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Chapter 66

Author: cindyy
last update Last Updated: 2026-01-19 18:56:15

The morning of the hearing dawned clear and cold, the sky a hard, pale blue. The rain had washed the city clean, but the air felt charged, brittle. We dressed in silence—dark, serious suits, armor for the battle ahead. Alessia wore a simple black dress, her face pale but composed. She looked older. Matteo and Anton would stay with her at the safe house. We couldn’t risk bringing her to the courthouse, not with Sebastian’s threat hanging in the air.

Lorenzo checked his phone one last time. A text from Durand: All set. Meet you at the side entrance. Press is thick at the front.

We took a car with tinted windows. The drive to the courthouse was short, tense. We didn’t speak. The bond was a tight, vibrating wire between us, humming with a shared, focused intensity. This was it. The first real clash. Not in shadows, not through proxies. In a courtroom, under the law.

The car pulled into a restricted area. Durand was waiting, a slim briefcase in her hand. She looked sharp, unflappable. “Rea
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