All Chapters of Rebirth of the Billionaire’s Substitute Bride: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Kira’s POVI almost couldn’t breathe in the car during our drive back to Lockwood estate.The armored SUV flew down the empty, rain-slicked highway, flanked by two heavily armed escort vehicles. Inside the dark cabin, the silence was thick enough to choke on.Aziel hadn't let go of me since we left the museum. He had pulled me across the leather backseat, tucking me firmly into his side, his large hand wrapped securely around my thigh. His physical presence had grown into a source of comfort over the past few weeks.But tonight, it felt exactly like a chain.Yhe words of the stranger kept on replaying itself so much in my head I thought it would run me mad. Transaction? What transaction?I turned my head slightly, looking at Aziel’s profile illuminated by the passing streetlights. His jaw was clenched so tighit looked like he was deliberately trying to grind his teeth to dust. He was on the phone with Silas, barking orders in a tone that sounded too close to anger."I want men on the

Kira’s POVThe penthouse Roshan had gotten his hands on was all glass and steel looking out over the East River — not one of his usual European safehouses, something he'd bought under a blind proxy the moment he landed in New York. For me, specifically. He'd said as much twice already."Completely off the grid," he said, pouring bourbon at the wet bar without looking up. "No cameras. No biometric locks keeping you in. You've got the elevator codes, you control the perimeter. You're sovereign here, Kira."I stood at the window watching rain hammer the glass, still in the clothes I'd left the estate in. My left hand felt strange, too light, like something was still there that wasn't — the ghost of Aziel's rings burning against skin that had nothing on it anymore.I turned around. Roshan handed me the glass, and kept his distance."I moved the Evelyn Trust routing numbers out of Aurelia," I said, and my own voice sounded hollow to me. "He doesn't have access to my mother's money anymore.

Kira’s POVWithin forty-eight hours of Aziel’s surrender, I consolidated the Syndicate’s assets beneath a new umbrella. I didn’t want to hide in the shadows like a traditional mob boss, I wanted them all to know exactly who was ruling. I sat at the desk in the eighty-tenth floor executive suite of Aurelia Holdings, the very desk Aziel had used to build his empire, and began to rewrite the rules of New York's underworld.Silas, Aziel’s most trusted man, stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the Manhattan skyline get swallowed by the twilight."The regional capos are falling in line, Empress," he reported. "The logistics network is operating at one hundred percent capacity, and the federal seizure of our peripheral accounts didn't touch our sovereign trusts. You outmaneuvered every single one of them.""We aren't done yet," I said, not looking up from the monitor. "Roshan is still sitting in his glass penthouse across the river, waiting for the dust to settle. He thinks becau

Kira’s POVThe run left me smelling like a suffocating nightmare of smoke and darkness.I clung to the rusted iron rungs of the maintenance ladder, my hands slipping on the slick metal as the entire building above us groaned in agony. Another explosion rocked the tower, sending a thick shower of concrete dust and ash raining down the narrow shaft."Keep moving, Kira!" Silas shouted from below me, his flashlight cutting through the thick, choking smoke. "Don't look up!"I didn't look up. If I did, I would have seen the fiery orange glow of my empire burning to the ground.We climbed down sixty floors in muscle-tearing haste. Every time we passed a ventilation grate, I could hear the sounds of the slaughter. The thud of military boots. The rapid bursts of automatic gunfire. The screams of the men who had sworn loyalty to me just hours ago.The hit squads were entirely merciless. They weren't looking to take prisoners. They were exterminating every living soul in Aurelia Holdings.By the

Kira’s POVThe traffic feed on the laptop I had gotten flickered, casting a pale light across the freezing safehouse.I sat on the edge of the squeaky mattress, my eyes burning from lack of sleep, watching the black-and-white feed of the Manhattan Bridge. There it was. A heavily armored federal transport van, flanked by two unmarked US Marshal SUVs, rolling through the early morning fog.Aziel was in that van."They're on the bridge," I said, my voice tight.Silas stood behind me, his eyes locked on the screen. "The feds are taking the most direct route. It's a mistake. They have no cover."He was right. As the convoy reached the center span of the suspension bridge, four massive, unmarked black SUVs merged from the oncoming lanes at full speed.My breath caught in my throat.On the screen, the lead cartel SUV slammed into the front Marshal vehicle, forcing it into the steel barricades. A second later, a bright flash of light whited out the camera feed entirely.An explosion."They hi