LOGINThree weeks after returning from the Axis Core, Blackstone had finally settled into a rhythm of recovery, routine and normalcy.Or at least their version of normal.The wounded men were healing and operations had resumed.Security protocols were returning to standard levels, Helena’s own men had already withdrawn as well as August and Michael, who went back for a while to Devereaux Medical Complex to check on their estate.Dominic had finally been granted limited freedom from Althea's recovery restrictions.Limited being the important word.Very limited."You're staring, again."Dominic didn't look up from the report in his hand."I'm reading." He responded calmly."No." Althea retorted as she walked into his office carrying coffee. "You're thinking."Dominic looked up and gave her a smile as he accepted the cup."I'm capable of doing both." He explained gently.She raised an eyebrow."Not according to your medical file.""I regret teaching you how to weaponize medical terminology." D
"I was afraid." Dominic blinked when she repeated her answer. Seraphina Aragon Valtieri feared almost nothing. Yet her voice didn't waver. "I watched what happened to your Uncle Luca." She finally continued slowly. "I watched obsession destroy him." The room grew quiet. "To be honest, your uncle wasn't evil, Dominic." She continued and Dominic could not hide his surprise at the statement. "He loved your father, more than anyone realized." Seraphina looked toward the fire. "Their relationship was complicated. Two sons born just a few years apart." She said patiently. A sad smile appeared. “It was competitive, frustrating and loud. But they loved each other." Dominic decided to listen instead of arguing or asking, because for the first time, something in her tone told him these were memories she rarely shared. Something he had never heard her do since Alessandro was murdered. "Luca wasn't born wanting power." She continued quietly. "He wanted purpose. He believed the
Two weeks. That was what Althea said but Dominic still finds himself recovering. According to Dominic, he had recovered eleven days ago. Today is now his eighteenth day of recovery. However, according to everyone else in Blackstone, neither opinion mattered because Dr. Althea Johnson Valtieri had already made her ruling. And no one, not even Dominic Valtieri, the head of Blackstone could argue with her rulings for long. At least not successfully. "Papa." Dominic, sitting on his bed, looked up from the report he was pretending to read, third day of recovering from his injuries. He saw Nicholas standing in the doorway. Nicholas stood with hands on his hips, looking very serious and determined. Far too much like both his parents. "Yes, Nico?” Dominic asked calmly as he placed the report on his bedside table. Nicholas marched into the room. "You cheated, Papa." He commented seriously. Dominic frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He responded pa
Meanwhile, three corridors away, Althea finished closing her fourth surgery.The patient had nearly died from a hidden complication.An arterial rupture missed during transport.By the time they discovered it, the man's blood pressure had already crashed.Another thirty minutes and he would have been dead.She removed her gloves, massaging her shoulders because it hurts before moving down her lower back.Everything hurt.But it was over.The critical cases were done.For the first time all night, there were no more active emergencies.No alarms.No frantic calls.Nothing.Silence.The strange silence that follows survival and Althea leaned against the counter, closing her eyes briefly and just breathing. She inhaled deeply and held it for a few seconds before releasing it slowly.A nurse approached."Doctor?"She opened her eyes."Yes?" She asked, her mind immediately alert.The nurse hesitated before letting out a smile."All four survived."Something inside her loosened.Four lives.
The sun had long disappeared over Blackstone.Midnight came and went, the noise still not dying down at the medical wing.Nurses and guards come and go, treating and assisting the injured. They would just stop briefly to take a breath and then continue their way, making sure that all had been taken care.Then one o'clock.Then two.Yet Blackstone Estate still remained awake.The emergency floodlights continued illuminating the temporary medical compound while exhausted doctors, nurses, surgeons, and support staff fought through the final wave of casualties.Hours earlier, death had arrived on helicopters.Now survival was winning despite it being slowly and painfully.One patient at a time.Operating Room One finally opened and Benjamin finally stepped out first before the patient he operated on was wheeled out.The older surgeon looked every bit his age and every bit the legend he was.His surgical cap had been removed, his silver hair damp with sweat, contrasting with the dark circl
Dominic.For one terrible moment she couldn't breathe.The reports had not prepared her.Nothing could have prepared her.He looked exhausted.Not tired or fatigued.Exhausted.His stance looked like a man who had walked through hell and somehow found the strength to keep walking.Bruises darkened one side of his face and there’s a cut sliced through his brow.His shirt beneath the tactical jacket was stained with dried blood.His movements carried a stiffness she recognized immediately.Significant rib injuries and possibly fractured. Althea started listing her findings in her thoughts. His right shoulder sat slightly lower. Muscular damage. His gait was wrong. Pain. Too much pain.The surgeon inside her catalogued everything instantly.The wife inside her shattered.Dominic was badly hurt and still standing.He is still making sure his men exited before him, making sure everyone else came first.The stubborn idiot. Althea then immediately thought.Dominic stepped away from the helic
Blackstone did not announce itself.There were no wrought-iron gates swinging open, no guards in visible formation, or any ceremonial welcome. The road simply narrowed, trees closing in like a held breath, asphalt giving way to gravel that crunched softly beneath the tires.Dominic, using his own c
Aurelio refused to break things when he is angry.That was a habit of lesser men. That was he always believes. Men who mistook volume for power and damage for dominance.Instead, Aurelio preferred precision. Prefers consequences that unfolded slowly, inevitably, like blood loss you didn’t feel unti
Dominic smelled blood before he saw it.Not the sharp, metallic tang of fresh violence. What he smelled was older, darker, soaked into fabric and skin.Hospital antiseptic clung to it, trying and failing to erase what had already happened.Althea was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking out the w
Althea arrived at the Valtieri estate after dawn.The car that picked her up rolled through the gates as the sky shifted from gray to pale gold, the light catching on stone and iron without warmth. Morning should have felt like relief but exhaustion is clearly overtaking her body.The operation Luc







