Semua Bab Scarred Roses, Burning Vengeance: Bab 61 - Bab 70

DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The gun in my hand was heavy.I had used many kinds of guns over the years, but this was one that particularly weighed me down, holding me to the chaos that had erupted in our home while having nothing to do with its weight. For all I knew, I had had many enemies like my father before me, but none had dared to come close to our home, both during his time and during mine. None at all.As much as I tried to keep myself in control, my heart kept on racing, the adrenaline rush that had come from tearing through the bedroom like a psychopath while searching for whatever clues that could have been left still in my veins. From where Eleanor stood by her dresser, her fingers dancing around the edge of the drawer she'd just opened, I could see that her face was pale but had somehow managed to be serene. Too serene, maybe. I could see the questions churning in her eyes, which I guessed were the same ones bubbling in my own. Someone had lured her out of the house, while making

DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The silence of those three months was a cage, and I was the animal pacing around in it. I found how much of nothing that happened amazing. There were no new messages. No suspicious characters to be seen lurking around on my high-end cameras. No new bits of news from Vincent's spy circle. The fake number never messaged again and rather remained a phantom, assigned to a burner phone that might have been turned to ash. The stillness made me believe that my empire-a legacy formed from decades of Black and Blackwood family heirlooms while being built upon blood, toil, and bargains that made lesser men tremble-was intact, but there remained at the same time the cold press of an intangible knife against my throat. Still, I prepared and waited to see what would happen, refusing to let down my guard. I had never been a man to sit idly while waiting. I was Damian Blackwood, and I suffocated threats before they dared to inhale.Eleanor, my wife, was a ghost in those three mo

VINCENT MOREAU "I followed her," I told him, my tone even. "She has been dating him for some time now, and he does not live in this town, which is logical because everyone in Vieuti is scared enough of you to mess with your wife. I found that they would always meet in the same place... in his house, at the same time... in your absence. I crept in close enough to get the photos, and I had my spy steal the panty... it's a simple house belonging to a poor man after all, and bring it back to you so you would make sure it was her. You know I don't play for errors."He snorted, but it was not a sound of disbelief, but of revulsion. "Weeks," he growled, to himself rather than to me. "And I didn't know about it.""You weren't supposed to," I shrugged, almost amused. "She was careful enough to make sure it was with someone outside Vieuti. But not careful enough to escape my watch."He fell into silence, looking at the pictures again and silently slipping them through his hands. I could almos

DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The pictures burned at me every time I saw them after Vincent first handed them to me.For days after that, I would lock myself in, and stare at them for hours on end. Then I would go out and stare at the woman outside, the one that was my wife. I found it difficult to reconcile the images with the woman outside, and continued to wonder why exactly she would dare to do such a thing to me. What had given her the nerve? Who was the man even?I slowly descended into madness, and if she noticed it, she gave no indication. She continued to be the perfect wife, a good one too, and watching her do this annoyed me even more. I would sit up and stare at her sleeping form, grappling with the idea of strangling her or simply shooting her dead. But I couldn't. I, a man who had killed many others, could not do away with Eleanor Blackwood.That was when I decided that I wanted to humiliate her. The ideas came quickly, and I could see it happening in my mind's eye. I would show ev

ELEANOR SINCLAIR I was pushing my way through the crowd.As ever, I was proud of Damian, the man who had built this empire, and chosen me to have it to share with him. Tonight would be more than just our anniversary, a celebration of our life together, but the atmosphere was charged, charged with something indeterminate. I sensed it in the way Damian's eyes dodged mine as they had for three months, in the tightness of his jaw as he navigated the crowd of guests. Something was amiss, but I had no idea what.Then he drew the attention of all, his voice cutting through the noise like a knife. The room was quiet, and he began to speak."Eleanor. My wife. My friend. The woman who promised to stand with me."My eyes widened at his tone."But what is loyalty if it is based on deception?"I felt it was strange, an uneasy turn of events. It caused me to question him about what he was doing, tugging on his arm to present my inquiry. There could have only been small that would be more perplexin