Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 27

The metallic clatter of the silver handcuffs hitting the stone floor was the loudest sound in the room, a final tolling bell for the man Devi used to be. For twenty years, he had been the architect of her cage now, he stood before her as a soldier in her army.Devi rubbed his bruised wrists, his obsessive gaze never leaving Cali’s face. He didn't look like a man who had just been imprisoned by his wife he looked like a man who had finally seen his god."The consort," Devi repeated, his voice a low, ruthless rumble of approval. He stepped over the crumpled form of the 'Ice Queen' clone, his boots crunching on the glass of the shattered biometric scanner. "I've spent my whole life making sure no one could touch you, Cali baby. I didn't realize I was just waiting for you to learn how to hit back."Cali didn't smile. Her grumpy face was set in a mask of cold, clinical fury. She reached out and grabbed the lapels of his ruined white shirt, pulling him down until their foreheads crashed

The Tuscan hills were a rolling sea of gold and silver-green, but to Cali, the landscape was a blur of high-speed curves and a rising, jagged fury. She sat in the back of the armored SUV, her hands steady as she checked the safety on the pearl-handled derringer. She was wearing Devi’s charcoal suit jacket over her own thin slip, a stark, masculine weight that smelled of his sandalwood and a decade of his obsession.Devi sat beside her, his silence a possessive weight. He didn't look at the horizon he looked at her profile, his thumb tracing the jagged scar on his own palm a reminder of a war he’d fought before she even knew his name."We're three minutes out, Cali baby," Devi murmured, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that cut through the sterile hum of the air conditioning. "Your mother is on the north terrace. She’s waiting for a wire transfer that isn't coming." Cali didn’t turn. Her grumpy mask was fixed, her jaw set in a line so hard it was a wonder it didn’t shatter. "I don'

The road to Palermo was a jagged ribbon of asphalt carved into the limestone cliffs, the Tyrrhenian Sea churning below like a pot of black ink. Cali sat in the passenger seat of the armored SUV, her midnight-black suit crisp, her grumpy face illuminated by the rhythmic glow of the dashboard.Beside her, Devi drove with a ruthless, one-handed grip on the wheel. He didn’t look at the road his obsessive gaze flickered constantly to the side, checking the pulse point in Cali’s neck, the way her fingers curled around the pearl-handled derringer in her lap."You're too quiet, Cali baby," Devi murmured, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that fought the hum of the engine. "Usually, you’re telling me to drive into a ravine. This silence... it smells like a massacre."Cali didn't look at him. She stared at her reflection in the window a ghost in the glass. "I'm thinking about the second act, Devi. Tosca. It ends with a betrayal and a leap into the abyss. My father always loved the drama of it.

The road to Palermo was a jagged ribbon of asphalt carved into the limestone cliffs, the Tyrrhenian Sea churning below like a pot of black ink. Cali sat in the passenger seat of the armored SUV, her midnight-black suit crisp, her grumpy face illuminated by the rhythmic glow of the dashboard.Beside her, Devi drove with a ruthless, one-handed grip on the wheel. He didn’t look at the road his obsessive gaze flickered constantly to the side, checking the pulse point in Cali’s neck, the way her fingers curled around the pearl-handled derringer in her lap."You're too quiet, Cali baby," Devi murmured, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that fought the hum of the engine. "Usually, you’re telling me to drive into a ravine. This silence... it smells like a massacre."Cali didn't look at him. She stared at her reflection in the window a ghost in the glass. "I'm thinking about the second act, Devi. Tosca. It ends with a betrayal and a leap into the abyss. My father always loved the drama of it.