All Chapters of Claimed by My Ex's Mafia Father: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The estate felt different with Cardinal Salvi settled into one of the guest wings, his quiet, contemplative presence adding a strange new weight to the household's already tense atmosphere. Eliora found him the next morning in the private library, surrounded by several of Elias's carefully organized documents, studying them with the same careful attention he'd likely once given to ancient texts within the Vatican archives."You're up early," she said, settling into the chair across from him."Old habits," Salvi said, offering a tired smile. "Decades of morning prayers tend to leave one incapable of sleeping past dawn, regardless of circumstances." He gestured toward the documents spread before him. "I find myself reviewing your father's work again. There's something almost meditative in it, despite everything it's cost.""What do you mean?""The care he took," Salvi said. "Every piece of this evidence, carefully cross-referenced, protected, designed to survive exactly the kind of assa

"Protect me from what," Eliora asked, her voice barely steady. "Agnes, please. Just tell me the truth."Agnes's hands wrapped around her own teacup, steadying herself before she began. "Twenty-two years ago, when Severin brought you under this family's protection, I made him a promise of my own. Not the same promise he made your father, but something related to it, something I've carried alongside him ever since.""What kind of promise?""Celestine came to me once, before the accident. She didn't fully trust that Severin's protection alone would be enough, if something happened to both her and Alaric." Agnes's eyes grew distant, remembering. "She asked me to watch, quietly, for any sign that the people hunting her husband's investigation might eventually come looking for you directly, even as a child. She gave me contact information, methods to reach people who could help if certain warning signs appeared.""That's not the same as installing surveillance equipment without anyone's kno

"I need forty-eight hours, minimum," Elias said, spreading the ancient document carefully across a specially prepared table in the estate's private library, protective gloves covering his trembling hands. "Perhaps longer, given the archaic dialect and the document's fragile condition.""We may not have forty-eight hours," Severin said grimly, pacing the length of the room. "If Magnus or his accomplice learns what we've found, they'll move immediately to either destroy it or seize it for themselves.""I understand the urgency," Elias said, not looking up from his careful examination. "But rushing this translation risks fundamental errors, misreadings that could undermine the document's credibility entirely when it matters most. This isn't the kind of work that benefits from haste."Eliora watched the tension between practical urgency and scholarly precision play out, understanding both perspectives even as her own nerves stretched tighter with each passing hour. "Is there anything we c

"Positions," Severin barked, and the security office exploded into controlled motion, Marco relaying orders through his radio while Lucien pulled up additional camera feeds along the perimeter.Eliora's heart pounded as she watched the monitors, six dark vehicles moving in tight, disciplined formation up the coastal road toward the estate's main gate. Nothing about their approach suggested the reckless urgency of a direct assault — instead, everything about it felt calculated, patient, exactly the kind of methodical planning she'd come to associate with Magnus Duvall."Get Salvi and Elias to the safe room," Severin said. "The document goes with them, secured properly.""On it," Lucien said, already moving toward the library."What about Cardinal Salvi's safety specifically," Eliora asked. "If this is Magnus, targeting the document now that we've discovered it—""Then protecting Salvi and the translation becomes our absolute priority," Severin confirmed. "Everything else is secondary."

"What are you proposing," Sorelli asked, watching Severin's expression carefully as the full weight of his statement settled over the room."We stop waiting for Magnus to move against us," Severin said, standing and moving toward the window, his silhouette outlined against the pale morning light. "We take the Founding Accord, combine it with everything else we've gathered, and present it to the full Commission immediately. Not carefully staged, not waiting for perfect translation or complete verification. Now, while we still have the element of surprise.""That's considerably riskier than our previous approach," Sorelli said carefully. "The Geneva vote succeeded because we presented carefully verified evidence, methodically constructed to withstand scrutiny.""And Magnus adapted immediately, found new ways to threaten and manipulate despite that vote," Severin countered. "If we wait for perfect certainty, for complete translation, for absolute proof beyond any possible challenge, we g