Chapter 135
Chapter 136
I didn’t dare look at her eyes.
I did not want to see whatever expression she was wearing–anger, betrayal, maybe even hope. Hope would’ve killed me the most. So I turned my back, walked out, and shut the door behind me without looking back.
I could still feel her in my blood.
Her scent was on my skin, her voice echoing in my head like it belonged there. But didn’t stop. I didn’t breathe until the hallway swallowed me whole.
And then I saw him.
Julian.
Leaning against the wall like he’d been waiting for this exact moment.
His arms were crossed, face unreadable. “You’re sending her away?”
I didn’t stop walking.
“It’s none of your business,” I muttered, brushing past him.
“Bullshit,” he said, pushing off the wall to follow me. “You made her my business when you brought her into our lives. Into your life.”
I kept going. I didn’t want to do this. Not here. Not with him.
“Dom, come on-”
“Drop it, Julian.”
“No.”
I froze. Turned on him slowly. “I said drop it.”
He didn’t flinch. Just stared me down like the boy I used to carry on my shoulders wasn’t scared of the man I’d become.
“You still love her,” he said. “Don’t lie to me.”
I laughed. Dry. Empty. “What difference does it make?”
“She didn’t betray you.”
“She kissed Nico.”
“He kissed her. And she told you the truth–unlike most people would. You’re punishing her for being honest.”
“She worked with Emilia.”
“She didn’t know who Emilia was!”
“You don’t know that.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed. “And you do?”
I clenched my jaw.
He stepped forward, voice quieter now. “You’ve made your entire life about control. But this?” He shook his head. “This isn’t control. This is you self–destructing.”
I looked away, jaw tight. My hands were fists in my pockets.
“Just admit it,” he said. “You’re not sending her away because you hate her. You’re sending her away because she’s the one person who could actually hurt you–and she already did.”
I snapped.
I shoved him hard enough that he staggered into the wall. “Shut the fuck up, Julian.”
But he didn’t. Of course he didn’t.
He just straightened, brushing his shirt off like I hadn’t just shoved everything boiling inside me into his chest.
“You love her,” he said again. “And you hate that she broke something in you. That she made you feel.”
“I don’t hate it,” I said, voice low and shaking. “I hate that she made me believe I could trust her. I hate that I started to think maybe, just maybe, I could have something normal. Something real. I hate that I started to look at her like she wasn’t a deal
I made with the devil, but the fucking light I never r deservedly unlocked!
Julian said nothing.
I kept going.
“And then Nico happened. And suddenly all those nights she ran, every whispered conversation with Emilia, every
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Chapter 136
hesitation, every beat all meant something And resized i don’t know her I never did. I wanted to i fred to
i swallowed hard, looking sway
“But I don’t
Julian sighed. “You know she didn’t plan any of this. She got dragged into your world and tried to survive it. The same way you did
My throat burned
“But you want to be right, he added. “You want her to be the villain. That way, you’t have to forgive her
“No,” I whispered “I want her to be guilty so it hurts less that I’m letting her go‘
Silence
I turned away, the weight of my own words sinking like lead in my chest.
“She said she wanted freedom,” I muttered “Well now she has it.”
Julian’s voice was quiet. “And what do you have?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know .
I walked out of the building, into the sharp evening air. The sky was dark, but not quite night. That strange in–between hour where nothing felt settled.
I stood at the edge of the lot, hands in my coat, staring out at the city like it could give me something to hold onto.
Everything I built was still intact.
My men. My power. My reputation.
But she was gone.
And somehow, that was what hollowed me out.
She’d looked at me like I was something more than what I knew I was. She softened edges in me I thought were permanent. She made the silence louder when she wasn’t around.
And now she was really gone.
Because I’d pushed her there.
She wants freedom, I told myself again. You’re giving her what she asked for.
But deep down, under the ice I used to keep myself still, something cracked.
I could’ve asked her to stay.
I could’ve fought.
But instead, I tested her. I twisted the knife she didn’t even hold. I blamed her for being the only person who hadn’t lied outright–and I sent her away for it.
So here I was.
Dominic De Luca.
Untouchable.
Feared.
Alone.
And the only thing I couldn’t control… was how much I still wanted to go back and tell her to fight for me.
Even though I never gave her the chance.
****
Nico stood in front of the wide digital map projected on the concrete wall, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips. The estate layout flickered under low light–Dominic’s estate. The same one they had walked through together a thousand times. The same one he was now about to burn.
Mikael stepped beside him, adjusting the cuff of his tailored jacket. “So,” he said, voice calm but razor–sharp, “how do we crush a king in his own castle?”
Nico took a long drag, then exhaled. “We don’t knock.”
He pointed to three red marks blinking across the projection.
“South wall. Here. Guard rotation changes at 11:53. That gives us an eight–minute window. My guy’s been inside for
months–embedded during construction. He’ll loop the camera feed from the security office. We go in quiet.”
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Chapter 136
Mikael nodded slowly. “Explosives?”
“For the northwest sector,” Nico said. “Diversion. A controlled blast by the old gate. Just enough to draw attention, make them think the breach is external. While they scramble, we hit the weak spot. Inside.”
He turned, lighting another cigarette off the first one, jaw tight. “The estate’s east wing was just renovated. Armory’s relocated there. Biometric locked–but I’ve got a thumbprint clone of Julian. Idiot sleeps like the dead.”
Mikael arched a brow. “You got it off Julian?”
Nico smirked. “He drinks. A lot. His glass had enough of a print to lift and copy.”
“And Dominic?” Mikael asked. “How do we deal with him?”
Nico’s smile dropped.
Mikael studied him for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the map. “I want him alive.”
“I’ll consider it,” Nico muttered.
Mikael walked over to a sleek metal briefcase on the table and flipped it open. Inside: black comms units, thermite explosives, and a silenced Glock. “Your men know the timeline?”
“They’re trained, quiet, and they owe me. Half are ex–De Luca security. The irony should sting nicely when the place goes up in flames.”
“And the power grid?” Mikael asked.
Nico nodded. “We cut it twenty minutes in. Not before. Let them think they’re in control first–then take it from them. No cameras. No lights. Just panic.”
“And after?”
“We vanish,” Nico said. “The house will be bleeding. The De Luca name rattled. His trust fractured. He’s got no idea how deep I’ve gutted him already.”
Mikael gave a slow, satisfied nod. “Good.”
They moved to the center of the room where a black table held a scaled model of the estate. Mikael reached out, tapping different points.
“I want explosives here… here… and here,” he said. “Kitchen hallway. Secondary entrance. Storage vault. If he runs, we collapse him.”
“Lethal force?” Nico asked.
“If they’re armed, take them down,” Mikael replied. “But don’t make it messy. No bodies dragged into the courtyard. I want the house shaken, not reduced to ash.”
Nico’s eyes flicked to a small corner of the model labeled South Courtyard.
“That’s where I go in,” he said quietly. “Same door we used to sneak out of as kids. He always thought only he knew about it.”
Mikael smiled darkly. “And now you’re walking through it to destroy him.”
Nico flicked the ash off his cigarette, his expression unreadable. “Yeah.”
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