Chapter 146
Chapter 146
Aria’s POV
I hadn’t slept. Not really.
Between the throbbing in my ankle, the sharp bruises blooming across my skin, and the constant fear pressing down on my chest like a weight, sleep was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
But tonight–tonight brought something else.
A whisper. A shift. A sound that wasn’t meant for me.
Earlier, they’d brought in a new guard. A dumb one. He’d leaned against the wrong wall, kicked a loose tile while pacing, and cursed loud enough for me to hear. When they left, I waited, counted seconds like prayers, and dragged myself across the cold floor.
The corner he’d leaned on was soft beneath my palm. Hollow. Like the wood underneath was warped or unfinished. I pulled with everything I had, and after enough effort–there it was.
A small gap in the floorboards.
No larger than a hand’s width, but low and sloped, almost like it led into the wall or under it. I dug into it quietly, clutching the broken lamp part I’d hidden days ago. Scraping. Pulling. Clearing away dust, splinters, rot.
It led somewhere.
And then I heard it. Voices.
Faint. Muffled.
But male, Close.
I pressed my ear into the hole.
“…don’t be stupid,” one voice said. Lazy. Slick. Nico. “Dominic won’t make it past the gate.”
Mikael’s voice followed, annoyed. “You’ve said that three times now. I’m not wasting more ammunition waiting for a man who might already be dead.”
There was the clink of a glass–someone was drinking.
“Then let me make the next move,” Nico said, his tone shifting just slightly. “You and I both know this doesn’t end with De Luca dead and everyone going home. He’s not the only threat.”
Silence. Then a slow sip.
“I want more than this, Mikael. We both do,” Nico added, voice lower now. “You’re chasing revenge. I’m offering you control.”
“You?” Mikael scoffed. “You’re offering me something?”
I could practically hear the smirk in Nico’s voice. “Not offering. Bargaining. You’ve got power. I’ve got connections. I’ve been inside Dominic’s operations. I know who’ll turn if the tides shift. I know the streets better than your men ever will.”
“You’re proposing what?”
“A split,” Nico said. “Temporary. You take the north, I take the ports and central blocks. We consolidate. Clean out the De Luca loyalists. Then you and I divide what’s left.”
There was another pause.
“And after that?” Mikael asked.
“Then we talk about who runs the city.”
A beat.
Then Mikael laughed–a cold, humorless sound. “You always were a snake, Nico.”
“I learned from the best, Nico said, voice as smooth as silk, but it slithered down my spine like oil.
I pressed my ear harder against the small opening, holding my breath. Dust stung my nose, but I didn’t dare move. Their voices were clearer now, as if the space below was designed to carry secrets.
“You don’t get it,” Nico continued. “Dominic’s empire? It’s already mine. You’re just too blind to see it.”
Mikael snorted, unimpressed. “Is that so?”
*I have men inside his operation. His warehouses, his distribution lines. Even his accountant has been feeding me numbers. When Dominic dies–and he will–I’ll be the one left standing. Not you.”
There was silence. Not the calm kind, but the kind where you could almost hear the shift in energy.
And I realized it then.
1/4
Chapter 146
Nico wasn’t just betraying Dominic.
He was betraying everyone.
He didn’t want an alliance. He wanted a throne.
He was playing Mikael like he played Dominic, and judging from the silence in the room above me, Mikael was only just beginning to realize it.
“You expect me to believe you’ll hand me half of Beldova when all this is done?” Mikael asked, his voice sharper now. “That you won’t slit my throat the moment you feel strong enough?”
“Believe what you want,” Nico replied casually. “But think carefully. We both know the real threat isn’t Dominic–it’s the fallout. We kill him, we kill his line, his top men, and the city burns. Or… we make it cleaner.”
“Cleaner?”
“We give the government someone else to chase,” Nico said. “One of your men, someone high up. We kill him during the rescue. Make it messy. Make it public. Stage it so it looks like Dominic orchestrated the hit–panic, betrayal, blood.”
My stomach twisted.
They were planning to use their own people. Sacrifice them. Turn them into martyrs and frame Dominic for the kill.
“Once the police and press get involved,” Nico said, “they’ll see Dominic as a liability. The golden boy gone too far. The ‘hero‘ who lost control. They’ll come for him, not us.”
“Sacrifice my men?” Mikael’s tone was dark.
“Just one,” Nico said. “The loud one. Raul. He’s loyal, but reckless. Easy to spin as a traitor. He dies a ‘victim, Dominic gets painted as a savage, and we walk out clean. You get to look like the grieving ally. I get the throne. Everyone wins.”
I pulled back from the hole, heart thundering.
God, if Dominic walks into this without knowing…
They weren’t just laying a trap.
素
They were planning a story. One the world would believe.
I pushed my fingers against the panel again, trying to dig more, trying to pry it open just a little farther, but pain shot up my side and I bit down hard to keep from screaming.
I have to warn him.
But how?
I was locked in a cage beneath the feet of two vipers spinning lies, planning deaths, and all I had was broken wood and bloody fingernails.
Above, the conversation continued.
“Do we agree, then?” Nico asked.
Mikael’s answer didn’t come immediately.
Then another voice said “Fine. But if you cross me-”
“You won’t see it coming,” Nico finished with a grin in his voice.
They laughed.
Clinked glasses.
Toasting to destruction.
Toasting to blood.
Toasting to Dominic’s downfall.
And all I could do was sit in the shadows, covered in dust and blood and fear, knowing the man I loved was walking straight into a game rigged against him.
I closed my eyes, breath shaking.
He couldn’t trust anyone.
Not even the people closest to him.
And yet he’d come anyway. I knew he would.
Because whatever this was between us–love, obsession, madness–he’d burn the world before letting them keep me.
And if he walked into this blind, it would cost him everything.
I pressed my forehead against the cold floor, whispering silently to no one.
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Chapter 146
Please… let him see through it. Let him know.
Because if he didn’t….
There’d be nothing left to save.
I sat back from the hole, chest rising too fast, lungs tight. The dust clung to my skin like a second layer of filth, and the cold from the floor sank deeper into my bones. I pulled my knees to my chest, but even that small motion made my ankle throb in protest.
I had to think. Had to act.
Fast.
I wiped the back of my hand across my face. My skin was warm and damp–sweat or tears, I wasn’t sure anymore.
Then I heard it.
A noise beyond the door. Not the usual footsteps or guards pacing. Not yelling.
Crying.
Someone was crying.
Soft and muffled, like they were trying to hold it in.
I crawled closer, dragging my injured leg behind me. Every inch made my muscles scream, but I pressed on until I reached the door. Pressed my ear to the metal.
The sobbing got clearer.
It was one of the guards.
The younger one, maybe–the one who’d looked nervous the last time I saw him. The same one who’d watched his friend get shot in front of me.
I squeezed my eyes shut. One of them was already dead. Nico and Mikael had started their little sacrifice.
Jesus…
I couldn’t risk this one. Not if he still had some kind of heart.
I looked down at my torn clothes, at my bloodstained hands, and swallowed the taste of bile rising in my throat.
se
If they weren’t going to listen to reason, maybe they’d listen to something else.
Something older.
Something softer.
I sat up straighter, pressed my back to the wall just beneath the door–and began to sing.
It wasn’t loud. Just soft enough to slip under the crack at the bottom of the door. A quiet lullaby, a song my mother used to hum in the kitchen when she thought no one was listening.
She had a voice like warm bread. Always soft. Always aching.
And I… I just wanted something that reminded me I was human.
The words came slowly, but they came. My voice shook at first, then evened out, though the pain wrapped around each
note.
“I used to hear this song in the back of my head,” I whispered when the verse ended, speaking more to myself than anyone else. “My mom used to sing it. When things were bad… when we didn’t have food, or when my dad would come home angry.”
There was silence on the other side of the door.
But I could feel someone still there.
“I thought it was stupid back then,” I said. “That a song could fix anything.”
I looked down at my hands. Flexed my fingers.
“They’re dead now. My parents,” I said. “Car crash. Then cancer. I don’t even know which one broke me more. Probably the part where I had to keep living through both.”
A breath shuddered through me, raw and sharp.
“I didn’t think I’d make it past twenty. But I did. I beat it. The cancer, I mean. I was one of the lucky ones.”
A bitter laugh slipped past my lips. “Lucky, huh?”
I leaned my head back, staring up at the ceiling.
“No one’s coming to save me,” I said quietly. “I know that now. They don’t know this part, but… Dominic told me to leave. Told me to take my freedom. So I did. And now look where I ended up.”
Chapter 146
I wiped my eyes, but the tears kept coming. I wasn’t even sure when they started.
“I hated him for that. For pushing me away. For making me feel like everything we went through meant nothing. But… I also get it. He thought he was protecting me.”
I closed my eyes. The silence on the other side of the door felt heavier now.
“I don’t know if he’s coming,” I admitted, voice barely above a whisper. “And maybe I don’t deserve him to. Maybe I made too many mistakes. I let Nico near me. I tried to survive in a place where survival looked like betrayal.”
I curled tighter into myself.
“But it’s just… it’s hard,” I said, throat tightening. “Because the bad people… they keep winning. Every time I get back up, someone else knocks me down. And I’m tired. I’m so tired of pretending that I’m not scared or broken or completely out of
control.”
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