The Black Rose의 모든 챕터: 챕터 111 - 챕터 120

"Yeah. Dear old dad wanted his kid dead. Hired the organization to make it happen quietly." Silas pulled off his gloves, his scarred knuckles red from cold. "I tracked Lorenzo for three weeks. Got close enough to do it maybe six times.""But you didn't." It wasn't a question."No. Because Lorenzo figured out someone was following him. Cornered me in an alley with a gun to my head and made me a better offer." Something softened in Silas's expression, just slightly. "Said he'd pay me double what his father offered if I helped him fake his death instead. Gave me a way out of the organization. A family that didn't see me as expendable.""So you took it.""I was sixteen and exhausted from killing for people who'd throw me away the second I wasn't useful anymore." He met my eyes. "Lorenzo offered me something different. Something better. So yeah, I took it."The pieces were falling into place now. The bond between them that went deeper than friendship. The way they moved around each other l

NOIRFour days since I'd brought back supplies, and something in Ellie had changed.The others hadn't noticed. Silas was too busy making jokes to cover his own fear of being hunted. Lorenzo was buried in his work, trying to orchestrate solutions from this remote corner of the world. They saw what they wanted to see—Ellie coping, Ellie adapting, Ellie being strong.But I saw the truth.The light in her eyes had dimmed. Not extinguished, but muted, like someone had turned down the brightness and she was trying desperately to pretend otherwise. She carried herself differently too. Shoulders pulled back too far, spine too straight. The posture of someone holding themselves together through sheer force of will.She was drowning and pretending to swim.It was late now. Silas had gone to bed an hour ago, his bruised ribs still bothering him enough that he needed the rest. Lorenzo was in the study, hunched over his laptop, running traces on financial movements that might lead us to Elijah's l

ELLIEMorning light streamed through the massive windows, warm light came with it beautiful, almost peaceful. I woke up warm, sandwiched between Silas's chest at my back and Noir's arm draped across my waist from where he'd somehow ended up on my other side during the night. Lorenzo was already awake, sitting on the edge of the bed pulling on a shirt, his dark hair still messed from sleep."Morning," I mumbled, my voice rough.Lorenzo glanced back, his lips quirking in what might have been a smile. "Morning. Coffee?""Please."Silas groaned behind me, his arm tightening around my waist. "Too early for consciousness.""It's almost ten," Lorenzo said, standing and stretching. The movement pulled his shirt up, revealing a strip of tanned skin and muscle that made my mouth go dry despite just waking up."Exactly. Too early." But Silas was already shifting, pressing a kiss to my shoulder before rolling out of bed with exaggerated dramatics.Noir's eyes opened, green and silver finding mine

SILASThe drive back to the cottage was silent except for the sound of tires on packed snow and Lorenzo's ragged breathing from the passenger seat.I kept my hands on the wheel, knuckles white, jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached. Noir sat in the back, his mismatched eyes staring out the window at nothing, his long hair falling forward to hide whatever expression was on his face.Lorenzo had blood crusted in his hair from where they'd knocked him out. His hands kept flexing and releasing on his thighs, the movement compulsive, like he was trying to grip something that wasn't there anymore.We'd found him slumped over the steering wheel in the restaurant parking lot, the place completely empty, no sign of Ellie or Vittorio or anyone else. Just Lorenzo, unconscious and bleeding, and the absence of her hitting me like a freight train to the chest.She was gone.Ellie was gone, and none of us had been there to stop it.The cottage came into view through the trees, warm light glowing from

ELLIEThe gates were wrought iron, at least twelve feet tall, with security cameras mounted every few yards along the perimeter wall. The car rolled through smoothly, tires crunching on perfectly maintained gravel that must have cost a fortune to import and maintain in this humidity.Singapore's heat hit me the moment we'd stepped off the plane, thick and wet, clinging to my skin like a second layer I couldn't peel off. My father had immediately ushered me into an air-conditioned SUV with windows tinted so dark I could barely see out.Now, as we pulled up the circular driveway, I got my first look at where he'd been hiding for almost a decade. The mansion sprawled across what had to be several acres, all white stone and massive windows, modern architecture that screamed money in a way that made my stomach turn.Blood money. Palm trees lined the drive, their fronds rustling in the breeze I couldn't feel through the sealed car. Gardens stretched in every direction, manicured within an