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Chapter 84 – Bloodlines and Battle Plans
Dernière mise à jour:
2025-05-08 14:15:19
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Velvet Chains Chapter 1 – The Girl Who Didn't Belong
The bass beat pounded like a heartbeat beneath the crimson brocade shadows of *The Crimson Room*. Smoke drifted along the darkened room, weaving with perfume, sweat, and decadence. Valerio Moretti leaned in the back of the VIP club, his hand wrapped around a glass of black whiskey, unmoving.Partygoers were around him, society's elite losing themselves in excess as if they had no fear of death. Which was appropriate.They did not know that he was there.Valerio was death in a specially tailored suit. No one breathed in that club without his permission. The owner knew it. The girls knew it. Even the bartender handed him his drinks without meeting his gaze.And yet…His gaze did not leave the stage.A new girl had appeared in the limelight.She did not dance like them. Did not stalk, did not strike. She was frozen in place for a moment too long, blinking in the blinding light as though she didn't belong there. Her trembling fingers twitched ever so little at her hips, and when the music
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-04-14Velvet Chains Chapter 2 – The Price of Skin
They called her *Stella* on stage. Some manager had picked the name because it sounded like a porn star and was easy to scream over a deafening bassline. But when the lights went down and the music died and the glitter stuck to her skin like shame, she was just **Sera** again.Sera Devlin.Twenty-three years old. College dropout. Full-time stripper.Part-time liar.She hated this place. *The Crimson Room* pulsed with the stench of greed and desperation. Men sat in velvet booths, drinking themselves under at bourbon and lust. Women moved across the floor in sequins and high heels, red paint on their lips, eyes lifeless behind their lashes.And Sera? She danced.Horribly, she'd admit. She wasn't as cool as the other girls. She didn't know how to make her body promise anything. Her movements were stiff, unsure—like she was moving through something dirty and didn't want it to smear on her skin.And yet she came here. Night after night.Letting strangers look at her like they were hers. Le
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-04-14Velvet Chains Chapter 3 – The First No
Valerio Moretti hated waiting.He loathed being told no.And he sure as hell didn't appreciate the fact that ever since the evening he had the nerve to set foot in her dressing room, Sera Devlin had been taking up space inside his head like a forbidden prayer he couldn't suppress.She was hardly the prettiest woman he'd ever seen. But she was the most *untouched*. Even when she danced half-naked in front of drunk, salivating men, there was something about her that stayed locked away, behind those big, suspicious eyes.And he wanted to be the one to break that lock.To *own* whatever it was she kept hidden.He had not been able to get the image out of his head of how her breath caught as she had kicked him out.The manner in which she looked at him—not with fear, but with fire.Tonight, he needed more.He walked along the blood-red hallway of the nightclub with two of his guards. As ever, the door swinging open behind him shifted the mood. Bartenders straightened aprons and spat toothp
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The dressing room still smelled like perfume, powder, and desperation.Sera peeled off her fishnets with shaking fingers, every muscle in her body humming with the leftover charge of his presence.*Valerio Moretti.*She hadn't meant to walk into that lion’s den. Hadn’t expected her manager to knock on the door and say, *“Mr. Moretti’s requested a private.”*Requested.Like he didn’t already expect obedience.As if her name was just another on his list.Her "no" had been spontaneous, hot, unscripted. But the instant the word *no* had left her lips, it was like a first breath of air after being under water.And now she was shaking.Not with fear.With heat.With rage.With that deep, low voice saying, *You will.*Her hoodie clung to her bare shoulders as she shrugged it on, sweat and glitter clinging to the material. Her phone buzzed once from her bag.She didn't answer it.She was halfway unpinned her hair when the door creaked open behind her.Not a knock.Not a warning.Just the door
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-04-14Velvet Chains Chapter 5 – The Gifts He Sends, The Fire She Rejects
Sera could feel him.Not see him. Not hear him.But *feel* him.There were nights, when she stepped out onto the stage, the weight of his eyes hit her like a flame, blistering down the length of her back.He never made himself seen.Never returned to her dressing room. Never requested her in secret again.But he was always there.In the shadows. In the VIP room. In the smoky rooms of the club where men of power lounged like gods.*Watching.*Sera hated the way her body responded to it. The way the thought of his dark eyes watching her every step made her feel a pulse between her thighs.She danced for the paycheck.She danced for her brother.But when Valerio Moretti was around, she danced with an edge sharper than survival.She danced like rebellion.And she could sense—it only made him desire her more.The first gift arrived three nights later.A black velvet box, smooth, fit neatly into her locker after work. Inside: a diamond choker, icy and sparkling like frost on a winter sword.
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-04-14Velvet Chains Chapter 6 – The Hallway Trap
The rear hallway of the club pulsed with muted red light and the muffled bass thumping of the main floor. It was tight, bordered by peeling paint and the reek of old perfume—choking, intimate.Sera walked with her head down, hoodie half-zipped, heels clicking against tile. Her shift had just ended. She was tired, drained, her mind spinning from the last few nights.More gifts.More notes.More glances from the shadows.She hadn't seen him tonight.*Good.*But just as she got to the staff door, she felt it again.That *pull*.The dense pressure of eyes upon her.She stopped.Her breath caught as the air behind her altered—denser now, electric, humming.And then—"Leaving without saying goodnight, *bella*?"Sera turned.Valerio.He stepped out of the shadows like he'd been sliced from them. All black suit, open collar, his shirt stretched just tight enough to hint at tattoos and sin.She swallowed, hard.The hallway suddenly felt like a trap. Like a cage with velvet walls and gold locks
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The dressing room was silent, dark.The other girls had already left for the night, their heels echoing down the hall, their perfume lingering like ghosts. Sera sat alone in front of the mirror, removing her makeup in slow, tired strokes. Her lashes fluttered, smudges of eyeliner staining her cheeks like war paint.She didn't gaze at her reflection anymore.She gazed at the past.The way it coiled around her neck in quiet moments. The way it slid into her chest and tightened until she forgot how to breathe.And tonight—after Valerio's whispered obscenities in the hallway, the heat of his breath on her ear, the way he didn't touch her—but could have?It all came rushing back.**The first man to touch her without her permission was when she was fifteen.**The sun had already set behind the red roofs of the trailer park. Her little brother Ezra was asleep on the sofa after another asthma attack. Her mother was working the late shift again, which really meant she'd be stumbling home drunk
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-04-16Velvet Chains Chapter 8 – Dancing for the Devil
The club throbbed with its late-night energy—red lights, pounding bass, guys with too much cash and too little heart. But for Sera, time was slowing to a crawl.Since that night—since Valerio had touched her with more gentleness than she thought him capable of—something had shifted.He wasn't returned yet, but she could *feel* him in every darkness.The girls noticed.“You’ve got a secret admirer,” one teased as they slipped past her in the hallway. “Big spender, too.”Sera ignored the comment. But the weight of Valerio’s presence was impossible to shake.Another gift had arrived that morning. A simple thing—a black velvet ribbon tucked into a box. No note. Just the ribbon. A whisper of a collar.She’d left it at home.Still, it burned in her mind.*Dancing for the devil*, the phrase repeated.She hadn't even seen the club owner until his deep voice shook her out of the haze."Valez wants to see you," Gregor said to her.Sera blinked. "Now?"He nodded toward the back of the bar, where
Dernière mise à jour : 2025-04-16
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Velvet Chains Chapter 84 – Bloodlines and Battle Plans
The estate chapel smelled of damp stone and hidden secrets. Sparkling dust dotted the beams of light that passed through stained glass, casting crimson and indigo shadows on the chill floor. Sera watched beside Valerio at the altar as Dario shoved aside a concealed panel at the rear of an antique crucifix.A faint groan burst forth from the concealed vault as it creaked open."Your mother hid things in this house she didn't trust the family with," Dario whispered, pulling out a worn, leather-bound box. "She had no idea Lucrezia had spies within her inner circle."Valerio took the box cautiously, his teeth gritted. The seal on the cover—his mother's monogram—was unbroken, but broken. There were documents, files, and an ancient black flash drive, swathed in silk."She knew," he whispered, his voice low. "She always knew something was about to happen."Sera touched a light hand on his arm, bringing him back.They retreated to the main house and barricaded the doors. Valerio ordered Dario
Velvet Chains Chapter 83 – Valerio & Sera
The chapel smelled of wax and dust, an odd mix of religion and decay. Moonlight filtered through the broken stained glass, shattering colors on Valerio's face as he opened the hidden compartment beneath the altar.Sera knelt next to him, holding the light in place. Her fingers brushed his as he bent down, grasping a dented metal lockbox covered in soot and decades."This is it?" she whispered.Valerio nodded, his expression fixed in a grim line. "If Dario told the truth.".He opened the box. Yellowed documents, vintage photographs, and a set of cassette tapes were in the folds of a velvet cloth. He took one out, his gloved hand trembling slightly. Printed on the label: *Lucrezia – 2007*.Sera edged forward, her heart pounding. "Is that. your mother's year of passing?"Valerio did not say a word. He stood, carrying the box to the small office behind the confessional. Dust swirled in the shaft of light as he pulled out the old player Dario had stashed away for them in advance. The tape
Velvet Chains Chapter 82 - Velvet Chains
The night air was crisp with a biting edge as Valerio rested against the balcony of the Verona compound, the city lights below him a blur of gold and shadow. His fingers curled around the wrought-iron railing, his shoulders knotting with tension. Footsteps whispered softly against marble behind him—Sera."You disappeared again," she said, her voice lightly marked with concern.He didn't turn. "I needed air."She walked beside him, arms wrapping around his waist from behind, chin settling into the hollow between his shoulder blades. "You're not alone now. You don't have to keep holding this by yourself."Valerio closed his eyes. "I know. But every secret we uncover… it wears away everything I was certain of."Sera moved beside him, her hand brushing his. "That's how we build something new. From the ashes."He turned, holding her face. "Promise me something."She gazed up at him, unwavering. "Anything.""If I fall too far into this darkness, pull me back. Even if I fight you. Even if I
Velvet Chains Chapter 81 - Valerio & Sera
Betrayal never came easily to the Romanos. And silence on the part of Valerio in the days following the assault was an omen for war.Sera sat on the edge of the large desk in Valerio's office, watching him as he stared at the wall of screens with that unnerving serenity she was becoming all too used to. He'd only uttered a few words since Dario's betrayal. Since they'd buried three men and escaped with their lives."Are you going to talk to me?" she asked quietly.Valerio did not turn. "There's nothing left to say. We move. We strike.""You think I don't want that too?" Sera shoved off the desk, bridging the space between them. "But you can't shut down like this. Not with everything coming."He turned to her finally, and the heaviness in his eyes was something darker than anger. It was grief, it was guilt—the silent hurt of a man unraveling."Every time I let one in, I bury them. My mother first. Then my men. Dario was the last piece of family I had left."Sera's hand rose and touched
Velvet Chains Chapter 80 – Burn the Silence
The chapel smelled of dust, old incense, and secrets buried in stone. Beneath the crucifix and shattered stained glass, Valerio opened the crypt hidden in the floorboards. The darkness inside wasn't just physical—it was generational. Legacy. Lies.Sera was right behind him, flashlight clutched tightly in her hand as he descended into the area beneath the altar."Careful," she whispered."Always," he snarled, his voice gritty with the weight of everything he'd learned.He found it in a rusted lockbox, hidden beneath decaying fabric and family heirlooms. There were photos, ledgers, names written in ink that had blurred with time. Dario had told the truth—Lucrezia hadn't just orchestrated the fire. She'd bought loyalty in blood and in silence.And now she was building something darker.Valerio materialized, his jaw set, holding the box against his chest as though it might explode."We're not just taking her down," he snarled, voice low. "We're burning everything she's built."Sera steppe
Velvet Chains Chapter 79 — A Taste of Betrayal
The Verona villa had been their sanctuary for only a week, but Sera was already cognizant that tranquility was nothing but an illusion in Valerio's life.Morning sunlight streamed across the stone courtyard, bathing the ivy-walled rooms in gold. But the warmth in the air only managed to heat the storm raging within Valerio. He braced himself on the table with a black espresso cup, elbows sinking into the surface, eyes locked on the map of allegiances Dario had laid out the previous night.Sera moved soundlessly, her bare feet shod only in his massive shirt, which was short enough to fall just above her thighs. The silk clung to her curves in a way that once would have been distracting.Not today.Not after what Dario had discovered.Lucrezia hadn't simply plotted the murder of Valerio's mother. She had been positioning herself as the true queen of the underworld, eliminating those who stood in her way—one by one.“Talk to me,” Sera said gently, brushing a hand across Valerio’s shoulde
Velvet Chains Chapter 78 - Specters in the Wine Cellar
The cellar beneath the Verona estate was colder than Sera expected. Not from the stone or the shadows—but from the weight of memory that clung to every brick. Valerio led her, his torch casting uncertain light on vaulted ceilings and cobwebbed wine racks that had not seen a disturbance in decades.Dario's warning echoed in her head. "The evidence is under the chapel. Behind the pretend wall in the wine cellar."Valerio found the wall in an instant, eyes sharpened by revenge and memory. He knocked on the stone until a hollow knock gave it away. A breath thereafter, a panel creaked outward with the sound of a coffin lid.Behind the wall lay rows of metal drawers. Files. Documents. Photographs.Evidence.Valerio grabbed a thick file and flipped it open. His fingers froze. A photograph. His mother—smiling, unaware—circled in red ink. A second photo beneath it showed the same woman stepping into a car. Her death car. The date stamped in the corner chilled the air.“It was planned down to t
Velvet Chains Chapter 77 - Shadows of the Past
The chapel was wrapped in cold quiet. Dust clung to the air like secrets too heavy for speech. Valerio crept slowly down the aisle, every step echoing under the vaulted ceiling. Sera followed hard behind, her eyes scanning the candlelit walls, the worn frescoes of saints and martyrs who long ago had stopped listening.They reached the altar. Dario had been very clear. At the rear of the pulpit, under the seventh tile.Valerio knelt and pushed it open.Under the stone was a vacant space, and in it, an old metal box.He yanked it loose, his own breath ragging in the weight of it—not the physical weight, exactly, but the history that filled it. He set it on the floor and sprung the catch. The hinges shrieked loudly as the top groaned open.Inside were files, photos, letters written in hand—letters imprinted with blood and betrayal, stamped indelibly.Sera knelt by him, reaching out to grab a letter. It was to Lucrezia, in a bold, flowing hand.*"The fire is scheduled. The boy will surviv
Velvet Chains Chapter 76 - A Blood Pact Under the Chapel
Centuries-old secrets were whispered through the stone walls of the chapel as Valerio, Sera, and Dario descended the spiral stair under the altar. The air was thick with dust, its silence disturbed only by the echo of footsteps and the flickering light of the old oil lamp Dario held."This room hasn't been disturbed in decades," he said, the flames casting ominous shadows on his face. "My father said it was for prayer. He lied."Valerio ran his hand over the damp stone wall, his eyes slitting. "How many lies must we uncover before this war ends?"Sera remained close to him, her hand brushing against his as they went deeper into the earth. She felt the heaviness in him—the way he carried the weight of every betrayal, every loss, every flame that ever burned beneath his family's name.At the bottom of the stairs, they entered a narrow corridor with iron doors along the walls. Dario stopped in front of the third."This is it."He entered a code on a rusted keypad, and the door screeched
