All Chapters of The Devil's Vow #2: The Viel of Vengeance: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The safehouse was quiet—too quiet, after everything we’d been through. The echoes of betrayal still clung to my thoughts like dust on glass. No matter how many times I tried to shake them off, they lingered. I sat on the edge of the old bed, bandaged arm resting on my lap, watching as Helios moved around the small room. He was tense, shoulders tight, jaw set like he was holding something back. Maybe he was. He always did. We hadn’t spoken much since the docks. Since the ambush. Since I nearly died and he nearly lost me. Now, we were both just... here. Alive. Together. And neither of us quite knew what to do with that. He walked over and sat down beside me. Close, but not touching. Always close. Always holding back. “You should rest,” he murmured. “I could say the same to you.” He smiled, just barely, and looked down at his hands. Hands that had done terrible things, yes—but hands that had also saved me, held me, shielded me from bullets without a second thought. I looked at th

The dress clung to me like a second skin—dark emerald, floor-length, slit high up the leg, and just scandalous enough to pass for elegant. I’d never worn anything quite like it before, and if I was being honest, it made me feel powerful. Dangerous, even. Like I belonged in a room full of lies and polished deceit. The gala was held in one of the city’s oldest manors, a place where chandeliers sparkled like constellations and secrets drifted like perfume. Men in tuxedos and women wrapped in diamonds sipped champagne and murmured behind masks—some literal, some not. I wasn’t just here to look pretty. Tonight, I was bait. The plan was simple, at least on paper. Get in. Find Anton De Luca—the man we suspected was pulling strings behind the attacks on both the Moretti and Valenti families. Charm my way close. Listen. Smile. Leave with intel. No one was supposed to suspect a thing. But nothing ever went according to plan. I slipped through the crowd, glass in hand, nerves dancing under

I thought I’d seen everything. After the betrayals, the blood, the lies—I didn’t think there was anything left that could really shake me. But I was wrong. Because the truth doesn’t always arrive like a thunderclap. Sometimes, it creeps in like smoke under a locked door, slowly suffocating everything you thought was solid. And this truth? It nearly broke me. The man orchestrating the chaos between the Moretti and Volkov families—every attack, every whisper of war—wasn’t some shadowy figure from the underworld. He wasn’t a faceless threat we hadn’t met. He was someone we knew. Someone we trusted. He wasn’t family… but he had been close enough to walk through the doors without question. Close enough to shake the hands of our people, to smile in Isabella’s face, to laugh with Helios over shared cigars and shots. It had been him all along. I learned the truth in the worst way—alone. The details had come in pieces. A photo slipped under my door. A USB drive in a plain envelope.

The nights had grown colder, sharper—almost like the tension between us. Every step we took toward uncovering the mastermind behind the chaos felt heavier, as if the weight of the truth threatened to crush us. But in the midst of it all, Helios was my anchor. A constant presence I could rely on, even when the world seemed determined to pull us apart. We had been moving through shadows, slipping between danger and deception like ghosts. The Moretti family’s enemies were clever—too clever. The attacks had become more brutal, more personal. Each new piece of information we gathered only deepened the web of lies, making it harder to tell friend from foe. But there was one thing I knew without a doubt: Helios was by my side, unwavering. Not just as a bodyguard or enforcer, but as something more. Something I hadn’t dared to name before. One evening, after a long day of chasing leads that went nowhere, we found ourselves alone in the small, dimly lit room that had become our refuge. The c

“I’ve been waiting for this all day,” Elena whispered, her voice trembling with anticipation as Helios’s lips brushed against the curve of her neck. His breath was warm, sending shivers down her spine, and she tilted her head back, offering him more of her skin. Helios didn’t hesitate. His hands roamed her body, tracing the lines of her curves, his touch leaving a trail of fire in its wake. “You’re so beautiful,” Helios murmured, his voice low and husky as he pulled her closer, their bodies pressing together. Elena could feel the heat of him through their clothes, the hard planes of his chest against her softness. Her hands fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, desperate to feel his skin against hers. Helios chuckled softly, the sound vibrating against her neck as he helped her, his fingers moving deftly until the shirt was open, revealing the sculpted muscles of his chest. Elena’s breath hitched as she ran her hands over his skin, feeling the warmth and the slight sheen of sweat.