Bound to the Syndicate Boss のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Chapter 22Lumiere's POV The sound of the fireplace was the first thing that pulled me back from the darkness.My teeth were chattering so hard my jaw hurt, and every bone in my body felt frozen. I tried to move my fingers, but they felt heavy and numb. A sharp warmth was beginning to spread across my skin, fighting against the cold that had taken over my body out on the bay."Stay still," a low, rough voice said beside me.I opened my eyes and blinked against the bright amber light. I wasn't outside in the snow anymore, and I wasn't in the dark water.I was lying on the thick rug in front of the large stone fireplace inside the master suite. Flames danced against the dark brick, casting shadows across the simple walls.My heavy wool coat was gone. My sweater and trousers were soaked, clinging to my skin.Mikael was kneeling beside me. He had removed his wet tactical gear and was wearing a dark shirt. His silver-blonde hair was damp and stuck to his forehead, and his skin looked pale

Chapter 24Lumiere's POV The heavy stone wall of the panic room groaned as another muffled explosion shook the corridor outside. Dust drifted from the ceiling, settling over our shoulders in the cramped, dark space.The air was thin and smelled faintly of old dust and cold metal, but I couldn't feel the chill. My whole body felt numb, frozen by the words Mikael had just spoken.Ten years.A decade of believing I was an ordinary orphan who had somehow built a quiet life behind a flour-dusted counter in Helsinki. A decade of believing my parents had died in a random house fire.And all this time, the truth had been hidden behind the cold, hard walls of this fortress.I stared up at him in the dim amber light of the emergency bulb. The space between us was so narrow that I could feel his breath against my face.The anger that had kept me going for days—the need to fight him, hate him, and escape his cage—had fallen away. All that was left was a hollow, aching shock."You're lying," I wh

Chapter 26Lumiere's POV The heavy iron door of the holding room clicked shut with a final, hollow sound that seemed to echo straight through my bones.The room wasn't exactly a cell. It was a high-end guest suite on the eastern ridge of the citadel, with dark stone walls and a single arched window overlooking the grey, restless waves of the Baltic Sea.But the locks on the outside, the armed guards in the hallway, and the thought of what tomorrow morning meant turned every inch of the room into a cage.I stood beside the large, unmade bed, my arms wrapped tightly around myself as if I could somehow hold the pieces of me together.My clothes were still slightly damp from the freezing water of the bay. They smelled faintly of salt and iron. My skin felt raw, but the cold outside was nothing compared to the storm inside my head.Jalo's words kept playing over and over in my mind.A failed transaction. Not a massacre. A business deal gone wrong.Was my father really a monster who had be

Chapter 28Mikael's POV The heavy oak doors of the master suite clicked shut, locking automatically behind us with a solid sound that cut off the chaos in the hallway.The room was large, with dark wood walls, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the black, restless sea, and a massive stone fireplace where a low fire still burned.But somehow, the room felt smaller now.Too small.I pulled off my suit jacket and tossed it over the back of a leather armchair before loosening the tight silk tie around my neck. Every muscle in my body felt tense.Down in the chapel, Jalo's betrayal and the Italian detonator had almost turned into a disaster. Talvikki's sniper team had taken out the perimeter scouts before the signal could be sent.The immediate threat was gone.But the war was far from over.Right now, the most dangerous thing in this fortress wasn't the Corsicans outside the gates.It was the woman standing a few feet away from me.Lumiere stood near the fireplace, the simple white sil

Chapter 30Mikael's POVThe metal door of the basement shooting range slammed shut behind us, locking with a heavy mechanical thud that echoed through the damp concrete walls.The air down here always smelled of burnt gunpowder, cold stone, and oil. It was a raw, windowless room buried deep beneath the citadel, far from the sea views and quiet warmth of the master suite.Rows of black rubber stalls stretched toward the steel targets at the far end of the room. Above us, a line of harsh fluorescent lights flickered, casting a pale glare across the concrete floor.I didn't look at her right away.I tossed my leather gloves onto the steel preparation table. They slapped against the metal.Lumiere stood a few feet away, her arms wrapped tightly around her black sweater as if she were trying to protect herself from a cold only she could feel.Her pale-blue eyes moved around the room, taking in the bullet-marked walls and the racks of weapons along the sides.The shock of what had happened