All Chapters of Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

The morning light settled gently across Seraphina’s courtyard, filtering through the olive trees and brushing the lavender blooms.To any visitor, it would seem a scene of pastoral calm. But to Seraphina, the day felt different.The air carried a charged tension, subtle and insistent—a heartbeat out of time. Her skin prickled despite the sunshine, and she paused at the door, Lucio’s tiny hand grasped in hers, sensing his quiet reflection of her own unease.Several months of living under the Marchesi walls and haunted memories had sharpened her instincts.She had learned, under Elian’s careful guidance, to listen to rumblings in her spine. And they were rumbling now.Without words, she guided Lucio inside, into the secure room she had prepared for him. He pressed against her, trusting, innocent, while her gaze remained focused on the front gate, half expecting it to open at any moment.Once Lucio was safely inside, Seraphina moved through the house with quiet precision—slipping outside

The morning air in the Tuscan villa felt deceptively calm, but Seraphina sensed otherwise. She was kneeling at sunrise, clearing fallen petals from the lavender beds, when she spotted the black SUVs. They rounded the bend with too much purpose. A dark figure slipped through the gate. Lucio’s laughter echoed just before the world shattered. Seraphina jumped to her feet, heart pounding.“Lucio!” she screamed, but her voice carried no weight.A masked man swept the child into his arms without a word. Seraphina lunged as if she could stop time itself. “No!” Her hands clawed the air, but the SUV doors slammed shut. The engines revved, and in seconds, the convoy sped off, kicking dust across the pale stone courtyard. Everything seemed to break inside her all at once.She crumpled to her knees, flattening the empty blanket in her grasp. Panic roared through her like wildfire. She pulled out her phone with trembling fingers, stabbed at the screen. My son’s taken—Tuscan villa. Please. Tears bl

Matteo had convinced Seraphina to accompany him to Palazzo Marchesi.He felt the danger acutely, as though he carried it in his bones. If news had reached Gabe Vale Sr. that Lucio was Lucien’s son, Seraphina would become prey once more.Lucien, Matteo suspected, already had their son—but Gabe Vale Sr. would stop at nothing.Seraphina paced the marble hallway, her posture taut like a wire stretched too close to breaking. At last, she stopped and faced Matteo.“Any updates about Lucio?” she asked, voice tight with anxiety.Matteo met her eyes evenly. “He is Lucien’s son, right?”She closed her mouth and nodded, silence confirming everything.“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Matteo’s words weren’t an accusation so much as a gentle demand.Tears stained Seraphina’s cheeks. She swallowed hard. “What I did to Lucien… it was unforgivable. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t contacted me.”She paused, voice barely a whisper. “I passed incriminating evidence on his operations to Interpol—I’m sorry, I

The night split open with the shriek of tires and the bark of engines. Matteo’s hands gripped the wheel with unnerving calm as the SUV surged forward, headlights cutting through the wet fog rising from the asphalt. Behind them, twin black vehicles swerved through traffic, relentless as vultures on a scent.Seraphina clutched Lucien’s blood-soaked shirt, her fingers trembling as she pressed against his chest, eyes flicking to his face, pale and unconscious. His dark lashes fluttered faintly, a small sign—one she clung to like prayer.“We’ve got two tails,” Anton said from the rear seat, peering through the shattered back window. “One at our six, the other flanking left.”Vincenzo had his Glock pressed to the edge of the window frame. “Gabe’s bastards came prepared,” he muttered, then shouted over the engine roar, “Matteo! You lose them yet?”“I’m just getting warmed up,” Matteo replied, voice calm but cold as a blade.With a twist of the wheel, he took a hard left, tires screaming agai

The heart monitor stuttered, then began beeping faster—more stable, more rhythmic. Seraphina’s head jerked up, eyes locking on the screen as hope bloomed like fire in her chest.He wasn’t out of the woods.But Lucien Marchesi was fighting.“Lucien…” she whispered, leaning forward to touch his hand. Still clammy. Still cold. But his fingers twitched beneath hers. That was enough.She glanced down at Lucio, small hands curled near his chin. Her throat tightened. She knew what had to come next, and it shattered something inside her.A few hours later, Detective Elian returned, dressed in civilian clothes, his badge stowed out of sight. He saw the look on Seraphina’s face before she spoke.“I need you to take Lucio,” she said quietly, lifting the sleeping boy into her arms. “Somewhere Gabe Vale Sr. won’t find him. Somewhere no one will.”Elian blinked. “You trust me with him?”“I trust you with my life,” she said. “And right now, he is my life.”Detective Elian nodded once. No need for ce