Share

Chapter 4

Author: DGorgeous1
last update Last Updated: 2025-05-18 16:33:36

Lucien's POV

Lucien Marchesi had never bought a woman twice.

Not in money. Not in attention.

Not in memory.

But this one—Seraphina Vale—refused to be forgettable.

He watched her from behind the library’s glass pane, the one that overlooked the western garden. She stood on her balcony across the courtyard, arms bare, wind catching her dark hair like it was trying to carry her away. She didn’t hug herself for warmth. Didn’t pace. Just stood there.

Still.

Focused.

Like she was learning the sky.

Or memorizing the edge of the balcony for a future fall.

He should’ve called Raina to bring her inside.

He didn’t.

Instead, he listened to the music that wasn’t playing. To the strings his sister hadn’t touched in ten years. And wondered why this woman, of all people, had dared to stand that still in his house.

His estate wasn’t built for calm.

It was a trap disguised as a palace.

It made you feel safe. Until you bled.

He poured a whiskey but didn’t drink it.

Lucien didn’t have vices. Not the kind that showed.

Alcohol dulled. Sex distracted. And emotion?

Emotion was a disease.

His father had died of it. Fell in love with a mole, trusted the wrong men, left a son with scars deeper than any bullet wound. The Marchesi syndicate was nearly lost to sentiment.

Lucien wouldn’t repeat that mistake.

He had rules for himself. Personal ones, buried beneath the ones his guards memorized.

Never touch what you can’t control.

Never need what you can’t own.

And never look too long at a woman who doesn’t flinch.

Because those were the ones who broke you.

Seraphina Vale didn’t flinch.

Not at the auction. Not in the car. Not when he stared straight through her over breakfast and named the rules like commandments.

She didn’t fidget, didn’t blink, didn’t submit.

She performed.

Which meant she was dangerous.

And it thrilled him more than it should.

Seraphina moved with the kind of effortless grace that made the world feel like it was holding its breath just to watch her. Her presence was magnetic—elegant yet untamed, like fire cloaked in silk. Every glance she gave was laced with mystery, her full lips curved in a smile that hinted at both danger and delight.

Her beauty wasn’t just in the flawless symmetry of her features or the way the light caught in her hair—it was in the way she carried herself, regal and unapologetically alive. She didn’t try to command attention. She simply was the storm people turned to face.

He turned away from the window when he sensed the footsteps behind him—not because they were loud, but because he’d already calculated the shift in silence. Lucien didn’t rely on chance or instinct alone; his mind was a finely tuned instrument, always several moves ahead. He noticed what others dismissed: the weight of a breath, the change in air pressure, the echo of hesitation. It wasn’t just awareness—it was precision. Behind his calm exterior lived a sharp, calculating brilliance that made people underestimate him once—and never twice.

Anton slipped into the room, tailored and trimmed as always. His consigliere since Lucien had taken power at twenty-three. Part handler, part shadow, all precision.

“She hasn’t tried to leave,” Anton said without prompting. “No attempts to access the north corridor. No communications requested. She spoke with Raina. Polite. Measured.”

Lucien nodded, folding his hands behind his back. “She’ll wait.”

Anton hesitated. “You’re sure she’s not a plant?”

“She was sold in good faith. Vetted. Her family delivered her willingly.”

“Even moles bleed,” Anton said. “And beautiful ones bleed louder.”

Lucien let the words hang for a moment.

Then: “She’s not a spy. She’s a survivor.”

“Same thing, sometimes.”

“She’s not stupid enough to die for a cause,” Lucien replied coldly. “She wants something. And if we’re patient, she’ll show us what.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Lucien turned back to the window.

“Then I’ll find it myself.”

The estate had eyes. Not cameras. Not recordings.

Lucien hated digital trails.

Instead, his house watched through its people.

Raina. The gardeners. The kitchen maids. The gatekeeper.

All loyal. All silent.

He didn’t need film when he had fear.

They’d tell him if Seraphina stepped out of line.

But she hadn’t. Not yet.

She’d explored her wing of the estate slowly, measured. Spent time in the reading parlor. Stood too long before the locked door beneath the east staircase.

He’d watched her fingers brush the handle. Just once.

Then she turned away.

Clever.

Curious.

Predictable—for now.

_ _ _ _ _

He entered her wing that evening without announcing himself.

The guards tensed but didn’t stop him.

Lucien walked past the velvet-draped hallway, past her open sitting room, to the heavy doors of her bedroom.

They were ajar.

A test.

He pushed them open.

The room was quiet. Candlelight flickered. The balcony doors were closed now, wind rustling the curtains like breath.

And Seraphina stood in front of the fireplace, barefoot, reading one of the books from the shelf.

She didn’t turn.

“I was wondering when you’d come,” she said.

Lucien watched her back. “You were expecting me?”

“No,” she said. “But this place doesn’t leave room for real surprises.”

He stepped inside. The door swung shut behind him.

Her voice was calm. Too calm.

“Why a library in a cage?” she asked, still reading.

“Because sharp minds cut deeper than blades.”

She turned then. Slowly. Gracefully. Not submissive.

Just deliberate.

Like a queen acknowledging a trespasser in her court.

Lucien met her eyes.

“You’ve been watching me,” she said.

“I own you.”

“And you think that makes me visible?”

He didn’t answer.

She stepped closer. One slow step at a time.

Lucien didn’t move.

“You want me afraid,” she said.

“No,” he replied. “I want you understood.”

A flicker of surprise touched her face. Not much. Just enough to show he’d unsettled her.

She crossed her arms. “Then understand this—I don’t break. I bend, I bleed, but I don’t break.”

Lucien tilted his head. “Even marble cracks under pressure.”

“Then you’d better bring fire, not knives.”

Silence fell.

Tense. Thick.

He stepped toward her now, two slow steps. He watched her jaw set, her breath slow, her chin tilt.

Not fear.

Never fear.

Challenge.

He stopped just close enough to touch her — but didn’t.

“You’re not what they said,” he murmured.

Her voice was a whisper. “Neither are you.”

After he left, Lucien returned to the vault room.

It was hidden behind a false wall in the cellar — shielded with biometric locks and lined with coded records, black-market histories, and memories no one was allowed to speak aloud.

He entered alone. Always alone.

Tonight, he stared at the violin.

Dustless. Untouched.

He reached for it but didn’t lift it.

Seraphina had asked about music at breakfast.

Offhand. Innocent.

Too specific.

He remembered her exact phrasing: “Do the walls echo here, or does everything disappear?”

Not a question someone asked on day one.

She was digging.

She was watching.

And if he wasn’t careful...

He might enjoy it.

Anton found him an hour later.

“She’s clean,” Anton said. “At least, nothing flagged. But something’s off.”

Lucien didn’t look up. “Go on.”

“Her medical file was redacted. Her educational records were cut off at university. But no criminal record. No rehab. No scandals.”

Lucien raised an eyebrow. “That’s suspicious?”

Anton nodded once. “No one’s that clean unless someone made them that way.”

Lucien finally looked up. “So the question isn’t what she’s hiding... but who’s hiding her.”

Anton crossed his arms. “You’re going to let her stay?”

Lucien considered it.

Then smiled. Faint. Inevitable.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Lucien turned back to the violin.

“Because if I push too soon, she’ll give me nothing.”

“And if you wait too long?”

Lucien's fingers hovered over the strings.

“Then she’ll give me everything.”

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire   Chapter 136

    The bulkhead slammed shut behind her like the closing of a tomb.Steel-on-steel. Sealed. Final.Seraphina didn’t flinch.She raised her weapon, eyes sweeping the tight corridor now flooding with footsteps. Her breath was steady. Her heart didn’t race. The chaos didn't shake her. It sharpened her.Two men rounded the corner. Combat gear. Black visors. Rifles raised.She didn’t hesitate.Double-tap. One to the throat, one to the eye.They dropped.The second wave came from the side, closer. One reached for Lucio.He never made it.Seraphina lunged like a shadow and drove her blade between his ribs, twisting up. The man gasped, surprised he was already dying.She grabbed his rifle before it hit the floor.Reloaded.And turned toward the next enemy.Lucien was bleeding badly.He’d dropped to one knee, pressing his arm against the wound on his side. Vincenzo dragged him behind a collapsed piping rig while Lucio crouched next to him, eyes wide, breathing sharp little gasps but not crying.E

  • Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire   Chapter 135

    Night blanketed Tripoli in smoke and silence.The harbor district had emptied just after midnight. Fishing boats were moored. The street lamps near the grain silos had been cut deliberately. Intentional. From a distance, the facility looked abandoned.But Lucien knew better.He crouched on the ridge with Seraphina, Vincenzo, and three of Vincenzo’s most trusted black ops contractors. A dry breeze stirred dust through the cracks in the cement. The grain silo sat like a monolith against the stars, the corrugated metal sheathing glinting just barely from their NVG lenses.Matteo’s voice crackled in Lucien’s ear.“East side guard loop confirmed. One-minute rotation. Two-man formation. No heat inside the grain bays, but I’m picking up faint signatures in the substructure.”Lucien’s voice was a whisper. “Any sign of Lucio?”“Same signal. Same position. He hasn’t moved in twenty minutes.”That meant sedated. Or worse.He didn’t say it aloud.They crossed the eastern field low, past rusted ba

  • Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire   Chapter 134

    They found the compound three kilometers beyond the Algerian border—buried beneath a false vineyard, its perimeter disguised as a shuttered agricultural facility.The aerial drone captured faint thermal signatures at the northeast wing. Four guards rotating in a near-military pattern. No visible insignia. No obvious exit points.Inside that pattern, Matteo confirmed: one heat source the size and shape of a child.Lucio.“We go in at 0200,” Lucien said.Vincenzo was already checking the elevation routes. Seraphina studied the satellite floor plan. Matteo synchronized the exit tunnels. Elian arranged for off-grid medevac.No one had to ask what Lucien would do if they failed.He hadn’t spoken since receiving Lucio’s wolf in the torn backpack.Not in words, anyway.Just motion.Every gun oiled. Every knife checked. Every plan spoken only once.He was a man whose rage no longer roa

  • Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire   Chapter 133

    The estate in Provence had gone silent.No smoke. No alarms. No guards at the gate.Just stillness.Lucien stood at the edge of the treeline, boots crunching over gravel and snow-dusted earth, rifle strapped across his back. The rest of the team—Vincenzo, Seraphina, Elian, Matteo—followed closely, weapons drawn, hearts already bracing for what they would find.They reached the front entrance. The gate was half-sheathed in ice, hinges twisted where an explosion had torn through.Lucien raised a hand. “No one fires unless I do.”He moved forward into the silence.What they saw inside carved itself into memory.Bodies.Four agents lay sprawled across the front corridor. Two with single shots to the head, the others slumped in defensive positions, blood pooling beneath them.No sign of resistance alarms. No panic. It had been surgical. Cold.Matteo moved ahead, sweeping the next hallway. “Their comms are fried. Burnt through at the frequency core. Someone wanted no record of this breach.”

  • Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire   Chapter 132

    The world had disappeared into white.Snow whipped across the cockpit as the transport helicopter descended through a low-pressure system tearing over the Arctic fringe.Visibility was minimal. The terrain below was jagged ice and broken stone, like the skeleton of the Earth exposed under wind and time.Lucien Marchesi sat strapped into a harness, silent, a map projected on the tablet between his knees. The coordinates pulsed in red—unchanged for seventy years. Vault Primus.Across from him sat Seraphina and Vincenzo, both armed, both quiet. Elian rode in the rear, fingers wrapped around a steel case of biometric decryptors. Matteo monitored the descent beside the pilot, scanning atmospheric anomalies.The estate was far behind them. So was Lucio.He had been left in the care of Interpol’s Omega division, hidden under triple-layer security in a location only Lucien and Anton knew.Lucien hadn’t wanted to leave him—but Anton had insisted. “Let me be the blade behind the door,” he’d sai

  • Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire   Chapter 131

    It began not with a bullet, but a signature.Lucien Marchesi stood at the head of the long conference table in the war room, a thick dossier of papers beneath his hand. In the center of the table lay the Codex copy: encrypted drive, black case, signed chain-of-custody form. Each page was authenticated, time-stamped, and sealed with biometric confirmation.Across from him, Detective Elian leaned forward, expression unreadable, as he slid the final copy of the agreement toward Lucien."This makes it official," Elian said. “Once you hand this over, the Codex and all related intel become part of Interpol's evidence vault.”Lucien’s eyes didn’t waver. “That’s where it belongs.”He signed. One stroke. One name. And the weight of twenty years of empire passed from blood to law.In the eastern wing of the estate, Vincenzo oversaw a wall of screens streaming data from servers across Istanbul, Dubai, Buenos Aires, and Brussels. Each node had been tracking shell companies, fake IDs, private bank

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status