All Chapters of The king of Ashes : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

(Isabella’s POV) He pulled back from our kiss, his forehead resting against mine, his breathing ragged. The blueprints of our war were scattered around us on the mahogany desk, a stark reminder of the world outside this room. But in here, there were no ghosts. There was only us. “You are a very beautiful woman, Isabella,” he whispered, his voice a raw, vulnerable thing I had rarely heard. “I wish I met you at a different time, under better circumstances.” “It’s fine, Alessandro,” I said, my hand coming up to cup his jaw, the slight rasp of his stubble a delicious friction against my palm. “At least we are together in this.” His answering smile was breathtaking, revealing the wonderful dimples I had grown to love so much. He ran his hand down my arm to my thigh, his touch leaving a trail of fire on my skin. He gently pushed my legs apart. “Keep them open for me,” he warned, his voice a low growl as he bit my earlobe gently. I couldn’t help the shudder that racked through me

(Alessandro’s POV) Confusion, a fleeting but deeply satisfying emotion, flickered across my brother’s face. He had built his entire strategy around a binary choice: his death, which would trigger the apocalypse of my empire, or my retreat, which would be his victory. The idea that I would choose a third path, one not accounted for in his meticulous, hateful calculations, had clearly not occurred to him. His smug smile faltered. “Take your life back?” Cassian scoffed, though the sound lacked its earlier conviction. “It’s a bit late for that, brother. My roots are in too deep. You can’t pull them out without killing the tree.” “That’s where you’re wrong,” I said, my voice a low, chillingly calm counterpoint to the silent hum of his stolen empire around us. “You think these screens, this data, this is power. It’s not, It’s a leash. And Vittorio Bianchi holds the other end.” I took another slow, deliberate step toward him. My men remained like statues, their weapons trained, their

Isabella’s POV) I woke to the soft, grey light of a Chicago morning filtering through the panoramic windows of Alessandro’s bedroom. For a long moment, I simply lay there, listening to the steady, rhythmic beat of his heart against my ear. He was still asleep, his arm a heavy, possessive weight around my waist, his face peaceful in a way I had rarely seen. The lines of stress and command that usually framed his features were smoothed away, leaving behind only the man, not the king. The events of the past forty-eight hours felt like a fever dream: the capture of Viktor, the infiltration of the ghost's lair, the final, stunning confrontation with Cassian. And in the middle of it all, the quiet, profound moments of connection with the man beside me. He had gone into the darkness to face his own reflection, and he had come back to me, not broken, but stronger. More whole. He had chosen a future with me over the simple, bloody satisfaction of vengeance. That choice was a more powerf

(Isabella’s POV) New York, The city was a glittering, beautiful beast, its canyons of glass and steel breathing a cold, impersonal energy that was a world away from the gritty, intimate familiarity of Chicago. I had once loved this city, had spent a blissful year here studying, but now it felt like enemy territory, every shadow a potential threat, every gleaming skyscraper a watchtower in Vittorio Bianchi’s kingdom. Our suite at The Pierre was an opulent fortress of silk and marble, overlooking Central Park. It was a perfectly crafted stage for our roles as Count Lorenzo and Countess Alessa Petrova. A team of stylists, all part of Anya’s network, had descended upon me the moment we arrived, their ministrations a quiet, focused ritual of transformation. But it was the final moments, after they had gone, that solidified the reality of our mission. Alessandro, breathtakingly handsome and dangerous in a tailored Brioni tuxedo, came to stand behind me as I sat at the vanity. He was

(Alessandro’s POV) The world outside the armored windows of the sedan became a blur of streaking neon and rain-slicked asphalt. The hushed elegance of the Met, the polite fiction of our cover, the psychological game of kings and queens—all of it was incinerated in the raw, primal urgency of the hunt. We were no longer guests in the lion’s den; we were prey, and the chase was on. “Lose them,” I commanded, my voice a low, cold thing that cut through the sudden tension in the car. My driver, a former Special Forces operator named Marcus, didn’t need to be told twice. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, his eyes darting between the road ahead and the rearview mirror. “They’re professionals, boss. Sticking to us like glue.” I looked at Isabella. She was pale, her hand pressed to her mouth, but her eyes were not wide with the fear of the chase. They were wide with the horror of what she had discovered in that gallery. Bianchi hadn’t just threatened her; he had ripped op