Semua Bab Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire: Bab 151 - Bab 157

The name lingered in the air long after Elian’s voice faded from the comms.Valeria.Lucien didn’t move. His knuckles whitened around the edge of the map table, eyes fixed on the flickering satellite overlay of the Citadel. Behind him, the others stood in silence, the same disbelief echoing between them all.Seraphina stepped closer, the wind catching her hair as it drifted through the open hatch of the transport. Her gaze never left Lucien.“They named her after your mother,” she said softly.“She’s not my mother,” Lucien replied, voice low. “She’s not even Valeria.”“Maybe not,” Vincenzo muttered, arms crossed. “But someone wanted you to hear that name again for a reason.”Matteo stood over the encrypted file, the remnants of Allegra’s last transmission still loaded on the monitor. He adjusted his glasses and looked toward the others.“There’s no mistake. The file names, the comm logs, even some of the training reports refer to her only as Valeria. But there’s no record of a last na

The ash cloud from the Citadel fire still clung to the night sky when the first Interpol helicopters arrived. Their rotors sliced the silence above the mountains, casting long shadows across the scorched ruins. Among them, one chopper bore the seal of the agency’s international division, and inside sat Director François Duval, flanked by his elite team. His face was drawn, hardened by decades of hunting syndicates through paper trails and whispers.Below, the extraction team led by Elian ushered Lucien, Seraphina, Valeria, and the others to a secure perimeter near the evacuation outpost. Everyone bore the signs of war, scorched clothing, bruised skin, and exhaustion that clung to their bones.Duval stepped onto the field as Lucien approached. The two men exchanged a silent nod of recognition. They had never met face-to-face, but their names had passed through enough redacted reports to forge an unspoken understanding.“You have something for me,” Duval said.Lucien handed him the secu

The sharp clang of the gavel echoed through the grand courtroom, but Lucien Marchesi didn’t flinch. He sat still, his storm-colored eyes fixed on the far end of the polished bench, where a panel of international judges presided beneath the flag of Interpol. On either side of him sat Seraphina and Elian, the man who had become a cornerstone of justice in all their battles.This wasn’t a trial for one man. It was the reckoning of an empire.It had taken seventy-two hours for Interpol to move after the Romania operation. With the full evidence extracted from the Eden facility, and the coded dossiers that Matteo and Anton had decrypted, Interpol launched coordinated raids in thirty-seven countries. The arrests came fast and violent, diplomats, CEOs, military advisors, media moguls, even priests.The Codex had been everywhere. But now, they were in chains.As Lucien waited for the judges to review the final testimonies, he glanced sideways at Seraphina. Her chin was lifted, lips pressed to

The sun over Sicily warmed the golden stones of Palazzo Marchesi as if time itself bowed in quiet respect to the legacy it had witnessed.Laughter spilled through the open windows. Not the cautious kind it had once held during darker years, but the untamed laughter of children… of peace.Seraphina stood at the top of the garden steps, a soft smile playing on her lips. Her long hair was pinned up in an elegant twist, streaks of sunlight catching the fine lines at her temples. Motherhood, power, and love had all left their marks on her, and they were beautiful.Below her, five boys chased each other around the trimmed hedges, their shrieks echoing like music. And at the center of the chaos, little Valeria Marchesi, named after the grandmother she never met, stood with her hands on her hips, all of five years old and already giving orders.“Leo, you can’t take the last cannoli! Mamma says to share!”Leonardo, six, groaned and handed it over with theatrical drama. “She didn’t say I had to