All Chapters of Owned By The King Of Blackwood (De Luca Series): Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The elevator ride to the penthouse felt longer than the drive from the restaurant.Nico stood behind me without saying a word. His chest pressed against my back, and his hands rested on the brass railing beside me, making me feel trapped. I could feel his heat radiating onto me.He leaned down, brushing my hair away from my neck with his nose. He inhaled deeply, searching for the scent he mentioned earlier."Smoke," he murmured, his voice vibrating against my spine. "And wine, and fear.""I'm not afraid," I whispered, looking at our reflection in the polished brass doors."Liar," Nico said. He bit the sensitive part of my neck, sharp enough to sting. "You're terrified, you realized tonight that there’s no going back, you discovered you like the taste of power."The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open.We stepped into the penthouse. The lights were dimmed.Nico wasted no time, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the big leather sofa in the center of the room. He sat down and p

The Blackwood Estate felt more like a medieval fortress modernized for 21st-century warfare. We drove through three separate checkpoints. Men in dark raincoats with rifles slung over their shoulders waved the armored SUV through the iron gates. The house itself sat on a cliff overlooking a churning river. Nico didn’t wait for Matteo to open the door. He kicked it open and pulled me out into the pouring rain. "Inside," he commanded. "Move." We raced up the stone steps. The massive oak doors opened without us touching them. We entered the Grand Hall. It was vast, with a ceiling lost in shadows and a fireplace large enough to roast a whole ox.But the room wasn’t empty. Pacing in front of the fire, clutching a crystal tumbler of whiskey, was Bianca. She looked frantic. Her hair was loose, wilder than usual, and her mascara was smudged beneath her left eye. When she saw us, she stopped pacing. She slammed the glass down on a side table, splashing liquid over the rim. "Finally!" s

The first shot was deafening.it sounded like the sky cracking open.The bullet Nico fired didn't hit Julian, It hit the Russian guard standing next to him, catching him in the throat. A spray of bright red blood splashed on the white of Julian’s tuxedo jacket.Julian didn't flinch. He didn't even look at the dying man choking on his own blood beside him, he just stared at me."Kill them all," Julian ordered calmly. "But bring me the Queen alive."Then, hell broke loose."Down!" Nico roared.He didn't wait for me to obey, he covered me. His weight slammed into me, driving me into the hard marble floor. My head cracked against the stone, stars bursting in my vision, but Nico covered me completely.Above us, the air turned into a storm of lead.Glass from the chandeliers rained down like jagged diamonds. Bullets chewed into the plaster walls, the buffet tables, the flesh of screaming students. Hundreds of bodies in black and silver surged toward the exits, trampling each other in a bli

We moved deeper into the tunnel system. The single bulb of the Safe Room faded behind us, leaving us in darkness, lit only by the flashlights on Dante's and Nico's guns. Nico leaned heavily on me gasping after every few steps. The Kevlar vest was gone, but the damage to his ribs was bad, every movement was painful for him. "Faster," Nico said through gritted teeth, even though he was the one slowing us down. "We're moving as fast as we can," Sloane whispered from behind us. She was practically carrying Matteo now, he was pale, his eyes unfocused, stumbling over the uneven brick floor. "Hold," Dante hissed from the front. He instantly turned off his light, and Nico did the same, we were now engulfed in complete darkness. "What is it?" Nico whispered, tightening his grip on my shoulder. "Movement," Dante said quietly. "Up ahead. Near the junction." My heart raced under the gold mesh of my dress. Was it Julian? Had he flanked us? Was he waiting in the dark with his army of Russia

The horse farm in Colts Neck smelled like wet hay and iodine. It was 3:00 AM when the stolen station wagon skidded to a halt on the gravel driveway.Dante kicked his door open before the car stopped rolling. "Get him out!" he shouted. I climbed out of the backseat, my legs were stiff and cramping. I grabbed Matteo’s ankles while Sloane took his shoulders. Bianca, shivering and frozen in the cold, held the door open. We dragged him into the barn, it was a clean, modern facility with concrete floors and bright overhead lights. A man was waiting for us, he was short, balding, and dressed in a blue vest over pajama bottoms and he looked scared. "Sloane?" the man stuttered, wiping his glasses. "Your father said..." "Forget the pleasantries, Aris," Sloane snapped. "He’s bleeding out, let's attend to him first." We laid Matteo down on a stainless steel operating table meant for animals. It was huge, cold, and had a faint smell of bleach. Matteo groaned, his head thrashing against th