Semua Bab My Father's Rival Is My Lover : Bab 61 - Bab 70

The world began to stir.Not because of the rising sun or the hum of city traffic, but because of a single scheduled post.At exactly 8:00 AM, every major news outlet, financial blog, and independent whistleblower platform received the same encrypted file.Subject line: “The Blackthorne-Leclerc Empire: Truth Unsealed.”Sender: E.V.Within moments, the media exploded.Nova sat beside Liam in their private media room, watching live broadcasts roll across the screen.“we’re seeing hundreds of leaked documents implicating billionaire Cassian Blackthorne and former industrialist Hugo Leclerc in a network of corruption, off-shore laundering, and political manipulation”“Elira Vaughn, the heiress-turned-investigator, has come forward with a full report…”“multiple arrests already underway in Geneva and Abu Dhabi”Liam muted the volume.Cassia giggled from her playpen, oblivious to the storm her parents had helped unleash.Nova didn’t blink.“We just set fire to a kingdom,” she whispered.Lia

The private jet cut through the clouds like a secret no one was supposed to hear.Nova sat by the window, eyes unmoving, her thoughts far away from the Italian sky. Her fingers clutched a worn piece of paper, Hayes' message, hastily scribbled and scanned.“Cassian has involved Irena Volkov. He’s using your daughter as leverage.”She had read it ten times since takeoff, but the words still felt foreign. Cassian. Her father. Willing to use Cassia as a pawn.Beside her, Liam sat in stillness, his jaw set, his silence dangerous.He hadn’t spoken much since they left their villa in Venice, not after Nova showed him the message.When she finally turned to him, his hands were clasped together on his lap, but his knuckles were white.“He crossed the line,” Liam said without looking at her.Nova swallowed. “He erased the line.”“We should’ve killed him when we had the chance.”“We would’ve become him.”“Then maybe that’s what it takes.”She reached over and touched his hand.“No,” she said sof

The private jet touched down just after midnight, its sleek black frame a shadow against the Croatian sky.Nova waited on the runway.No guards. No Liam. No baby monitor in her hand.Just her and the wind.When the jet door opened and the stairs unfolded, the first thing Nova saw was a stiletto heel.Then the shimmer of a silk robe, red like blood, slit like sin.Tatiana Myelov stepped into the moonlight.She hadn’t aged a day.Which, knowing Tatiana, probably meant she’d killed Time and made it beg for mercy.“Darling,” Tatiana purred, sunglasses on despite the dark. “You look like war wrapped in regret.”Nova didn’t smile.“Did you bring the file?”Tatiana held up a slim black case.“I brought everything, darling. Bloodlines. Hidden children. Offshore trusts. The kind of secrets that make governments flinch.”Nova took the case, but her eyes never left the older woman’s face.“Why now?”Tatiana pulled off her glasses.Her eyes were emerald and ruthless.“Because you’re finally ready

Nova had always believed that darkness came with a warning.A shift in the wind. A crack in the silence. A scent like steel.But this one came in a dress.Red. Silk. High slit.It arrived at their door without a sound, a letter sealed with the Volkov crest.Delivered by no courier.No signature.Just words inked in perfect cursive:"The sins of our fathers are not buried. They bloom.Meet me in Vienna.One last time.Irena"Tatiana burned the envelope."We ignore it," she said flatly, watching the seal melt in the fire.Liam shook his head. "We can't. If she's reaching out, she's not desperate. She's baiting us."Nova said nothing.Not yet.Not until she stared at the flames long enough to realize:Irena wasn’t just calling her back.She was finishing what she'd started.That night, Nova lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Cassia slept in the cradle beside her, her small fingers twitching in dreams.Liam turned on his side. "Don’t go."Nova didn’t answer immediately."If I don’t," she

Rome was quieter after midnight.The kind of quiet that wrapped around your ribs and squeezed, reminding you that even the strongest hearts could ache in silence.Nova stood alone in Cassia’s nursery, watching her daughter sleep.Cassia’s tiny fingers twitched in her dreams, curled into fists, then opened like petals.Liam used to say she was born with fire in her bones.Tonight, Nova believed him.But she also believed the fire came at a cost.And she was ready to pay it.The pendant Adelaide had given her, her mother’s pendant, sat heavy against her skin.She hadn’t taken it off since the bridge.She traced the familiar design: a phoenix wrapped in vines, etched into gold. But now, she noticed something she never had before.Tiny letters carved beneath the feathers.Latin."In flamma veritas."In fire, there is truth.Nova sat down on the nursery floor and pulled out her mother’s old journals, the ones she had taken from the Volkov compound long ago but never dared open.Until now.