All Chapters of Claimed by My Ex's Mafia Father: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"Everyone, back," Severin said, already moving Eliora away from the window. "Elias, upstairs, now. Lucien, who's out there."Lucien kept his eyes on the street, weapon steady in his hand. "One man walking toward the door. Unarmed, hands visible. The second car's stayed put, engine running.""That's not how they usually approach," Severin said, frowning."No," Lucien agreed. "It isn't."The knock came again, patient this time, almost polite. Severin moved to the door himself, one hand resting near his jacket, and opened it only enough to see who stood there.Eliora, watching from the stairwell, saw his shoulders shift, not quite relax, but something close to recognition replacing the tension in his frame."Rafael," Severin said. "You're a long way from Monaco."Don Santoro stood on the doorstep, dressed impeccably despite the late hour, his expression carrying none of the smooth amusement Eliora remembered from his phone call days earlier. He looked older somehow, worn down by somethin

The gate groaned open under Lucien's careful hands, rust flaking away in the dim streetlight. Beyond it, the library's entrance stood dark and unwelcoming, thick ivy climbing across stone that hadn't been maintained in years."Everyone stays close," Severin said, leading the way up the short path. "Lucien, watch the street. Elias, you're with me on whatever's inside.""And me," Eliora said firmly.Severin glanced back at her, something torn behind his eyes, but he didn't argue. "Stay behind me."The door was locked, old iron reinforced with something newer, more recent additions layered over decades of neglect. Lucien worked at it for a tense minute before it finally gave, swinging open with a heavy, reluctant creak.Inside, the air smelled of dust and old paper, decades of silence pressing down on them the moment they stepped through. Elias produced a small flashlight, sweeping it across towering shelves that stretched up into darkness, books stacked in careful, forgotten rows."This

The road to the monastery wound higher into the hills of southern France, dawn breaking pale and grey over terraced hillsides that hadn't changed in centuries. Eliora sat pressed against the window, exhaustion pulling at every part of her, though sleep felt impossible with everything still churning through her mind."You should rest," Severin said quietly, watching her from across the car."I keep thinking about Magnus," she admitted. "Why he let us go. It felt too easy.""It wasn't easy," Severin said. "It was calculated. Everything he does is calculated." His jaw tightened. "That worries me more than if he'd simply attacked."Beside them, Elias studied the map carefully, cross-referencing it against a modern road atlas spread across his lap. "The monastery should be just ahead. Saint Elias, according to what I can decipher of the name here. Fitting, given my own name, though I doubt that's coincidence your mother intended.""What do you mean," Eliora asked."Celestine had a fondness

The safe house outside the city was small, tucked into a quiet vineyard estate that belonged, according to Severin, to a business partner who owed him a favor decades old. Eliora sat on the edge of a narrow bed, the wooden chest open in front of her, the audio recorder finally, terrifyingly within reach.Severin sat beside her, close but careful, giving her space even now. "You don't have to do this today.""Yes, I do." Her hands trembled as she lifted the recorder. "I've waited seventeen years without even knowing there was something to wait for. I don't think I can wait any longer, now that I do."He nodded, saying nothing more, simply staying beside her as she pressed the small, worn button.Static crackled first, old technology struggling against decades of disuse. Then, unmistakably, a voice — warm, urgent, achingly familiar in a way Eliora couldn't have explained, though she'd heard it so rarely in her conscious memory."Eliora. If you're hearing this, then I've run out of time,

The Cardinal's hands trembled slightly as he unlocked the cabinet, decades of careful guardianship finally reaching their intended purpose. Inside sat a single sealed envelope and an old, formal recording device, far more sophisticated than the simple recorder Eliora's father had left at the monastery."This was recorded under witness," the Cardinal explained, setting both items carefully on the desk between them. "Notarized, timestamped, admissible should it ever need to be presented formally. Your father was thorough, Miss Aster, in ways that went beyond simple caution.""He knew this needed to hold up," Severin said quietly. "Not just convince people. Prove something legally, if it ever came to that.""Precisely." The Cardinal gestured for them to sit. "I should warn you both, before we begin. What's recorded here goes beyond what you may have already learned. Names. Dates. Specific transactions that connect powerful people across governments and criminal organizations alike. Once