INICIAR SESIÓNMichael stepped forward afterward and tossed another communication device onto the table.“My men are moving too.”Sebastian looked up.“You called them already?”“Yes. They’re fifteen minutes away.” Michael answered and folded his arms tightly. “Luca already hit Blackstone once. We’re not going to allow him to get a second chance.”Between Helena’s operators, August’s men, Michael’s reinforcements, Blackstone’s guards, and Seraphina’s loyalists, the estate had effectively transformed into a fortress.Good. Dominic thought as he no longer trusted coincidence.Althea entered the lower hall again moments later already dressed for deployment toward the surgical site. She wore a dark tactical jacket over medical scrubs with her hair tied back tightly.A gun is holstered beneath the coat Dominic forced her to wear.The sight alone nearly broke something inside him emotionally.She looked terrifyingly capable and heartbreakingly vulnerable at the same time.Her eyes immediately found him be
Blackstone transformed into controlled chaos by nightfall.Vehicles had started to line up at the lower courtyard while weapons were distributed quietly through the armory.Communication frequencies rotated every fifteen minutes and hidden tactical routes opened beneath the estate while guards repositioned along the outer walls with sharper urgency than before.This time, Dominic wasn’t merely retaliating.He was advancing toward the Axis Gate itself.The weight of that settled over everyone differently.Some became quieter while others became sharper, more aggressive and more focused.Dominic became terrifyingly calm as he stood near the armory table fastening the holster beneath his coat while Sebastian reviewed final movement routes beside him.Enzo meanwhile looked deeply offended by the amount of equipment being loaded into the convoy.“We’re carrying f8cking enough weapons to invade a small country.” He commented darkly.Vincent barely looked up from his rifle.“We might.”“That
Hours passed quickly afterward when Helena’s secure phone rang suddenly sharply across the room.The sound alone shifted the atmosphere instantly. Because Helena never received calls directly unless something serious happened.She answered immediately and only listened.Her expression slowly changed, which Althea immediately noticed.“What happened?” She asked.Helena remained silent for several seconds longer before finally lowering the phone.“There’s been an attack.”The room stilled instantly.Helena looked directly at Althea.“A government convoy.” She informed carefully. “Mass casualty.”Althea’s stomach tightened immediately.“One survivor.” Helena continued quietly. “Severe cranial trauma.”Michael frowned.“And?”Helena’s gaze never left Althea.“The procedure requires neurovascular reconstruction.”Silence.Then Dominic immediately understood.“No.”Helena folded her arms tightly.“She’s the only surgeon capable of performing it safely within the timeframe.”Dominic’s expres
The decision was finally made before dawn as Dominic no longer wants to wait.No more circling around the Axis Gate while Luca continued tightening pressure around every known route.They would move toward the Core and they intend to reach it first.The war room felt suffocatingly tense as Dominic stood at the head of the table while maps and route overlays covered nearly every available surface.The hidden bypass Nicholas uncovered remained pinned at the center beside Alessandro’s fragmented pathways.What once looked impossible now looked reachable despite it being dangerous.Sebastian leaned heavily against the table.“We move before Luca fully stabilizes his outer routes.”Vincent nodded once. “We’ve been getting updates from our contacts.” He commented seriously. “He’s still reorganizing after the Blackstone attack.”Michael folded his arms tightly.“Which means this is our only opening.”Enzo looked deeply offended by the lack of sleep.“I miss normal criminal activity.” He said
Althea looked at her son.Nicholas had instinctively identified the pressure funneling structure surrounding the Core.The Gate intentionally forced movement inward.But somewhere inside, there had to be a bypass route.Nico pointed suddenly toward a rough sketch near the edge of the page.“You go around here instead, Mama.”Althea’s breath caught.Her son had just drawn something dangerously close to one of the fragmented movement corridors Alessandro buried decades ago even without ever seeing it.She hid her reaction instantly, thanking her years of surgical composure.But internally, shock crashed violently through her.Nicholas looked worried suddenly.“Is it wrong, Mama?” He asked.Althea immediately shook her head.“No.” Her voice came softer than intended. “It’s not wrong. I say, it’s very smart.”Nicholas brightened instantly.Then immediately frowned again at the paper.“But I don’t know where this connects.” He told her heavily.Althea slowly reached for the drawing, studyi
The library had become Nicholas’ territory.Over the last several days, the old room slowly transformed around him.Papers now occupied one entire side of the long oak table. Colored pencils sat scattered beside old maps. Several books remained open in untidy piles near the floor where Nicholas had apparently abandoned them mid-thought.And at the center of it all is Nico himself.He is curled sideways in one of the large chairs with his sock-covered feet tucked beneath him while he continued sketching rapidly across another sheet of paper, the tip of his tongue sticking out from time to time when he concentrates too much.Althea watched her son quietly from the opposite side of the room, not interrupting him.She just continued to observed him because she now understood what August had been trying to teach her all along.“You did not suppress minds like Nicholas’.” August’s words came back to her mind. “You guide him, redirect if you must. Nurture him carefully enough that intelligen
There was no violence.Only absence.Althea immediately noticed when Helena did not arrive for breakfast.As far Althea knows, Helena was never late but deliberately missing. There were no familiar footsteps, any soft knocks. She felt no presence that had, for years now, become the quiet spine of A
The garden behind the Devereaux complex was designed to deceive.At first glance, it looked harmless. The garden stretches wide into manicured grass, low stone paths warmed by the sun, a canopy of old trees filtering light into something gentle and almost domestic. Birds nested freely here
Michael chose a place neutral by design.It has no Devereaux crest nor a Valtieri influence.The place is a quiet restaurant overlooking the river. It is usually frequented by men who negotiated borders and buried consequences beneath polite conversation. A place where privacy was b
The morning after the gala arrived with deceptive gentleness.Sunlight streamed through the tall windows of the Devereaux complex, turning marble floors warm and honey-colored.The estate as usual woke itself quietly. There’s no rush, no disorder as the staff moved with their usual precision. Break







