All Chapters of A Deal with the Mafia Lord: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

When Aurora opened her eyes, the world had changed again.Interrupted like a scar, the sky she saw above her was not blue or gold anymore but a broken combination of both. On the one hand, the light was warm and constant, vibrant. On the other, it churned dark and violent, shot through with veins of red lightning.She lay on the cracked pavement of what had once been Times Square. Now, it was silent. Billboards hung in the air like ghosts, flickering between advertisements and symbols she couldn’t understand. The air buzzed faintly, alive with tension.Aurora pushed herself up, her body trembling. Her reflection in the glass window beside her made her flinch. Her eyes were glowing faint gold, and faint cracks ran along her skin, pulsing with light that moved like veins. The shard’s energy had fused with her completely.The ground rumbled.Far in the distance, two towers rose where the city once divided, one gleaming gold, perfect and controlled; the other dark steel, alive with flicke

The walls hummed like a heartbeat.Aurora pressed her ear against the golden surface, her pulse racing. The sound was faint but distinct—a pattern beneath the city’s steady rhythm. It wasn’t the hum of Julian’s power. It was something else. A message.Her breath hitched as she whispered, “Dave?”The wall vibrated, almost like a reply. Then, through the soft shimmer of gold, came his voice, distant and rough. “Aurora, can you hear me?”She swallowed hard. “Yes. Where are you?”His voice crackled, the connection unstable. “Below the city. The barrier is breaking. Whatever he’s done to the world, it’s not stable. He’s losing control.”Aurora closed her eyes, relief washing through her. He was alive. He hadn’t given up. “You have to help me get out of here. He’s keeping me in some kind of cell. I can’t see the outside anymore.”Dave’s voice steadied. “Listen carefully. The walls in his world are connected to the shard inside you. That’s why you can hear me. It’s how I found you.”Aurora’s

The world was quiet again.Julian awoke to the sound of rain. Soft, steady, real. For a long moment, he didn’t move. He lay on the cold floor, eyes open to a ceiling that wasn’t gold anymore but gray and cracked. The glow that once followed him was gone. His veins no longer shimmered. His body felt heavy, mortal.He sat up slowly. The world around him was broken but alive. The golden city had vanished, replaced by a ruin that looked too much like New York and too little like the dream he had built. The streets were cracked, the air thick with mist, but the sun was rising faintly beyond the horizon.He looked at his hands. No light. No hum. Just flesh and blood.Julian exhaled, the sound shaking. “Aurora,” he whispered.Her name broke the silence like a prayer.He stood, stumbling slightly as his legs adjusted to the weight of gravity again. The city stretched before him—half dead, half reborn. The perfect order he had forced on it was gone. People were moving through the streets, conf

The city didn’t sleep anymore. Nights had grown restless since the pulse began. New York’s streets throbbed with veins of gold that flickered like restless dreams, and people whispered that the city was haunted—not by ghosts, but by her. Aurora’s light had returned, and with it came something darker.Julian hadn’t slept in three days. The Blood Coin pulsed constantly now, each heartbeat louder than the last. He sat in his study, the skyline glowing faintly through the rain-streaked window. His reflection looked hollow—dark circles under his eyes, a wound on his cheek still healing from the explosion in the lab.He turned the coin over in his palm. It shimmered faintly, alive, breathing. “Talk to me,” he murmured. “If you’re still there, tell me what you want.”For a long moment, there was nothing. Then, the faintest whisper brushed against the air.“Julian…”His breath caught. “Aurora?”The voice was faint, almost lost between static and breath. “It’s not me… not all of me…”Julian sh

Aurora awoke again, and found no more light about her. She had felt the sun first, warm and true, not the golden light that had played in her dreams. Salt was in the air, and far in the distance were the crashing waves. She slowly opened her eyes and adapted to the light, and was lying on soft sand.For a moment, she thought she was still dreaming. The sky above her was a pale silver-blue, clouds curling like smoke. She turned her head and froze. Julian sat beside her, half-covered in sand, his shirt torn, his hands still faintly glowing beneath the skin.“Julian,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.He looked at her, and a weak smile tugged at his lips. “You’re awake.”Her breath caught. “We made it out?”He nodded, looking toward the horizon where strange silhouettes shimmered—what looked like towers of New York, but they glowed faintly gold. “I think so. But it’s not the same New York we left.”Aurora sat up slowly, her head pounding. The beach stretched endlessly, and behind them was