All Chapters of Crowned in Carnage: Chapter 51 - Chapter 56

Three months went by before Elena truly grasped what she had agreed to when she chose to keep Tommy alive and put him to work for them. Three months of careful intelligence sessions, with Marco drawing out information slowly while checking every detail through outside sources. Three months of Tommy sitting in that secure building, giving names, strategies, and weaknesses inside Petrov’s network with the depth that only came from spending twenty years on the inside.The results were clear, even if the process drained everyone involved. They found and removed four more of Petrov’s operatives in New York. They shut down two intelligence operations that had been running quietly for years. Most importantly, they began to understand how Petrov thought. They were no longer only reacting to his moves. They were starting to predict them.Isabella turned six months old on a Tuesday in early spring. It felt impossible and natural at the same time, the strange way time moved when you had a baby.

The two weeks before deployment had a strange feeling. Time seemed to move too quickly and too slowly at the same moment. The days went by fast, but each hour felt long, and Elena kept checking her watch because it felt like more time had passed than actually had. She continued her normal routines with Isabella, feeding her, playing with her, and handling the small daily problems that came with caring for a baby. Beneath all of it was the steady awareness that she had approved something that could end in disaster.Every few days Marco brought updates about the team’s preparation. He never shared names because security rules meant she did not need to know who was going. What she did know was that they were experienced, that they had worked in dangerous places before, and that they fully understood the risks.“Everyone can still back out before they board their flights,” Marco told her during one update. “Up to that point, they can walk away without consequences. Once they leave, they a

Six months passed before Elena truly understood what they had achieved by removing Petrov in Moscow. During those months, Tommy worked closely with Marco to slowly take apart what remained of the Russian intelligence network in New York. At the same time, Elena watched their organization grow steadier, becoming more stable than it had been at any point since her father’s death.Isabella turned one on a Sunday in late spring. They held a small celebration in the estate gardens with only family and close friends. Most of the cake was really for the adults, since Isabella cared more about smearing frosting everywhere than actually eating it. Elena stood a little apart and watched her daughter, covered in chocolate and laughing at something Damien was doing. A quiet feeling settled inside her chest. It might have been happiness, or maybe just the absence of immediate danger.“She’s beautiful,” her mother said, stepping beside Elena with a glass of champagne. “And you look happy. I wasn’t