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Chapter 144
Last Updated:
2025-07-22 05:44:00
Latest chapter
Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire Chapter 146
Silence filled the private jet on its return flight to Sicily. The clouds outside were streaks of ash and violet, dragging the horizon westward as evening folded the sky in upon itself. Seraphina sat by the window, her hands clasped tightly on her lap, her reflection barely visible in the glass. The pendant Lucien had recovered from Silvano’s vault hung around her neck now, cool against her skin.Lucien hadn’t asked why she took it. He didn’t need to. She had her reasons, quiet, precise reasons that didn’t need validation. She had decided that a long time ago.In the seat beside her, Lucien studied the fragment of the map left behind after Leticia Albani had escaped. The word Anima still burned across the header like an unfinished prophecy. Whatever it meant, it didn’t point toward a war.It pointed toward a design.“I think she left it on purpose,” Seraphina said suddenly.Lucien looked up. “Leticia?”She nodded. “That map fragment. She could have taken it.”“Why would she leave it?”
Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire Chapter 145
The storm had broken over the Ligurian coast by the time Lucien and Seraphina touched down at the private airstrip. The microchip inside Silvano Etra’s pendant had taken them far from Sicily, beyond the known properties of the Marchesi family, and far from anything tied to the Red Chamber’s documented sites. The coordinates pointed inland, to the countryside northeast of Genoa, to a derelict vineyard that once belonged to a man named Matteo Gallini.Gallini had died more than twenty-five years earlier. On paper, he was a winemaker. But through layers of shell corporations and falsified ownership documents, they discovered he was also a silent partner in a pharmaceutical firm that had funded the Codex's embryonic research, Project Solace, before it had a name.By dawn, they were inside the crumbling remains of the Gallini estate, a once-grand villa now wrapped in ivy and long abandoned. The earth was soft beneath their boots. Nature had begun reclaiming the house, but the stones beneat
Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire Chapter 144
The mountains had swallowed the monastery whole. At least, that was how it appeared as Lucien and Seraphina stood before the ruined façade clinging to the granite slope. Time and earth had reclaimed the once-grand structure. The cross atop its tower leaned sideways. Vines wrapped the outer stones like a burial shroud. What remained was silent and forgotten, just as Silvano Etra had likely intended.Inside the broken entrance, the air was dry and laced with dust. Old pews, long splintered and gray, lay scattered. Icons stripped from the walls left behind only nail holes and faint outlines. This was no longer a place of worship. It was a grave of secrets.Seraphina moved ahead, flashlight beam cutting through the gloom. Her breath clouded in the cool air. Behind her, Lucien’s steps echoed faintly as he examined the crumbled edges of the walls.“It’s exactly as the map described,” Seraphina said.Lucien nodded, kneeling beside an old altar base. “It hasn’t been touched in decades.”Benea
Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire Chapter 143
The Sicilian sky was a clear blue canvas, brushed with soft gold as the early evening sun settled behind the hills. At Palazzo Marchesi, the courtyard had been transformed into a space worthy of royalty, decorated with white and gold streamers, intricate floral arrangements, and hand-carved lanterns glowing like captured stars. Everything had been prepared with precision, care, and one singular purpose.Lucio’s third birthday.The boy stood at the center of it all in a miniature navy blue vest and slacks, his storm-gray eyes glowing with excitement. A small crown of olive leaves rested over his unruly black hair, and cake frosting was smeared proudly across his chin.Lucien watched from near the fountain, arms folded, trying and failing to hide his smile. In his son’s laughter, in the chaos of harmless joy, something inside him breathed again.Matteo leaned in beside him, sipping from a glass of Prosecco. “I have to admit, I never imagined the Marchesi estate would see a birthday part
Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire Chapter 142
They reached the safehouse just after sunset, the wind along the Adriatic growing stronger, biting at the edges of every word spoken and every breath taken. The air smelled of sea and salt and quiet vengeance. Inside, they moved with precision—no wasted steps, no hesitation.Lucio was safe. That truth anchored everything.Seraphina had made sure of it, sacrificing herself just to rescue him and save Lucien. Elian had secured a secure compound under Interpol jurisdiction. Reinforced, guarded, isolated. The kind of place where a three-year-old genius with a photographic memory could finally sleep without the threat of being used.But safety didn’t mean the war was over.Lucien stood by the reinforced glass, watching the sea beyond. He hadn’t spoken in a full ten minutes. Not since they confirmed Lucio was tucked in and protected. His silence was not from relief—it was the calm before something far colder.“They’re still out there,” he said at last.Vincenzo didn’t need to ask who.“They
Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire Chapter 141
Seraphina’s words lingered like the echo of a siren in Lucien’s ears.They tried to rewrite me.He had seen the fear in her eyes before, but this was not that. It was something deeper. It was the look of someone who had faced death, manipulation, confusion, and come out the other side with her mind sharpened like a blade. She was not broken.She was sharpening.Vincenzo watched from a few feet away as Lucien moved to stand closer beside her. He was quiet, but his eyes were tracking every twitch of movement in the treeline and every fluctuation in Seraphina’s voice.Seraphina stood under the cold wash of moonlight, the wind whipping her dark hair across her face. Her expression had settled into unreadable calm, but something about the way her fingers flexed near her side gave her away. Not to most—but to Lucien, it was enough.She was not under control. She was playing a part.Lucien watched her in silence for a few more seconds, letting his eyes scan her posture, her breaths, even the
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