Semua Bab Chains of Fortune: Beneath the Blackwood Name : Bab 21 - Bab 30

The silence after a threat is worse than the threat itself.It seeps in. Sits with you. Soaks into your skin like poison-laced perfume.I didn’t sleep that night.I curled up in Lucien’s office with the velvet blanket around my shoulders, the revolver still resting in my lap, my fingers locked around its grip like a lifeline.Somewhere in this mansion, a ghost in human skin had spoken my name.Called me heir.Mocked my blood.And disappeared.By morning, the sun spilled through the high windows like golden betrayal. Everything looked the same, but nothing felt safe. Every creak, every rustle behind a door, made my heart skip.Lucien found me before eight.His tie was crooked. Eyes red. His darkness had frayed.He crouched beside me. “Ivy.”I didn’t move.“Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked, voice tight.“I didn’t want you to lie to me again.”He inhaled sharply. “You think I knew?”“I think you know more than you’ve told me. And someone just walked into our bedroom and left a whisper i

IvyThe letter trembled in Lucien’s hands like it weighed more than any blade.“He’s not your enemy. She is.”A single sentence. Written in precise, taunting script. No signature. No blood this time—just ink, and a deeper kind of poison.Lucien read it again. And again. Until I reached for it.“It’s bait,” I whispered. “He’s trying to turn you against me.”He didn’t answer.He just kept staring at the paper, as if the words were still rearranging themselves into something worse.“Lucien…”His eyes finally met mine. And I saw it—hesitation.Not doubt. Hesitation.He didn’t think I was the enemy.But he wasn’t sure I wasn’t, either.The silence between us on the drive back to Manhattan was thick enough to drown in.I watched the ocean blur past through the window, my reflection superimposed over crashing waves. I couldn’t tell if the pit in my stomach was fear, or something darker.Something like guilt.But guilt for what?I hadn’t done anything wrong.Had I?The necklace burned cold a

The silence after Lucien’s words stretched long enough to feel like a second betrayal.“That’s the real heir.”I stared at him, trying to decode every piece of the puzzle I thought I understood. My heartbeat was a whisper in a room full of detonated secrets.“I don’t understand,” I said finally, my voice sounding smaller than it ever had in his presence.Lucien didn’t sit. He stood at the edge of the desk like he needed the distance to breathe. “Reagan had a child in secret. A son. Born just after he was exiled. The plan was always to install him as the future of the Blackwood empire.”“Then who are you?”His eyes darkened. “Collateral.”The word hit harder than it should have.Lucien Blackwood—CEO, billionaire, monster in silk—looked at me like a boy caught in someone else’s prophecy.He continued. “My mother tried to protect me. She knew Reagan was building a dynasty through manipulation. He wanted an empire, and he needed someone malleable. Someone loyal to him. That baby… he

The morning air was too still.The kind of stillness that comes just before everything shatters.I stood in the marble-floored atrium of Blackwood Estate, barefoot, robe wrapped tight around me, staring at the grand clock that ticked too slowly. The seconds dripped like venom. I knew the hour. I knew what was coming.Lucien stepped in from the hallway. His shirt was black, open at the throat. His cuffs undone. His eyes already bruised by a war he hadn’t yet fought.“He’s making a move,” I said before he could speak.He nodded. “The Armitage Bank called. Three of our shell corporations were transferred under new ownership. Eryx is bleeding us out, piece by piece.”“And we’re bleeding quietly,” I murmured.“No,” Lucien said, voice like smoke. “We’re gathering fire.”He stepped closer, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Are you ready to play your move?”I looked up at him, the man I married not for love but for war, and somehow ended up craving both from. “Checkmate only matters wh

The ring burned in my palm.Not literally, but I felt the fire all the same. The gold band was cool against my skin, yet my chest flamed with heat—rage, grief, and a question that echoed like a gunshot through my mind.How did Eryx get my mother’s ring?It had vanished the night of the fire. The night Reagan’s lies began consuming the house from within. I’d mourned it like a piece of her soul—something irreplaceable and sacred.But now, it sat in my hand like a curse.Lucien stood over me. His eyes weren’t just cold—they were murderous.“He’s sending a message,” he said. “He knows you’ve crossed the line. And he’s letting you know he’s not finished.”I held the ring tighter until it bit into my fingers.“No,” I whispered. “He’s letting me know he never stopped.”We held another meeting that night.This time, there was no boardroom. No velvet chairs or champagne. Just the war table in Lucien’s private study—wood scarred by time, shadows draped across it like shrouds.Mira was alread