Healing The Devil I Once Loved のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 41 - チャプター 50

RENZO My fist connected again.The man didn’t even try to block it this time. Blood sprayed sideways, dark and wet, hitting the concrete floor and the lower leg of a crate stacked with rifles.The sound echoed through the warehouse—meat on bone…“You failed your fucking job!” I roared.The man cried out, hands coming up too late. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him back against a metal table. The tools rattled and a box tipped and spilled screws across the floor like rain.“I gave you one task,” I continued, breathing hard, yet my voice was calm in a way that had everyone watching grimace. “One. You were supposed to watch her. Watch.”“I did—” the man tried.I punched him again.This time the man dropped.Two guards stepped forward instinctively, then froze. No one was allowed to interfere unless ordered to do so. That rule had been learned the hard way.I stood over him, my chest rising and falling, knuckles split, and blood smeared across my hands. My jaw was clenched so ti

RENZODinner felt like a punishment.Not because of the food or because of the people, but because of the intention behind it.My mother never invited you to eat unless she wanted something or unless she wanted to remind you who she was.The dining room was obscene in its elegance. We had a long table—dark polished wood that reflected the chandelier above like a second, distorted ceiling, candles placed with OCD supervision… white gloves, and too much space for a family that never really ate together.I sat stiffly, already annoyed.Elix was seated to my right.Happily.That was the problem.She wore cream tonight with her hair pinned just enough to look effortless. She smiled like she belonged here, like she hadn’t spent years clawing her way into this house, into this name, and into my mother’s reluctant tolerance.I shook my head. Across from us, Richard sat at the head of the table, already eating like tomorrow didn’t exist. Jesus… look at his fork move so fast. He chewed on wit

RENZO Grace remained seated where I had left her, positioned squarely in the center of the chair as though she feared shifting even an inch might provoke something worse.That was my anger.Yes, she was right to be afraid.The warehouse was quiet except for the faint hum of the overhead lights which washed everything in a pale glow. She kept her eyes down and sweaty hands folded tightly in her lap while she waited for my judgment.I moved around her, slow enough to keep her wondering, and fast enough to make her restless. Suddenly, I stopped behind her.“So,” I said. “What happened?”Her shoulders tightened immediately.“You told me you called a number your uncle said was linked to an old address tied to Zaria,” I continued, my voice calm in a way that usually unsettled people more than shouting ever could. “You said it was handled. Now you’re standing here telling me what, exactly? That you lost it?”Grace swallowed hard. “Your uncle is an illegal hacker, no?”She nodded furiousl

RENZO Emilio’s warehouse did not announce itself.It never needed to.The place sat at the edge of the industrial district, all corrugated steel and reinforced concrete, guarded not by signs or cameras that could be seen easily, but by the suspicion that anyone who wandered too close without permission would not wander away again. I had been here before, more times than courtesy demanded, and fewer times than leverage allowed. All these times I was with my father and never alone.Asher pulled the Porsche to a stop just outside the main gate.He didn’t ask if we should wait.I stepped out first and boy… the effect was as I expected.Inside the warehouse, movement erupted. Men who had been lounging stiffened, heads snapping toward the entrance. Crates were shoved aside. Tables were overturned. Someone swore loudly in Spanish. Another voice barked orders that came out too fast, and far too late.Jesus. Just what were they hiding in there?As I welcomed myself in, I could see cocaine d

ZARIA “Okay. Just… say the words, Zaria. Whatever it is, I'll do it for you.”I was certain I heard Wang wrong.There was no other explanation for it, because Wang could not have said those words to me. Concern did not belong in his mouth. Those things had never stayed long enough in my life to feel real, and I was not about to let myself fall for it again.Who did he think he was?I chose to walk away. My hands were clenched so tightly at my sides that I didn't notice my nails biting into my palms. Every word he had said replayed in my head, distorted now by anger.Wang had no right.None.Men had always liked to pretend they cared when it suited them. They liked to lean in and say things that sounded like safety and concern, only to disappear the moment those words required action. I had watched it happen to my mother. I had lived it myself. I had trusted once and learned the hard way. Renzo had taught me that lesson better than anyone.I swallowed hard as his name surfaced uni