Semua Bab Shadows of the Vow: Bab 51 - Bab 60

Lorenzo's POV   Fifteen men didn’t make it back from Istanbul. Fifteen. Including my Nina. She doesn't deserve to die like that. None of them deserved death for real. Their names were carved into my memory like scars. And scars don’t fade around here. How do I take care of Nora, all by myself? What do I even tell her about her mother's whereabouts, to start with? I was lying on the metal-framed treatment table when the number, ‘FIFTEEN’ finally settled in my chest. I remembered my Pretty Nina's face too. But I swore not to cry. Men like me have outgrown crying. The room smelled of antiseptic and burnt skin. My shirt was gone. My side was torn open and stitched badly, and every time the medic pressed too hard, white fire shot down my ribs. “Careful,” he muttered. I

Annabelle’s POVThe night was quiet, the faint hum of the city outside barely reaching through the thick walls of the room. I was standing near the bed, halfway into my nightwear… The silky sea-green blouse slipped over my shoulders, soft against my skin. I paused, adjusting the fabric as I heard footsteps in the hallway.Curiosity pulled me toward the door, which was wide open. I glanced out, my breath catching cold in my throat.There was Antonioni.He was standing just outside the door, and then… suddenly… his hand was on Clara’s throat.My eyes widened in shock.Clara's face twisted with surprise and pain, her hands trembling as she tried to push him away. But Antonioni’s grip was ironclad, his voice low and fierce, “Don’t you ever try this again in this life. I won’t hesitate to burn you. I’m not your little boy. Do you understand?”She flinched, her fingers resting atop his hand, trying to soothe the sudden pain. No words followed; she just backed away, running off into the sha

Annabelle's POVThe next morning…I woke to the gentle warmth of a sunbeam creeping through the blinds, streaking golden across the wooden floor, and then spilling softly across the bed, across me. Its rays landed on my face like tiny fingers caressing my cheek. I didn’t need to move. I was already smiling.He lay beside me.Antonioni.He looked so handsome. Like a man on a honeymoon. This was the first time he's woken up beside me in almost one month now.His chest rose and fell rhythmically. The faintest furrow still haunted his brow even in sleep. But there he was… close. Tangibly close. No longer the elusive, unpredictable shadow king I had known when I first arrived.I studied the line of his jaw, the way the sun brushed his cheekbones, and the scar just beneath his left ear I’d never noticed before. He looked younger in sleep, almost boyish. I could almost believe he wasn’t the same man who once made me feel like a captured thing in a gilded cage.And yet… things had changed.L

Nobody's POV In the evening, the courtyard was full.It had been swept, lined, and locked down. No one left their quarters. No one dared look away. Marina Park’s entire population, from the elite handlers to the youngest kitchen girl of each mansion, stood in fixed rows under the failing sun.At the center, three wooden poles had been erected like pillars of shame.Iron hooks, chain cuffs, and metal rods still glowing with the fire that forged them.Antonioni didn’t just promise a spectacle.He promised pain.And he kept his promises.Behind him stood Matteo, Bukky, Diego, and Milo. Each carved from stone, each in its place. But even stone cracks under fire.Matteo’s eyes didn’t leave the flames, but his jaw ticked, his shoulders stiff with something unspoken. Loyalty, yes, but also calculation. Like a general watching a lesson unfold.Diego stood a little forward, his hands clasped behind his back, eyes cold. This was his art. His assignment. He didn’t smile, but his stillness screa

Antonioni's POV   The courtyard was thick with smoke and the stench of burning flesh. The last dome guard was writhing on the poles, flames licking his skin, screams piercing the heavy air. I stood halfway through the execution, watching, my mind partly elsewhere. Then Patty Mama came running toward me as I stepped inside the dome, her face tight with worry. “Antonioni! I’ve been calling you. Annabelle fainted.” My heart skipped… not a rhythm I was used to breaking. I’m not a man given to panic or anxiety, but hearing that it was Annabelle, it struck differently. I swallowed hard and moved fast, the heavy clang of the courtyard fading behind me. Inside, I found her limp and pale. Without hesitation, I called for the medics. “She’s fainted from what she saw,” Patty Mama said, voice low but urgent. What did she see? I also didn't know P. Mama