All Chapters of The Glass Rose : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Lucien’s POVI gripped the edge of the marble sink and stared at my reflection in the mirror while the steam from the hot water clouded the glass, and I hated the way my face looked because my skin was the color of old paper and my eyes were sunken into my skull from the fever and the constant running. My shoulder was a mess of jagged stitches and bruised skin that felt like it was on fire every time I breathed, and it frustrated me that my body was failing right when Alessia and Matteo needed me to be at my strongest because a shield is useless if it’s cracked and ready to break. I finished wrapping a fresh bandage around my torso and pulled on a thick wool sweater to hide the bulk of the gauze, and then I checked my handgun and tucked it into the small of my back while I tried to ignore the dizzy spell that made the bathroom floor tilt under my feet for a second. I walked out into the main suite and saw Alessia sitting at the desk with the laptop light reflecting in her tired eye

Lucien’s POVThe drive to the Geneva Mercantile Bank was done in a tense and heavy silence while the city lights blurred past the window, and I kept my hand on the handle of the door because I half-expected a black SUV to ram us at every intersection we crossed. We had left the hotel less than ten minutes after finding that glass rose on the doorstep and I could tell that Alessia was vibrating with a nervous energy that she was trying to hide from Matteo, but her knuckles were white where she gripped her purse and she kept checking the mirror to see if Elena’s people were already on our tail. Rafael pulled the car up to the curb a block away from the massive marble building that looked more like a tomb than a bank, and I took a deep breath and adjusted the collar of the expensive wool coat I had stolen from the hotel closet because I needed to look like a man who belonged in a place that handled billions of euros."Remember that you are the one in charge here and I am just your husb

Rafael’s POVThe sirens were already screaming from three different directions and the sound was bouncing off the tall glass buildings of the financial district as I stood in the middle of the bank lobby, and I could feel the cold sweat running down my back while I watched the red and blue lights flashing against the heavy marble pillars. I had my hand on the trigger for the building’s fire suppression system because I knew that as soon as the police breached the front doors we were all going to be pinned down with nowhere to go, and I looked toward the service elevator where I had just sent Alessia and Lucien with the bags of Enzo’s research. My phone buzzed in my pocket with a private message from a contact I hadn't spoken to since we left London and it was a simple string of coordinates and a warning that the Legacy Council was losing patience with my progress, and I felt a sharp pang of guilt in my chest because I knew that the Council didn't care about saving Matteo or helping

Lucien’s POVThe air in the back corner of the underground market was stale and cold and it carried the faint scent of wet concrete and ozone from the nearby server racks, and I stood by a rusted metal pillar while I watched Silas adjust his cuffs with a calm that made me want to break his jaw. I knew that Alessia was positioned about fifty yards away on a raised walkway with a rifle she had managed to take off one of the market guards when he wasn't looking, and even though I couldn't see her in the shadows I could feel the steady presence of her gaze through the scope which was the only thing keeping me from losing my temper entirely. Silas leaned back against a crate of illegal electronics and pulled out a small tablet that showed a live feed of the Valenti estate back in Italy, and he looked at me with a smirk that told me he was enjoying the fact that my world was currently falling apart in front of my eyes."You should really check the news on the internal Syndicate channels,

Lucien’s POVThe refrigerated truck finally came to a complete stop in a quiet wooded area just outside of Lake Como and the driver opened the doors to let the warm Italian air rush in, and the sensation of the sun hitting my face was almost overwhelming after the hours we spent hiding in the dark among the frozen meat. I tried to step out of the trailer but my legs felt like they were made of lead and my vision swam with little spots of light because the infection in my shoulder had finally taken hold, yet I managed to stumble onto the grass while Alessia and Matteo climbed down behind me. The scenery around us was breathtaking with the blue water of the lake sparkling in the distance and the mountains rising up like green walls against the clear sky, and it felt completely wrong that such a beautiful place was the headquarters for the people who were trying to destroy us. We walked for about half a mile until we reached a small and overgrown villa that had been abandoned for year