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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Author: Echoes of Gold
last update Last Updated: 2026-01-02 21:34:13

Lucien moved like a storm that had grown legs.

Damien followed at a distance — smart enough not to speak, smarter not to breathe too loudly. Every guard they passed flattened against the wall, terrified of being noticed in the wrong way. The mansion felt different now, tense, cold, and like unseen eyes were watching every movement. This was because the devil was hunting. Anytime Lucien hunted, someone always bled.

“Four seconds,” he repeated, voice deceptively quiet. “That’s all the alarm recorded?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Find the technician responsible for that blind spot.”

Damien swallowed. “And do what with him?”

Lucien’s eyes glinted. “Hold the funeral tomorrow.”

Damien said nothing.

They reached the west corridor — the wing nearest Kali’s new room. The place still wore the ghost of her scent. Lucien inhaled once, involuntarily.

He hated himself for it, but what he hated more was the truth: Matteo had been in this wing tonight. He had been near her, breathing her air and close enough to tou
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  • THE BIDDING ROOM   CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

    The night became a silent sniper after that, but not a violent one. Like something inevitable was about to happen. Lucien did not leave her room immediately. He stood there, close enough now that the space between them felt intentional rather than restrained. Evelyn became acutely aware of every small thing—the slow rise of his chest, the faint scar along his jaw, the way his attention settled on her as if she were a problem he could not solve without breaking something essential.“Forty-eight hours,” she said again, quieter this time. “You’re already planning what you won’t tell me.”“Yes.”“And you think I’ll accept that.”“I think,” he replied, “that you’ll understand why I do it.”She shook her head. “Understanding isn’t obedience.”“No,” he agreed. “It’s worse. It’s consent.”The word lingered.Evelyn stepped closer, not challenging, not defiant, but just curiously. She had learned the shape of danger well enough to recognize when it paused to look back at her.“You keep waitin

  • THE BIDDING ROOM   CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

    Night settled over the estate like a held breath. Evelyn stood at the edge of the hidden passage, palm pressed to the cool stone, listening to the house live around her — guards shifting, doors murmuring open and shut, the distant hum of people beneath the floors. Lucien’s world never slept. It waited. She closed the panel softly and returned to her bed, mind racing. The passage wasn’t an escape route. Not really. It was too narrow, too watched. But it was proof — proof that Lucien built contingency into everything. Proof that survival here depended on knowing when to move and when to remain perfectly still. A shadow passed her door. Footsteps paused. She didn’t pretend to sleep this time. “Lucien,” she said quietly. The door opened. He stood there, expression carved from restraint, gaze sweeping the room before settling on her. “You should be resting.” “I’ve rested enough,” she replied. “We need to talk.” A beat. Then he entered and closed the door behind him, the click of the

  • THE BIDDING ROOM   CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

    Back in the warehouse, time stretched cruelly. Evelyn’s arms ached. Her mouth was dry. The man returned with a bottle of water, pressing it to her lips just long enough to mock her thirst.“You should drink,” he said. “You’ll need your strength.”“For what?”“For when he arrives.”A chill slid down her spine. “You won’t kill me before then.”“No,” he agreed. “But pain is… persuasive.”She closed her eyes, forcing herself inward, to the quiet place she’d built brick by brick over years of surviving. Don’t give them fear, she told herself. Fear is a gift.What she didn’t expect, what shook her control — was the thought of Matteo.If he was alive. If he knew she was here. If this was why he had disappeared. I came looking for you, she thought fiercely. Don’t let it be for nothing.The first shot was not fired inside the warehouse.It came from the roof. Then another, and another.The lights flickered. Shouts echoed. Chaos rippled outward like a wave.The man in front of her stood abruptl

  • THE BIDDING ROOM   CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

    Lucien knew something was wrong the moment the house went quiet in the wrong way. It wasn’t panic that alerted him. It was absence. Evelyn’s absence.Her room was untouched. Her guards unconscious, restrained with professional precision. No alarms triggered.That was the insult.Lucien stood in the center of the security room, perfectly still, as the truth settled into his bones. She had gone looking for Matteo. Someone had been waiting, it was a trap.Damien swore under his breath. “This wasn’t random. They wanted her to leave the house.”Lucien’s voice was calm — too calm. “They knew I’d pull away.”“Yes.”“They counted on it.”Lucien closed his eyes once.He saw her standing in his room, hands steady as she saved his life. Saw the way she’d looked at him afterward, not pleading, not fearful just searching. He had withdrawn to protect her. Instead, he had made her reachable.“Lock the city down,” Lucien said softly.Damien hesitated. “Sir, that will…”“Start a war,” Lucien finish

  • THE BIDDING ROOM   CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

    Lucien was not the kind of man you confronted when he withdrew. He didn’t explain himself or give reassurance and he definitely didn't soften. He erased and Evelyn realized –too late that in doing so, he had left a gap no one was guarding.She waited until midnight.The estate was quietest then, the guards shifting, routines loosening for a handful of minutes that only someone desperate would notice. She dressed simply. She had gotten this from the servant’s quarters when she had moved. No jewelry. No silk. Shoes meant for walking, not decoration. One thing people failed to realize is that she was a shadow and no matter how noticeable they thought she was, she was also able to blend with darkness but she knew she could not survive leaving the estate like that. So she had gotten an ally. She had a soft knock on her door. She opened the door, standing there as her ally.“Everything is set, are you ready?”“Yes, I am,” Evelyn said. They moved through the hall silently, passing some stai

  • THE BIDDING ROOM   CHAPTER TWENTY

    The door closed behind her without a sound.Evelyn leaned against the wall outside Lucien’s room, her chest rising too fast, fingers trembling as if they still held the weight of him. The hallway felt colder than it had before, emptier – as though something vital had been left behind.She pressed her palm to her heart. Her heart would not stop beating. You saved his life, she told herself. That was all. That was enough to explain this, but the memory betrayed her. The memory of the blood, the gunshot, the fear – they didn’t scare her. What scared her was the way Lucien had looked at her when she pressed her hands to his wound – not as a mafia king, not as a monster, not even as a man in control, but as someone who had never been chosen. She closed her eyes. The memory of the moment they just shared, his hands all over her body, the sounds that had emanated from within her. She didn’t know she was capable of such.She had always believed Lucien was incapable of gentleness. He ruled by

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