Se connecterShare
Chapter 122: Ace's POV
Dernière mise à jour:
2025-06-02 22:39:57
Latest chapter
The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss Chapter 125: Brielle's POV (THE END)
Warmth. That’s the first sensation that filters through the haze of sleep. Not just the warmth of the sun spilling through the slightly parted curtains of our hidden coastal cottage, painting stripes of gold across the simple wooden floor. It’s the warmth radiating from the solid wall of muscle pressed against my back. The heavy, possessive weight of Ace’s arm draped over my waist, his hand splayed possessively low on my stomach, fingers twitching faintly even in sleep. His breath is a steady, warm rhythm against the nape of my neck, stirring the fine hairs there. For a long, luxurious moment, I simply exist within this cocoon. Safe. Sheltered. *His*.A slow smile spreads across my face, so wide it feels like it might crack the remnants of the girl I used to be. The girl who dreamed of hockey captains and vanilla for the first time. The girl who thought the worst thing that could happen was a bad grade or a missed party. That girl feels like a character from someone else’s story now,
The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss Chapter 124: Ace's POV
The conversation deepens over a second glass. Rogue details the history of the Key – forged by a paranoid Azura Don centuries ago, the specific vault it accesses deep beneath a ruined Azura stronghold in Hokkaido, now buried and warded. He explains Elias Vance learned the destruction ritual – involving submerging the Key in a specific volcanic pool under a full moon – from Anya herself, who stole the knowledge. Silas stands stiffly, chastened, occasionally adding grim details about the dangers still lurking around the Key's legend – rogue factions, greedy collectors. The atmosphere shifts from confrontation to wary collaboration. Ace remains guarded but engaged, the revelation about his mother a seismic shift in his understanding of his own past.The details Rogue laid out were intricate, laced with history and danger, but they held the ring of truth. The volcanic pool, the ritual under the moon, the specific location – it wasn't just plausible; it felt like the kind of arcane safegua
The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss Chapter 123: Ace's POV
He took another sip of scotch, his gaze distant, lost in memory. "She lived under our protection for years. Raised her son. Kept her head down. We became her family, of a sort. Elias… he grew fond of her. Protective. Like a daughter." Rogue’s eyes snapped back to me, sharp and clear. "He *was* fond of her. When she… when she was taken from us, by that brute you called father…" A flicker of genuine, cold anger passed over Rogue’s scarred face. "Elias wanted vengeance. Wanted to burn your father’s world down. But Anya… before she died, she made him promise. Promise to leave you out of it. To let you live, if you could. She believed the cycle had to end."The pieces were crashing together with brutal, heartbreaking clarity. My mother’s fear, her isolation, her whispered warnings about men who owned shadows. Her desperate attempts to shield me. Her death… not just at my father’s hands, but under the shadow of a past she’d tried so desperately to escape. And this man, Elias Vance, the Thir
The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss Chapter 122: Ace's POV
A ghost of a smile touched Rogue’s lips, not reaching his eyes. "Point taken. The audience is dismissed." He didn’t raise his voice, but the effect was immediate. Silas hesitated, looking like he wanted to protest, but one icy glance from Rogue silenced him. He jerked his head, and the men around the perimeter melted back into the deeper shadows near the walls, disappearing like wraiths. Only Silas remained, hovering awkwardly a few feet behind Rogue, radiating resentment."Better?" Rogue asked, turning his attention back to me. He gestured towards the far end of the warehouse, where a small, incongruous island of light and relative order existed. An old, scarred oak desk, two heavy leather armchairs, and a sideboard holding crystal decanters glinted under a single, suspended industrial lamp. "Join me. We have much to discuss. And I find difficult conversations flow easier with good scotch."Scotch. An offer of hospitality in the belly of the beast. Another move designed to unsettle.
The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss Chapter 121: Ace's POV
The Capo’s venomous whisper hung in the dusty, charged air of the warehouse like poison gas. *Sundown tomorrow.* The ultimatum wasn’t just a threat; it was a timer strapped to the fragile peace Brielle and I had clawed out of the wreckage of our lives. The image of our cabin, the smell of pine and Brielle’s lavender soap, the ridiculous stack of pancakes we’d shared just this morning – all of it consumed by fire, by *them* – ignited a cold, focused fury in my core. My hand didn’t just twitch near my hip; my fingers curled, phantom sensations of the Sig Sauer’s textured grip already there. Five feet. I could close that distance before his men could fully clear leather. Tear out his throat with my bare hands. Paint the rusted metal walls with Eagle Brother grey matter.But Brielle. Brielle was out there, watching, waiting for my signal. A signal I hadn’t given. A signal I couldn’t give if I started a bloodbath right now. Her safety was the only chain holding back the rabid beast that li
The Substitute Bride of the Ruthless Mafia Boss Chapter 120: Ace's POV
He stops about fifteen feet away. The weak light from a high window catches his face. Older than I expected. Late fifties, maybe. Hair steel-grey, cropped short. A face carved from granite, weathered and hard, marked by a deep scar running from his left temple down to his jawline. Pale, icy blue eyes that hold no warmth, only a calculating intelligence. He wears a long, dark wool coat, open, over a simple black sweater. No visible weapon, but the threat emanates from him like radiation."Ace Reynolds," he says. His voice is deep, gravelly, like stones grinding together. It carries easily in the vast space. No question. A statement of fact. "Or whatever you call yourself these days."I stop, meeting his gaze squarely. "Names are fluid. Power is not. You were summoned. I came." I keep my voice flat, neutral. Giving nothing away.A flicker of something – respect? Amusement? – passes through his cold eyes. "The Crown of Azura. Bold. Reckless. Or desperate." He takes a single step closer.
Vous vous intéresseriez aussi à
The Unwanted Bride
Angela Lynn Carver81.9K VuesTrapped Forever- A Dark & Twisted Happily Ever After
@Gupta96.1K VuesThe Mafia King's Wife
Michaela Gates92.3K VuesHis Sweet Bella
BlueDreams498.1K VuesThe Traitor's Daughter
Deji_B361 VuesHelp Me, Stepbrothers, For I Have Sinned
Alexis Dee12.2K VuesFalling For My Mafia Lord
Zaynab_writes1.9K VuesHis Pretty Little Liar - The Devil’s Snare - Book 1
KL Jenkins1.3K Vues
