All Chapters of Velvet and vengeance: stripped by the enemy : Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

The Zurich JobJace’s POVYou know, coming here was definitely not a mistake. As a matter of fact, I can attest that this is the best mission of my life. The air around here is somewhat calm, but in that calmness lies secrecy, tension, and a danger that lurks like a shadow. It follows you. It never leaves you. The haunting sound of its approach sings constantly in my ear.We sat calmly in a hastily rented safe house. My eyes darted around the room. Lucian was across the room, his eyes fixed on the window. The moment I told him I was going, he was unwilling to let me go, but because he knew my mind was made, he decided to come along. He’s been of surprisingly good use here though.Matteo rushed into the room, his face frantic, clutching a laptop. He paused, quickly scanned the room, and rushed over. “I found something,” he panted. He found a small shell corporation of suspected syndicate operation. It was still heavily encoded, and he couldn't break it.That was my job. I quickly g

The Silent FeastJace's POV The air was bustling with activities. The tables were loaded with plates. Men chattered, and eyes rolled. In those hidden smiles were men burning with hunger for power and evil. It was written all over their faces, despite the fake smiles they all wore.Lucian, as a matter of fact, doesn't listen to my words. He only does the exact opposite. He hosted a very ostentatious dinner for the Vanguard, supposedly to show strength, but mainly because he hopes to find a member of the Winter Syndicate or whatever. That doesn't make sense, but it’s better to savor the moment than to be grumpy.I stared calmly as the men walked in. The dinner was extravagant. The chandeliers were made of gold, the crimson lights shone around, and the grand ballroom was cleanly lit. Soft music hummed in the background, and I nodded warmly.Rivals attended, of course. Some to reconcile, others to spy. I hope they don't plan to stage any shows, because today we’re ready for them. I have

Jace's POV Seraphina’s Return“Come on, Lucian, we can't go there... it's too dangerous,” I explained, my voice laced with anger in the middle of the night. He had brought up another silly idea to go rob a government warehouse simply because he got some info there was weapons there.But just then, the door flung open and I jerked sharply, my eyes focused on the door. Dimitri quickly threw the coffee cup and took cover while Lucian grabbed a gun quickly and cocked it.“Show yourself!” He sneered, his voice echoed across the room.And who walked in? Seraphina.I couldn’t believe it. We all thought she was gone. Like, really gone…forever. I had stopped looking for her a long time ago.But there she was. She was a complete mess. Not just tired but injured and dirty and smelly and yuck.Her clothes were torn to pieces and she was almost naked with a bleeding arm. She tried to take one more step and collapsed suddenly and my heart skipped a beat."Whoa, hey! Stop!" I didn’t even think abou

The Sicilian Inferno Jace's POVI must say, Palermo was a city of ghosts. The scent of fire hung still heavy in the air as we walked through the dirty roads of the city. The blast was heavy, very heavy and totally destroyed the framework of the entire city.The sun here was brutal, probably still angry about how lives were wasted like mere animals. The haunting scent of the widow's destruction crawled in the heart's of the people here. None of them mentioned that day, they had all ran to their houses and lived in fear. Our Vanguard buildings were unrecognizable, and the remaining bosses—old men whose loyalty was based entirely on fear instilled by Lucian and cheapprofit—were left scrambling and hiding.Dimitri and I moved through them like a pair of fearless dogs and his silence doing even more to intimidate them than any shout. They were shivering when we cornered them in a secure basement a few blocks from the wreckage.Somehow still tells me her informants are lurking around and

Ghost Markets Jace's POVTo be honest, the one person Lucian has been clamouring be killed was the one saving us now.Seraphina's intelligence, delivered via an encrypted satellite path was the most chilling thing we had encountered yet. She hadn't found a supply route or a bank account, she had found an ideology, the real brain behind The Widow’s belief in information as the ultimate weapon. She called them the “Ghost Markets” It was a united legion of black-market exchange hubs operating in the deepest layers of the global shadow economy, trading not in drugs or weapons, but in identity, information, and high-level assassinations. They were the clearing houses for the collapse of global order. Damn!Dimitri and I flew to a discreet location in Eastern Europe, a nameless city where the frame work was brutalized and destroyed and the secrets it held were plentiful. The specific market we targeted was rumored to be hosted in an abandoned subway station. And you can just imagine tha