บททั้งหมดของ The Sovereign’s Antidote : บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

Back at the hospital, Silas tapped on the glass. The hour was up."I have to go, Mom," Seraphina whispered, kissing her mother’s forehead. "But I’m not letting you go. Not ever."As she walked back to the SUV, she looked at the ring on her finger. It felt heavier than before. She was a secret kept by a man who was currently standing in a room full of people who hated her—and he was the only thing standing between her and their shadows.Back at the gala event The atmosphere in the grand ballroom shifted from celebratory to predatory. As the orchestra played a hauntingly beautiful waltz, the air between the Mordrakes and the Rossis grew thick with unspoken threats and corporate maneuvering.Czar stood at the edge of the mezzanine, his silhouette sharp against the glowing chandeliers. He was surrounded by international associates, but his attention was elsewhere. He watched as his mother, Helena, circled the Rossis like a shark."You seem distracted, Alexander," a German tech mogul rema

The afternoon sun was beginning to dip when Czar’s private line buzzed. It was a frequency reserved only for one person—the woman who held the other half of the Mordrake legacy and the weight of his upbringing.He answered, his voice tight. "Mother.""Alexander," Helena’s voice was as smooth and cold as polished marble. "Your performance at the gala was... disappointing. Your blatant disrespect toward the Pricilla has created a rift in the merger discussions. A rift I’ve spent the morning repairing."Czar leaned back in his leather chair, his jaw tensing. "I was clear with Miss Rossi. I have no interest in entertaining her.""And I am being clear with you," Helena snapped, her tone shifting from regal to commanding. "I am your mother, and I will not have the Mordrake name dragged through the mud because you cannot manage a simple social obligation. You are the Sovereign to the world, but you are a Mordrake to me. I have arranged a private dinner for the two of you this evening at L'E

Back in her sprawling penthouse overlooking the city, Helena Mordrake stood frozen, the phone still clutched in her hand. The dial tone hummed in her ear—a monotonous, mocking sound.No one had ever hung up on her. Not the board of directors, not the heads of rival states, and certainly not the son she had molded from birth to be the ultimate weapon of the Mordrake legacy.The Crumbling PedestalShe lowered the phone, her fingers trembling—not with fear, but with a cold, vibrating fury. For thirty years, she had been the architect of Alexander’s life. She had managed his "condition," curated his associates, and shielded his eccentricities. She had been the only person he allowed within his inner circle.But the voice on the other end of that call hadn't been the son she knew."Liquidate the assets?" she whispered to the empty, marble-clad room. "He would destroy the merger just to spite me?"She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, her reflection ghosting over the city lights. She l

The library was transformed into a makeshift studio. High-end laboratory lighting had been dragged in to illuminate the velvet curtains, and Czar sat behind a professional-grade cinema camera, his long fingers adjusting the focus with clinical precision.The air between them was still thick with the residue of their twenty-four-hour standoff. Seraphina stood in the center of the light, wearing a simple dress, her face pale but her eyes burning with a desperate, creative fire.The Director’s Gaze"The lighting is sufficient," Czar said, his voice cold and professional. He didn't look at her directly, focusing instead on the small monitor. "Whenever you are ready, Miss Fairchild. Try not to waste the battery."Seraphina took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she wasn't the "asset" or the "secret wife" anymore. She was Elena, the character from the script—a woman pleading for her life and her dignity."I didn't ask for this crown," Seraphina began, her v

In the cold, clinical silence of the Mordrake Global Headquarters, Helena Mordrake stood by her floor-to-ceiling window, watching the city lights flicker like dying embers. The humiliation of being threatened by her own son in front of a Rossi was a poison in her veins."You think you’ve outgrown your cage, Alexander," she whispered, her reflection in the glass looking like a specter of ice. "But I am the one who built it. I am the one who filtered the very air you breathe."She turned to her desk and opened a secure, encrypted file titled Contingency: Sovereign. "If you want to play at being a man who doesn't need his mother, I will show you exactly how small your world becomes when I stop holding it together. I will make you my puppet again, even if I have to break every bone in your body to do it."The tension on the set of The Gilded Cage snapped like a live wire the moment Priscilla Rossi breached the perimeter. She didn't come with a plan; she came with a vendetta against the gi