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Chapter Eight
Last Updated:
2025-09-03 21:18:16
Latest chapter
Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy CHAPTER 201
Alone TimeJace's POV Coming here had been a joint idea. We were looking for a safe house, but this also coupled as a resort. At first, the loft had been a lovely change of scenery, a safe space of sorts. But after a little over twenty fours hours, it started feeling like a cage. I was either typing furiously or staring aimlessly, taking in the beautiful sight that was the frozen Neva river. I hummed, protein bar in hand and a flurry of thoughts bouncing in my head. I soon heard footsteps walk towards me and arms wrap around my waist. "You've been awfully touchy, huh?" I said, trying to add a little bit of a teasing tone to my voice, but I imagine it fell flat to whoever could hear, though Lucian didn't seem to mind. Instead, his grip grew tighter and he pressed his face into the crook of my neck. "Can you blame me?" He whispered then took a large breath and sunk deeper into the position. I turned around, feeling his muscles tense against my skin, only to relax when I was facing h
Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy CHAPTER 200
Silent ThreatMaraleona’s POVThe air in Moscow felt especially thin that night, as thought the city was holding its breath. Though I could imagine it was, as was the rest of the world. The cool air that shivered everyone’s boots left no stone untouched. I walked along the road, snow crunching under my boots, with a calm stillness I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was familiar. The kind that felt like a blanket over my shoulders. It felt like I was being watched, but not by predatory eyes, rather, by eyes that swore to protect me. It felt nice, no matter how absurd that sounded. The feeling left a flutter inside me, making me see details that had no real meaning. I look towards a lamp. It coincidentally had the letter M carved out in cursive, looking strikingly similar to how Dimitri would have done it. I reached a hand towards it, tracing over the letters path like it meant something to me. I remembered the old estates courtyard I had left behind. I remembered watching Dimitri all
Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy CHAPTER 199
Ghost in The SnowDimitri’s POVThe courtyard of the estate was, as always, a cathedral of jagged ice and furious wind that seeped deep into your bones. At just ten years old, Dimitri already knew something. The harsh winds, though of natural cause, had grown to taunt the people of the manor. It didn’t just howl, it judged. If you shivered under its touch, you were weak; if you cried, you were bound to be tossed to the sides. His father’s voice was a permanent mantra that blended with the howl of wind. “A Volkov is a man of steel,” he would say. “We don’t feel.” He always added with a tone that made the young boy wonder if he had been like that throughout his entire life. But Dimitri was considered a failure. One that refused to bend under the will of his family. His words haunted the young boy. Echoed in his head when rooms got quiet or when my eyes focused do much that the world turned blurry, and left a bitter taste that Dimitri could not swallow. Dimitri was kneeling in knee de
Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy CHAPTER 198
Calculated MovesMaraleona's POV The loft was a gentle reminder of an architects integrity. It was tucked behind the soot-stained facade of a former clock factory in Moscow’s Basmanny District. Karen coughed into her hands and started talking, her voice barely going over the hum of the air conditioning. "The extraction of data from the secondary warehouse is complete." She started. She projected a series of images onto the glass wall. "It wasn't just raw communication. Someone bypassed the Sokolov encryption protocols before we arrived. They didn't steal the data, they annotated it." She sounded rather impressed by the person's actionsI stepped closer to the glass, my heart slowing to a painful thud against my chest. There, in the corner of metal casing, were the dots. Three microscopic indentations in the metal casing of a junction box, captured by Kaelen’s high-resolution lens.My eyes looked at it for a minute. I didn't have to think too much, my brain automatically translate
Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy CHAPTER 197
First OffenceDimitri's POV The secondary warehouse I bad found was a low hung, windowless bunker of reinforced steel. It had been tucked behind a graveyard of rusted shipping containers that were left along the sides of Moscow river. There were motion sensors all around, but I moved swiftly. If they caught anything, it would be written off as a glitch of sorts. I spend close to three hours in the high rafters, my body pressed against the cold iron beams. I was still recording the encrypted communications through my handheld receiver. Below, the faction operatives were beginning to get frantic. They no longer just spoke of the blood Oath they used to bait the world, but also of an heir. They were coordinating the arrival of the "Heir" for a live broadcast meant to shatter the last of the Volkov loyalists.my face twisted with disdain. They never cease to amaze me with the lengths they were willing to go. Before I slipped back into the vents, I paused at a junction near the loading
Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy CHAPTER 196
TendernessJace's POV The air in the silo was thick with the smell of machinery and the flat smell of cold coffee. I sat slumped in my chair, watching the data streams fall down the monitors like digital rain. I wasn't looking at the code anymore; I was looking for the ghost in the machine. Behind me was our core tactical team of five high-level analysts and two field commanders. They stood in a tense semicircle, sweat from the oressure drivbling down their heads. They were the last of the loyalists, the ones who didn't shiver in their pants when the Volkov name started appearing in the dark-web like a mantra. "The logic doesn't hold," I said, pointing a trembling finger at the waveform on the screen. "This 'Blood Debt' broadcast... it's way too surgical." The attackers didn't just hack the public channels; they bypassed the localized firewalls of our three largest Baltic shipping partners. To do that, you don't just need a high-end deepfake of Dimitri. You need the master keys to
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