บททั้งหมดของ The Devil's Game: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

The message came just before dinner.Leon: Had a great time chatting today. Wouldn’t mind another round—this time, somewhere quieter?Ayra sat back on the plush sofa of her sitting room, twirling the phone in her fingers. She had been expecting him to reach out. Encouraging it, even. Yet, staring at the message, she hesitated. The line between playing a game and getting caught in it was dangerously thin.But Lucian had yet to react to anything she’d done. Not the staff replacement, not the disorder she’d caused in the estate, not even her blatant attempts to provoke him. He remained distant, untouchable, as though she didn’t even exist. It burned.Maybe this would be the thing to get under his skin.She typed her response carefully.Ayra: I wouldn’t mind that. Where do you suggest?His reply came within moments.Leon: I know a private lounge near the East District. Great wine, even better company.She smiled faintly. He was charming, smooth. Just enough to make this easier.Ayra: Send

Ayra led Leon into her chambers with steady steps, her fingers brushing against his arm in a way that suggested intimacy. Yet as she stepped over the threshold, a quiet revulsion coiled deep in her stomach.The thought of him here—of his presence in this space—left a bitter taste in her mouth.Still, she had to see this through.She glanced at the walls, at the high corners of the ceiling. She suspected Lucian had placed surveillance somewhere in the house. That would explain his silence—his patience. He’s waiting for proof. Waiting to see if she would really go through with it.Fine.If he needed proof, she would give it to him.Leon, oblivious to the storm brewing inside her, exhaled a slow breath as he stepped into the room. "You know," he murmured, turning to face her, "I wasn’t expecting this tonight."She forced a small smile. "Change of plans."He studied her for a moment, his gaze dark, his amusement barely concealed. "And here I thought you enjoyed the chase.""I do." She cros

He set the envelope down, fingers tightening against the edges. "You’re playing a dangerous game," he murmured.Ayra tilted her head. "Am I?"He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he leaned back, assessing her with a careful, measured look. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish here?"She smiled, but there was no warmth behind it. "That’s for Lucian to figure out, isn’t it?"A beat of silence. Then:"You want me to do something with this."Ayra reached for her wine glass again, swirling the liquid absently. "I want it to be known," she said simply. "I want the world to talk."Nico exhaled, setting the envelope down as if it were something poisonous. "You do realize that if I take this to him, you’ll regret it?"Ayra’s gaze sharpened."I’ll regret nothing," she said quietly.Another silence stretched between them.Finally, Nico let out a slow, resigned breath. "You really don’t care if he burns everything down over this, do you? And by the way, it's practically impossible for him

Later that night Lucian sat motionless in his seat, his fingers steepled before his mouth, eyes staring straight ahead but seeing little of the cabin around him. His phone buzzed again, another notification, another echo of the damage.The headlines had finally stopped screaming. But the sting lingered, seared into him like a wound beneath his ribs.Affair. Cuckolded. A wife he never announced, now the punchline to a viral joke.He’d lost the deal. That much he could tolerate. Business came and went. Fortunes shifted like sand dunes; he could pivot and recover. He always did. What curdled inside him was something far deeper—visceral, bitter, and unshakable.Ayra.Her name was a weight pressing against his spine. She hadn’t just gone too far. She’d violated something private. The images Nico had shown him—her stepping out onto the balcony looking smug and half-dressed after Leon left, her laughter in the café, the casual intimacy of their walks—were burned into his mind with acidic clar

The car turned into the underground garage of Lucian’s estate. As they stepped into the elevator, Lucian turned back to Nico.“Any updates on the Wendells directly?”Nico nodded, pulling up a map of the city. “That’s the second thing I needed to tell you. Our people have intercepted multiple Wendell operatives trying to enter the city covertly. Most were turned back or disappeared. Someone is blocking them.”Lucian’s brow furrowed. “Who?”“We don’t know,” Nico admitted. “It’s not us. The barrier is invisible but effective—almost as though someone else is protecting the city’s perimeter.”Lucian’s gaze hardened. “Ferdinand?”“That’s our best guess,” Nico agreed. “The timing matches. His security details have grown tighter. And more interestingly… he seems to be at odds with Elena.”Lucian folded his arms. “Explain.”Nico pulled up two separate surveillance feeds. One showed Elena meeting with a council member—alone. The other showed Ferdinand arguing with two old-money allies near the c