Semua Bab The Ruthless Elite : Bab 11 - Bab 20

Smoke curled through the shattered corridors of Ashridge’s eastern wing, laced with the sharp tang of burning metal and scorched data cores. The alarms had long since faded into a low, pulsing hum that echoed like a heartbeat through the smoldering ruins. Damien Voss led the way, every inch of his body tensed like a coiled wire ready to snap. Behind him, Layla and Lucien dragged Julian between them, his blood soaking through the remnants of his tactical vest. Celine stayed close, one hand clenched over the black box drive Damien had thrust into her care moments before the detonation.They had barely escaped the data vault.Aria was still inside.Damien’s mind raced as he navigated the collapsing infrastructure. The AI system had activated a lockdown protocol, triggered not by the Black King but by Aria herself. She had sealed them out to seal herself in. And the voice—that chilling whisper that said, "You’re too late"—still clung to the edges of his mind l

The wind howled through the forest, bending the trees like fragile reeds, as the storm outside raged on. Inside the Voss estate, there was a tense stillness, a growing sense of inevitability. The betrayal, the secrets, and the truths that had been buried for far too long were rising to the surface, threatening to tear apart everything that had once been.Aria stood at the window, her gaze fixed on the red moon hanging low in the sky. It was the same moon that had loomed over her family’s death. The same one her mother had spoken of in whispered, urgent warnings before she was silenced forever. Now, it felt like the harbinger of a reckoning.The weight of what she had learned in the hidden chamber beneath the estate pressed down on her chest. Cassian Voss—Damien’s father—had been the architect of the destruction of her family. He had ordered the fire, the slaughter, and the bloodshed that had left her an orphan. Her mother had tried to stop it, had tried to destroy the Crimson Circle f

The city didn't sleep that night.Storm clouds crawled across the obsidian sky as Aria Vale stood at the top of Voss Industries’ skyscraper, the cold wind tugging at her coat. Below her, the world glittered with artificial light and buried secrets. But it was the rooftop garden behind her that felt more dangerous than any enemy lurking in the shadows.“You shouldn’t be here alone,” came a voice—calm, deep, and unmistakably Damien Voss.She didn’t turn to face him. “Funny. That’s exactly what I told myself before coming.”He stepped closer, the sound of his shoes muffled by the wet stone beneath. “Then why are you here?”“Because the pieces aren’t fitting,” Aria replied. “And when things stop making sense, I find the highest point and ask myself why I’m still playing the game.”Damien was silent for a moment, his gaze unreadable. “You think I’m the one moving the pieces?”“I think you’re one of the only people who know who is.”Lightning flashed in the distance, briefly illuminating th

The night was unusually quiet, a deceptive calm cloaking the chaos that brewed beneath the surface. Aria Vale stood atop the east tower of Voss Manor, her gaze fixed on the sprawling city below. The wind tugged at her coat, but she didn’t flinch. The reflection of a hundred secrets shimmered in her eyes. Somewhere in that darkness, someone was pulling strings, and she had just begun to feel the tug of their manipulation.Behind her, the heavy door creaked open. Damien Voss entered, his presence cold and commanding as always. His sharp jaw clenched as he stepped beside her, his eyes flickering between her and the distant skyline."I thought I told you to wait downstairs," he said, voice low and tight.Aria didn’t turn. "And I thought we were past pretending I follow orders."Damien sighed, brushing a hand through his dark hair. "The Council met tonight. They’re questioning my loyalty—again."She finally turned to face him. "Because of me?""Because of what we’re uncovering. The Blood E

The morning broke with a silence too sharp to be peaceful. Aria Vale stood at the edge of the Ravenshadow Estate’s northern balcony, wrapped in a silk robe embroidered with serpentine gold. The light kissed her face, but it did not reach her eyes. Something had shifted in the air—a restlessness. A premonition.Damien Voss had left before dawn. No note. No explanation. Just his lingering scent in the hallway and a cryptic voicemail on Aria’s secure line: "Don’t trust anyone. Not even me."In the twenty-three years of her life, Aria had known betrayal, but not like this. The walls of her empire, fortified by blood and precision, now echoed with whispers that slipped through cracks she hadn’t known existed. She clenched the railing, watching the mist thicken around the lower gardens. Somewhere beneath that haze, war was fermenting. It had already begun.In the undercity of Veridion, Damien moved like a shadow through the tunnelled ruins of what was once a stronghold of The Obsidian Circl