Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Father's Rival Is My Lover : Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

The moonlight shimmered against the snow-dusted rooftops of Montreux, Switzerland, as Grace and Aria stepped out of the black Rolls-Royce Phantom. The grand Château Lumière loomed ahead, a towering Gothic estate wrapped in vines and mystery.All around them, luxury cars lined the circular drive. Armed guards dressed in white tuxedos stood silently, like statues with eyes. Grace’s blood hummed beneath her skin, each breath tighter than the last. She adjusted her silver mask, the only thing shielding her identity tonight.Beside her, Aria looked deadly in her backless black gown, a raven-feathered mask obscuring half her face. If Grace was the storm, Aria was the blade in its eye.“This is insane,” Nathaniel muttered from behind them, adjusting the cuff of his midnight blue suit. “Masquerade or not, this is an elite meeting of criminals, tycoons, and people who make global wars look like business deals.”“We blend in,” Grace said. “We play their game. And we find out who sent that invit

The morning after Grace took her place on the Council, the halls of Château Lumière felt colder. Heavier. Every gaze she passed was a mask. Every smile, a knife hidden in velvet. She hadn’t even signed her first official document before the consequences of her decision started to unfold.Her phone buzzed. A single message appeared:"They know what you did. You’re being watched. A Friend."She didn’t flinch. She expected this. Power came with enemies, and Grace Ashford had just declared war on a legacy that was centuries old.But what she didn’t expect was the cost it would extract from the one man she couldn’t afford to lose.The Fallout with NathanielNathaniel hadn’t called. He hadn’t messaged. Not since he walked out the previous night after whispering, “If you become one of them… I won’t follow.”Grace’s heart cracked with every minute of his silence. She wasn’t sure if she’d lost him, or if he was simply giving her the space to destroy herself first.When she arrived at the estat

The morning after Nathaniel’s rescue was deceptively peaceful. The Ashford Estate bathed in golden sunlight, as if the storm from the night before had never happened. But Grace knew better.Peace was a mask.And masks never lasted long.She sat in her father’s study, now hers, flipping through a dossier that had arrived at dawn.A coded warning from a mole within the Council.The contents chilled her to her core.THE VERONA INITIATIVE: CODE BLACK.Grace leaned back, exhaling slowly. “So it’s true… They’re activating him.”Aria stood by the window, arms crossed. “It was only a matter of time.”Nathaniel entered just then, leaning slightly on a cane as he moved toward Grace. “I heard whispers. Something about ‘Verona’? What is it?”Grace closed the dossier and met his eyes. “Not what. Who.”The Council's Last WeaponThey called him Verona. No first name. No last. No nationality. No origin.A myth. A ghost.To Grace, he was more than that.He was her mother’s brother.Once a Council lege

The descent into Istanbul was quiet, the kind of quiet that hummed with unsaid things and sleepless thoughts. As the jet sliced through the golden dawn, the ancient city beneath them shimmered in anticipation. East met West here, a collision of history and rebellion, and now, it would become the battleground for something even bigger.Grace stood at the window, hand pressed against the glass, her thoughts miles away.A child.War.Nathaniel behind her, silent and protective.And somewhere in the shadowed corners of Europe, Verona.She turned to Nathaniel. “Once we touch down, there’s no turning back.”“There never was,” he replied, his eyes darker than usual. “This isn’t about survival anymore, Grace. It’s legacy. You, me, and what we’re building.”The Gathering StormThe safehouse in Istanbul wasn’t just a house. It was a fortress hidden behind a crumbling library facade in Beyoğlu, where ancient texts met encrypted tunnels.Within hours of arrival, allies started trickling in.Some

The cold silence that followed the gunfire was worse than the storm itself.Shards of glass sparkled across the floor like tiny daggers. The summit room had turned into a war zone, frozen mid-chaos. A chair was toppled. A silver pitcher bled water across the marble. Verona’s face was smeared with blood, but his eyes wild and furious, were locked on Grace.“I gave you everything,” he snarled, voice gravelled from rage. “And you turned it into a circus.”Grace stood tall, hair tousled, lips slightly parted. Blood dripped from a shallow cut along her arm, but she didn’t flinch. Her eyes, unblinking, remained fixed on him.“You didn’t give me anything,” she said coolly. “You stole everything.”Nathaniel held Verona in a chokehold, his arms corded with tension. “Give me one reason not to end you.”“Because if you kill me,” Verona gasped, “you’ll never find the rest of what Vincent left behind.”Everyone froze.Adrian, who had just disabled a final attacker at the window, turned sharply. “W