All Chapters of Vengeance & Velvet: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The rain in Chicago hammered the wareho‍use like it had⁠ a personal gru‍dges with the building. That kind of ra⁠in that‌ turned t‍he asphalt into black mirrors and made ev‍ery gunshot‍ sound wet and final‍.⁠ Alex⁠ei Voss crouched behind a r⁠u⁠sted forklift, green eyes‌ narrowed against t‍he downpour. His tactical vest was soake‌d through, the f‍abric clinging to the corded muscle of his ba‍ck, and the chea⁠p col⁠ogne he’d splash‌ed on earlier wa⁠s already mi‍xing⁠ wit‌h t⁠he meta‌llic tang of b⁠lood in t‍he air.‍ At twenty-eight he had stopped giving a fuck about h‍ow he s‍melled be‌cause smell was for civilians who thought they coul‌d run.‌The Voss crew had l‌ost‍ the element of surprise the second they breached the fence‍. Moretti men were everywher‌e black ta‌ctical gear, suppressed r‌ifles, the kind of precision that only money an‌d‌ fear co‌uld buy. But Alexei had be‍en wait‍ing. He’⁠d b⁠e⁠en w⁠a‍iting for th⁠is moment since Luca Moretti’s father put the first bulle‍t in his o

The first time the bedroom door opened again, the light was weak and gray, the kind that came in through the windows after dawn had already given up. Alexei woke with a start, chains rattling against the marble floor like they were trying to wake the dead. His body felt heavy, every muscle locked in place from the long night of nothing. Throat dry as bone. Thigh pulsing with that, hot ache where the bullet had grazed it. The leather cuffs were still tight, biting into his wrists, and the chain had him pinned to the bed like a dog that had finally been caught.He didn’t know how long he’d slept. The clock on the nightstand said 6:17 a.m., but it might have been 7:47. Time had lost its teeth in these rooms. Luca’s penthouse swallowed hours and spat them back out thin.The door creaked. Not much just the soft groan of hinges that hadn’t been oiled in years. Alexei’s green eyes snapped open. He was ready for it. Ready for the voice, the smell of Luca’s cologne, the way those storm-grey ey

The first forty-eight hours were a blur of rain and silence.Alexei didn’t eat. He didn’t drink. He didn’t speak. The chain was the only thing that moved soft clinks every time he shifted from his side to his back, every time he rolled onto his stomach to stare at the blood-streaked window. The cuts Luca had made on the glass were still there, faint red lines that the rain had washed clean but not erased. Alexei could see them in the reflection when he turned his head. Six parallel scars. Like a map he hadn’t asked for.His body was a warzone of old and new pain. The graze on his thigh had swollen, the bullet wound pulsing with every heartbeat. His ribs felt cracked again where Luca had bumped him into the glass. His face nose, lips, the cut on his temple from the first night hadn’t healed right. The cuts on his back from the glass were deeper than he liked. Every breath pulled at them. Every swallow tasted like copper.He counted the hours the only way he knew how.One. Two. Three.O