LOGINDominic’s gaze hardened as he looked down at the intersecting lines on the table, the ink no longer just marks, but movement, intention, consequence.“Or it could be both.” He said in a low, controlled voice.The words settled and silence followed inside the room.Not empty.Not uncertain.Heavy.Deliberate.Seraphina stepped forward, her presence cutting cleanly through the tension. Years within the Valtieri world had carved something unshakable into her.She didn’t react to silence, she used it.Her voice dropped, quieter now, but sharper.“Has Luca sent feelers?”The question shifted the room.They all knew that feelers aren’t attacks.They weren’t confrontations.They were something worse.Quiet moves.Testing lines.Probing loyalty.Sebastian nodded slightly, his expression tightening.“Yes.” He answered calmly. “We’ve been getting updates since last night.”Dominic didn’t move nor shown any reaction. His focus simply sharpened.“Where?”Sebastian glanced briefly at Vincent, a si
The war room didn’t feel the same after the blood had already been spilled.The maps are still there as well as the markings. Names that were written by hand had now carried weight beyond the planning.What happened last night made the names become real.It never did after blood had already been spilled.Dominic stood at the center again.But this time, he felt no anticipation and only the aftermath.Sebastian leaned against the far edge of the table, arms crossed, his expression harder than usual.Enzo is sitting half-perched on a chair, restless, fingers tapping lightly against the wood. Roberto and Antonio stood nearby, both silent but alert.Vincent remained slightly apart, recovering from a knife injury on his arm.Watching.Always watching.Seraphina stood across from Dominic, composed as ever, though her eyes carried something deeper now, something sharpened by what had nearly happened.Her guards were positioned along the edges of the room.Led by Enrico Romano, her oldest and
The surgical lights dimmed behind her as Althea stepped out of the medical wing hallway.For a moment, she just stood there and breathing calmly.She let the sterile air settle against her skin, washing away the intensity of the procedure, the razor-sharp focus that had consumed her for hours.The patient was stable and alive.A miracle, some would say.But to her, it’s always control, precision and choice.She moved toward the wash area, and washed her hands again slowly, methodically, watching the faint traces of the operation disappear under running water.Tension from the operation being rinsed away.But not all of it because she that beyond the walls of the medical wing, the war still lingered.Althea dried her hands and walked down the hallway.She didn’t return to her room nor didn’t go to where Dominic is.She turned toward another wing.August.The door was half open when she arrived.She didn’t knock as she didn’t need to because the voices inside carried enough.“For the la
Morning settled into something almost normal.The dining area carried a quiet warmth that felt fragile but real when Althea and Dominic finally went down.Sunlight filtering through tall and partially covered windows, the table set simply, the remnants of tension still lingering beneath the surface of every movement.Nicholas sat between them, safe and alive.He is still unaware of just how close everything had come.Althea watched him more than she ate.The way he spoke and reached for his glass just told her that what happened last night was something he still could not really comprehend.He looked between her and Dominic as if everything was exactly where it should be.“Papa.” Nicholas said suddenly, looking at Dominic. He waited until Dominic looked down at him. “Remember that you said you were going to show me how to build a stronger one?”Dominic glanced at him.“The stronger one?”“The blocks, Papa.” Nicholas clarified. “The one that doesn’t fall.”A faint shift crossed Dominic
Morning didn’t arrive immediately, creeping slowly with the light filtering through the gaps from the board up windows, touching the edges of the room that carried the quiet aftermath of the night before.The bed was a mess.Sheets twisted and half-drawn, pillows displaced, the fabric marked by the restless, urgent way they had held onto each other. It wasn’t careless.It was evidence of their need and release.Of their survival.Althea stirred first, aware that morning has arrived.Her body felt heavy, limbs slow, the kind of weight that came not from exhaustion alone but from being completely spent in a way that left nothing held back.She shifted slightly and felt him.Dominic was already awake.He’s already sitting up beside her, his back resting against the headboard, one hand dragging slowly through his hair as if grounding himself in the quiet.He looked different in the morning.Not softer.But less guarded.Althea watched him for a moment before speaking.“You didn’t sleep.”
THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MATURE/SEXUAL CONTENT. PLEASE READ WITH DISCRETION.Dominic carried Althea gently back toward their bed after drying themselves of, never breaking contact, never letting the moment slip into something rushed or careless.Her hands didn’t leave him either.One hand is around his neck while the other is on his cheek as she kissed him passionately.His didn’t leave her.Every movement carried weight, not in urgency but more on intensity.Althea held onto him like she was anchoring herself to his warmth and presence.She wanted to feel the steady certainty of him.“Stay with me.” She whispered.“I’m not going anywhere.” He assured in a tone that makes her believed him.Dominic lowered her on their bed and laid beside her, his lips latched onto her neck. He hungrily nibbled on her soft skin alternating it with kisses.Althea raised her head to him, caressing his face tenderly, looking at him.“I love you, Dominic.” She whispered lovingly.“Not as much as I love you, A
“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
Luca Valtieri did not react.Reaction was for men who had already lost ground.He stood alone in the upper study, the same room where three generations of Valtieri decisions had been made without witnesses, without records, without mercy. The afternoon light slanted through the tall windows, illumi







