BONUS CHAPTER 9: Q&A WITH THE DEAD

Section One: Lorenzo De Rossi – "Dead Men Answer No Questions… Except Today"A candlelit study in the afterlife. Leather chair. Glass of scotch. Shotgun leaning against the wall. Smoke curls from a cigar, even though there's no fire.Somehow, Lorenzo is still alive in posture—dead only in fact.A screen flickers to life. A voice off-screen says:“Lorenzo De Rossi, welcome to the Afterdeath Archive. You’ve been requested to answer fan questions from the world you left behind.”Lorenzo (smirking):I’m dead. I have no obligations. But fine. Let’s play.~~~~~Question 1: “Did you ever love Aria from the start, or was it just politics?”Lorenzo:From the start? No. From the war? Yes.She was fire walking on two legs. The kind of woman who could either kill you or crown you.At first, I was just trying not to bleed when she looked at me. But then she stayed. Even when she hated me.That’s how I knew it wasn’t just survival.It was love. Bruised, sharp-edged, hard-earned love.~~~~~Question

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BONUS CHAPTER 10: BEHIND THE GLASS ARIA’S CHILDHOOD

~ARIA~THE NIGHT SHE LEARNED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SILENCE AND DEATH~~~~~It started with glass.Thick. Reinforced. Almost unbreakable.Aria was six the first time she stood behind it, a one-way mirror, tall as the ceiling, sealed into the training hall her father used to test loyalty.The room on the other side was dim. Metallic. Smelled of oil and blood. Her small fingers pressed against the cold surface, leaving faint smudges. She didn’t know what she was watching yet. Only that Don Victor Valente had told her to stay quiet. "Watch and remember."She obeyed.Two men stood across from each other in the room. One wore a blindfold. The other held a knife. They said nothing. Didn’t move. For a long time.Then the order came: "Begin."It was over in twenty seconds.Steel flashed. The blindfolded man dropped to his knees. Then his chest. Then silence.Aria didn't cry.She didn't flinch.She asked: "Why was he blindfolded?"Her father’s voice, calm: "So he would only hear the footsteps

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BONUS CHAPTER 11: AUTHOR’S NOTE — THE FIRE THAT BUILT IT

~AUTHOR~To my dear readers, those who stayed until the end, and those who never wanted it to end:Thank you.~~~~~THE EASTER EGGS & ECHOESSome readers caught the quiet patterns. Others felt them without needing to name them.Like how Lorenzo’s arc ends not with vengeance, but silence.How Emilio never fully inherits his father’s name, but he protects the world his father helped destroy.How Aria is always both the blade and the balm. Queen and orphan. Firestarter and firefighter.And of course…“He didn’t die like a king. He ended like fire does, quiet, when the world no longer needed heat.”Those words came to me during a blackout. Literally. No power. Just me, a candle, and the hum of loss in the air.~~~~~WHY I WROTE THISBecause I was a little tired of mafia stories that glorified cruelty but skipped the cost.Because I wanted a heroine who was never just in love, never just cold, never just strong. I wanted someone who could burn a room down at noon and tuck a child in by mid

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Semua Bab Bound by Vows and Vendetta: Bab 141 - Bab 143

BONUS CHAPTER 9: Q&A WITH THE DEAD

BONUS CHAPTER 10: BEHIND THE GLASS ARIA’S CHILDHOOD

BONUS CHAPTER 11: AUTHOR’S NOTE — THE FIRE THAT BUILT IT