From Prison To Power: The Ex-Wife's Vengeance のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Chapter 22Valencia’s POVThe aftermath of the digital strike on Clara had left me with a jagged, restless energy that refused to settle. I had watched her empire fracture through a screen, watched lines of code become screams, but the victory tasted like ash, hollow, incomplete. A phantom triumph that only sharpened my hunger for something real, something physical. I needed to test the limits of this rebuilt body, this new skin stretched over old scars, before the opulent cage of Blackwood Manor swallowed me whole and the Empress suffocated before she could ever rise.The private training sanctum belonged to Silas alone. No cameras, no logs, no witnesses. At 0200 the air felt thicker here than in the main gym, cooler, heavier, laced with cedarwood, aged leather, gun oil, and the faint, primal musk of sweat-soaked exertion that never quite left the space. The lights were dimmed to a low amber glow, shadows pooling like spilled ink across the black mats."You're late," came the low r

Chapter 24Valencia’s POVThe aftermath of my "lesson" with Silas felt like a permanent fever. Every time the silk of my robe brushed against my shoulder, I felt the phantom sting of his teeth; every time I drew a breath, I tasted the lingering scent of smoke and storm. I stood before the floor-to-ceiling mirror in my suite, staring at the woman looking back.Isabella Rossi was a fading memory, a girl who had been broken by a husband's cruelty. Valencia Knox was a creature of sharp edges and cold intent, forged in the fires of Blackwood Manor."The delivery is ready, V."Jax’s voice came through the intercom, sounding hollow and strained. After his confrontation with Silas in the server room, he hadn't looked me in the eye. He stayed buried in his code, a silent sentinel watching my vitals, his jealousy a thick, invisible wall between us."Bring it up," I said.The door slid open, and a courier, one of Silas’s silent, gray-suited ghosts entered carrying a long, rectangular box of w

Chapter 26Valencia’s POVThe silence of Blackwood Manor after the canceled Gala was deafening. Silas had grounded me like a child, dismissed my resolve as fragility, and walked away with that maddening, untouchable composure. He thought he had broken my spirit tonight. He thought he had seen the fly tangle herself back into the web.He was wrong.I didn't go back to the gym. I didn't tear off the black gown. Instead, I let the rage simmer until it turned into something dark, refined, and predatory. If Silas wanted to teach me about domination, then he needed to learn that a weapon is only as sharp as the hand that holds it, and I was about to bite the hand that fed me.I found him in his private study at 0300. The room was bathed in the soft, flickering orange light of the fireplace and the clinical blue glow of his iPad. He was sitting in his high-backed leather chair, shirt sleeves rolled up, the top three buttons undone, exposing the hard planes of his chest and the faint trail

Chapter 28Silas’s POVThe ache in my groin was a dull, throbbing reminder of the checkmate she’d dealt me three hours ago. It pulsed with every heartbeat, a relentless drumbeat that echoed through my veins, refusing to fade. I had spent forty minutes under a spray of ice-cold water in the en-suite shower, the frigid needles biting into my skin, but they did nothing to extinguish the inferno Valencia Knox had ignited deep in my marrow. My study still smelled of her, that intoxicating pomegranate musk mingled with the faint whisper of expensive silk and every time I closed my eyes, I saw those violet contacts burning with a triumph that made me want to throttle her and worship her in the same ragged breath.I was no longer the master of this house. I was a man haunted by a ghost of my own making, a specter that wore her face and whispered promises of ruin and ecstasy.I moved from the study to my private quarters, a sprawling sanctuary of steel, glass, and shadows that spanned the en

Chapter 30Valencia’s POVThe basement of Blackwood Manor didn't feel like a cellar; it felt like the belly of a shark. The air was chilled to a precise sixty degrees to protect the server stacks, and the only light came from the neon glow of a dozen monitors reflecting off Jax’s glasses.I sat beside him, still clad in my black tactical gear, the weight of the 9mm on my thigh a grounding presence. Silas stood behind us, a silent, looming shadow with his arms crossed, watching the digital battlefield with the eyes of a general."He’s at the gala dinner," Jax murmured, his fingers dancing across a custom mechanical keyboard with a sound like rain on a tin roof. "Table four. He’s sitting right next to the Commissioner and the head of the Chamber of Commerce. He’s playing the philanthropist tonight. It’s disgusting."On my secondary screen, a grainy live feed from a hacked security camera in the ballroom of the Grand Excelsior showed Antonio. He looked radiant in a white tuxedo, laughin