ANMELDEN"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 Axis could fix thin
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 patiently."You left your room.
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
"Please take Nicholas to the east wing."Althea didn't look up from the medical reports spread across the command table as she put in her request to one guard.Outside, floodlights illuminated the landing zone while emergency personnel rushed back and forth preparing for incoming casualties.Helena glanced at her."The east wing?" She asked.Althea nodded as she continued reviewing injury reports."The helicopters will be loud." She answered as her voice remained calm, clinical and controlled. The same voice she used before entering an operating room. "The sirens will scare him especially when he hears too many and he will get curious. And you know, what he does when his curiosity is turned on."Helena's eyes softened and nodded.Althea finally looked up."I already asked Seraphina to keep him occupied." She added softly, a tiny smile touched her lips despite the tension gripping her chest. "She told me that she will show him Alessandro's old observatory. But God help me once his inte
Seraphina Valtieri stood alone in the east corridor of the estate that evening, the marble floor beneath her heels cold and unyielding. The air around her is carrying the distant echo of voices gathering where she already knew she would be expected.The elders were assembling upon Luca’s invitation
“You’re thinking again.” Althea said softly.Dominic exhaled faintly, a ghost of a smile touching his lips.The two of them are lying on the couch inside his office, had their clothes back on with half of Althea on top of him. She was looking at him gently while he was caressing her back lightly.“
“Nico, your tutor is here.” Althea informed softly when one of the Blackstone’s staff let them know that Michael has arrived. “We can continue your talk about dinosaurs over lunch.”Nicholas had been reluctant to leave the breakfast table, still clutching a small plastic stegosaurus in one hand whi
The morning light at Blackstone came in quietly. The light filtered through long panes of glass and the measured stillness of a house that had learned to exist under pressure.Strange. Dominic thought as he started to prepare coffee. He looked around the dining room. Despite this f8cking war, it st







