laughed, waving dismissively with his big hand. "We didn't. The damage reports from the debris are also there, as you requested."

Fixing up the prison and improving inmates' behavior were the two priorities on his list. Upper Management had been very clear about it. "And the list of problematic inmates?"

"Still waiting on Block A. But I'll give them a nudge and get that to you by EOD."

Aiden nodded and let Nigel lead the way through the maze-like corridors to the warden's office.

"It's a good size and has its own bathroom," the guard pointed out with pride, crossing his hands behind his back. "I'll leave you to it. If you need anything, my break starts in ten minutes. I'll be in the staff room down the corridor. Red metal door, you can't miss it. We passed by it on the way here."

Aiden dismissed Nigel and looked around. The interior wasn't much, comprising the bare necessities—a desk and a chair, drawers, a cabinet, a few shelves, and a worn-out couch to accommodate any visitors. Unsurprisingly, it was a major downgrade compared to his previous workspace at his own company, but nothing he couldn't work with given the generous sum Management had put aside for the prison renovations. He hadn't been told why there was a rush to get the play court and field repaired, but it probably had to do with the prisoners' problematic behavior he'd been tasked to improve.

Aiden hauled the small backpack off his shoulder, placing it on the floor and sank in the squeaky office chair.

This was really happening.He'd used all his savings and the help of a hacker to get a fake ID and scam the entire prison system so he could get the substitute warden job. It came with a teaching position on top of all his duties, but he didn't mind it because it gave him the chance to infiltrate this place more effectively. To get to know who he was up against. All of this was part of his plan. A means to an end. It made use of his knowledge, his experience, his money, and his darkness. It didn't care who he'd been prior; his passion and ambitions had no place here anymore. They belonged in the past along with all those other things that would only get in the way of his mission.

What about afterwards?

Hanging his head back, Aiden stared at the gray ceiling. He allowed a small smile at the thought, but let it pass as that guilt within him rose up. The after didn't matter right now. The future was not important, not until he'd avenged Claudia's unjust death. And to do that, he only needed to focus on the present. On the role he had to perform.

This was his realm now. He was the substitute warden of the Horizons Space Prison and he had only one goal.

To end Darren Howe.