หน้าหลัก / Mafia / Blood Vengeance; a mafia romance story / บทที่ 71 - บทที่ 77

บททั้งหมดของ Blood Vengeance; a mafia romance story: บทที่ 71 - บทที่ 77

Chapter Seventy-One

Lucien's POVShe stands in my office doorway at nine fifteen with her notebook and says: "There's a Klimt exhibition at the Neue Galerie tonight. I'd like to go. I'll take Marcus."She waits, and I look at her.She looks back steady and unwavering. My thoughts travel to the Whitmore dinner and how the conversation between her and Whitmore ran long that day. "I'll come," I say.Something moves across her face. Brief. "You don't have to—""I know," I say.She holds my gaze for a moment. "Seven o'clock," she says and goes back to her desk.I spend the day trying not to think of why I offered to go. It's security. Elevated protocol. She shouldn't be going anywhere without—She offered to take Marcus, and I told her I'd come.***The Neue Galerie has an understated entrance, quality light inside, and the hush of a building that has been holding valuable things for long enough that it's developed its own atmosphere around them.She walks in beside me and something happens to her face. Her f

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-08

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Chapter Seventy-Two

Zolandria's POVWhy did he really follow me to the exhibition? This question stays on my mind throughout the whole night. I get up at six, make coffee, and stand at my room window and watch New York. It’s been more than a couple of months now, and I can’t believe I feel at ease here when I was literally kidnapped and brought here. Those first few months were a nightmare, but now…it feels a bit homier than my actual home ever was. I drink my coffee, get dressed, and go to work. He's already in when I arrive, his lamp on, door ajar. I make his coffee, bring it in, and he looks up when I set it down, gives me a brief look and mutters thank you before returning his gaze to his screen. Normal.None of us ready to talk about last night even though my question still sits unanswered between us. I go back to my desk, open my task list, and get back to work. At around 10:47 am the emergency line rings after I’ve only heard it ring twice since I’ve been here, and it was for drills on bot

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-09

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Chapter Seventy-Three

Zolandria's POVThe domestic records section is not what I expected.I don't know what I expected, but maybe something warm, something human, a life lived rather than documented. This is documentation.Clinical, precise, language of intelligence records — dates, locations, transactions, names. In-depth files of Edgard Azaeres's domestic arrangements, his family history, his household movements across three decades, assembled by a man who has been watching for twenty-three years. He’s only shown me parts the last time, but now, I get to read it all. The early entries are about Edgard before my mother. Business records mostly — the origin story of a man who built something monstrous one careful step at a time. I know most of this from the months of route-flagging and supplier cross-referencing. Then, in 1996, Katherine appears (but her name isn’t Katherine in here because Lucien didn’t know too). Marriage record, private, a ceremony that didn't make society pages. And then the years

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-10

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Chapter Seventy-Four

Lucien's POVI stand at the window for a while before I pick up my phone and call Mikhail first. “Find and book a coastal property within two hours of the city. Should be private, secured, and available immediately.” “Okay, give me a couple of minutes.”I hang up. A few minutes later, my phone pings with the address from him. Then I call Marcus and give him the address and the security arrangement. Two men stationed at the property, two more for the perimeter. “Don't take her to the city address,” I say. “Take her here.”“She's going to have questions,” Marcus says.“Tell her to relax.”Then I call Raven's number. She picks up on the second ring.“Mr. Dravik,” she says, wariness laced in her voice. ““There's a car coming for you in thirty minutes,” I say. “Pack enough for three days.”Silence.“Is she alright?” she asks. “She's alright,” I say. “She needs time away from here, and I thought you should be a part of that.”Another silence, longer this time, then. “Okay.”“Don't tel

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-13

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Chapter Seventy-Five

Zolandria's POVThree days at the beach house, and it’s been one of the best times in my life. Three days of the sea’s breeze, of Raven making tea at seven am and bringing it to the porch without asking, of long conversations that cover almost everything. Three days of just being Zoe—not Azaeres's daughter, not Lucien’s PA, just me. I needed it more than I knew.Monday afternoon, we finally pack up, ready to leave.Raven hugs me at the car, fiercely, like she didn’t want to depart from me. "Call me," she says. "Actually call. Not the building line.""I will," I say."And Zoe." She pulls back. Looks at me. "Whatever you're figuring out with him — figure it out. Don't let it sit unfinished."I look at her. "I know," I say."I know you know," she says. "I'm saying it anyway."She lets me go, and the car pulls away.I watch her in the rear window until the driveway curves, and she disappears.One moment salt air and open quality of somewhere without buildings and then the next moment, I

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-15

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Chapter Seventy-Six

Zolandria's POVThe first thing that hits me is the smell; damp, concrete, like a closed space that doesn’t get light or air regularly. Then, I feel a dull pain at the back of my head where I was hit. I try to move my hands before I fully open my eyes, but I can’t. Only to open my eyes and see that they are bound behind me, with something that feels like zip ties. My ankles too, and something across my mouth, a tape. I try to let my eyes adjust to the room, but it’s dark, with just a source of light somewhere above and behind me. A single bulb enough to make me make out where I am, without giving anything away. Concrete floor, concrete walls, and the ceiling above me is low enough that I can make out the surface—a basement. I'm on the floor, not tied to anything, just bound, which means I can move if I need to. I'm on my side, which means whoever put me here positioned me carefully enough not to leave me face down, and that could only mean one thing, they need me alive. I breath

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-16

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Chapter Seventy-Seven

Lucien's POVAt three forty-seven pm, my phone rings. "She's not in the bathroom," Marcus says.I go very still."How long?" I ask."She went in at two oh five. It's now three forty-seven." He pauses, like he already knows what’s happened. "I waited until I was certain. The restaurant manager checked the bathroom personally, and she's not there. The back exit was unlocked from the inside."The back exit. Someone who knew the restaurant and had been in there before us or later. But this is planned. "Damien Castello," I say."Still at the table," Marcus says. "He doesn't know. He's been asking the waiter every twenty minutes."I think about it for a couple of seconds. "Bring him in," I say. "Not to the building. Somewhere quiet. I want to talk to him.""And the restaurant?""Lock it down. Nobody leaves until my people have spoken to every person on the floor." I'm already standing, and moving. "The kitchen staff, the bar, the people who were there when she arrived. Someone saw somethin

ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-08-16

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