Semua Bab NERO’S GAME: Bab 61 - Bab 70

CHAPTER 61: Lesser of two devilsThe security room was dim, the air faintly buzzing with the hum of machinery. Rows of monitors bathed the space in a cold blue glow. Nico sat stiffly in his chair, shoulders squared, eyes fixed on the screens. His jaw was locked, his expression unyielding. He hadn’t moved in what felt like hours, except to adjust the playback controls with practiced precision.His jaw was rigid, his expression sharper than usual, carrying the weight of Nero’s words from earlier. It had not stopped ringing in his head. The boss’s disappointment cut deeper than any blade, and Nico wasn’t about to let that stand.He was seething, and his anger was directed at none other than the dead guards who were lying in unmarked graves somewhere in the dirt. They had failed to follow a simple instruction. If they had not met their end at the hand of the boss, he would have sent them to the gates of hell himself.Just as expected, there was nothing in the surveillance tapes. It had be

CHAPTER 63: I'm in pieces alreadyIt had been five days since the death of Connor, and everywhere had been calm. It was not the comfortable kind of quietness. It was the type that mirrored being stuck in limbo. It was that kind of silence where you held your breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since then, Olivia’s tears had kept flowing till they finally ceased, leaving behind a feeling of gut wrenching bitterness, loss and a resignation to fate.The bedroom was silent except for the soft ticking of the golden grandfather clock in the corner. Its chime stretched the silence, pressing tautly against Olivia’s ears until it felt unbearable. Now, she sat on the cushioned window seat, knees drawn up beneath the folds of her silk robe, her forehead pressed against the cold glass. It had become her favourite spot in the room where Nero had been locking her in. At least, she could see a bit of the outside world. Even beyond the pane, the world looked blurred, indifferent.She hardly at

CHAPTER 65: Officially smoking“How?” Nero’s tone was almost idle. Only the pulse ticking in his jaw betrayed the coil inside him. “And why did we not know all these before now?” His voice raised some notes higher. “What the hell, Nico?!”Nico exhaled slightly. “Because the cut was downstream of the primary relay,” he said evenly. “It wouldn’t show on the main diagnostics. You have to look at sub-panel logs in the south crawl. And remember we have a rule: we don't look there unless something’s smoking.”The dark haired don straightened, his mouth curved, humorless. “Well, consider something officially smoking.”Nico didn’t flinch. “Already considered, don.”They turned back to the screen, watching the video replay again in a loop. They watched the door again; the blink, the brief dark, the return. There was no figure in that frame. But the timing aligned too neatly to ignore.“Who?”Nico cast him a brief tentative side glance, then turned his gaze back to the screen. “Possibly a wom

CHAPTER 67: After the toll, the games beginNico’s gaze quickly snapped to him, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Why? Surely you don't think she's the one?”Nero raised a brow. “You seem to respond rather well to that name very well today.”“I don't know what you’re talking about?”“I'm really glad that you have your little crush and all that. But this isn't the time for romantic gestures for your new girlfriend—”Nico boiled over with frustration. “She’s not my girlfriend. And I don't have a crush on her,” he said through clenched teeth. Nero could barely suppress his amusement at Nico’s reaction to his words. He threw back his head and laughed. At that moment, Nico really wished he could conk him in the head.“It's okay, Nico. You don't have to get your britches in a bunch.”“But, are you really suspecting Elena?” Nico asked again after Nero’s amusement had died down. “She was Roberto's wife. You know that she's very loyal to you.”Nero smiled wryly. “You know just as I do that loyalt

CHAPTER 69: A Russian messageOlivia sat stiffly at the dining table long after Nico had left. As ridiculous as it may sound, the chandelier’s golden light flickering across the polished silverware, made it glint like little blades, and it added to her unease. She tried to concentrate on the barely touched plate in front of her, but her stomach twisted too tightly to accept even the tiniest of bites.Nero who had been wearing that smirk that made her uncomfortable since Nico walked out, lounged back in his chair, calm as a king, sipping from his glass of orange juice as though the Russians had not just entered their lives like wolves at the gate. He seemed totally unperturbed. Tried as she may, Olivia could not bring herself to not worry about the potential danger. Her voice broke the silence, tentative, almost childlike. “Do you… do you really have to go?”Her words surprised even her. The moment they slipped past her lips, she wanted to take them back. But words were like bullets,