Novels by nottoopeaceful3

Thaddeus set down the photograph he’d been holding—his mother on their front steps, smiling at the camera. “On what grounds?”“You scammed one hundred million dollars from my daughter today.” Marcus moved closer, his men flanking him. “You took advantage of a medical emergency to extract money from my family.”“I didn’t deceive anyone,” Thaddeus said calmly. “Your father offered payment for services rendered. I accepted after he insisted multiple times. There’s no fraud in that.”Marcus’s jaw tightened. “You’re a con artist who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and you saw an opportunity—”“You’re practicing the Iron Mountain technique,” Thaddeus interrupted, his tone conversational. “Modified version, probably taught to you by a military instructor about fifteen years ago.”Marcus froze. “What?”“It’s incompatible with your constitution.” Thaddeus stood, dusting off his hands. “You’re naturally water-aligned, but the technique forces your qi into earth patterns. It

The hospital tests came back like a miracle written in clinical language. Sterling’s bloodwork showed improvements that shouldn’t have been possible—inflammation markers down, organ function normalized, even his bone density better than it had been in decades. The doctor stood in the examination room with the results in hand, shaking his head in disbelief.“This is remarkable,” he said, looking between Sterling and Vivienne. “Whatever that special medication is doing, it’s working better than anything I’ve seen in thirty years of practice. Continue the regimen exactly as prescribed.”Vivienne’s face lit up with relief and vindication. Her grandfather could live for years, maybe even another decade or more. The family business would be secure. Everything would be alright.But as they left the hospital, her thoughts kept circling back to Thaddeus Crane. That fraud. That opportunist who’d somehow convinced her grandfather to hand over one hundred million dollars and earned an invitation

But Thaddeus was already moving. He pulled a thin case from his pocket, something he’d kept from his time with Augustine, and opened it to reveal a set of silver acupuncture needles. The woman gasped and tried to stop him again, but he was faster.His hands moved with precision born from three years of training under a master. The first needle slid into a pressure point on the old man’s wrist. The second went into his chest, just above the heart. Three more followed in rapid succession, placed at exact locations along meridian lines most modern doctors had forgotten existed.Then Thaddeus placed his palm against the old man’s back, closed his eyes, and channeled qi into him—energy flowing from his own body into the failing one beneath his hands. The technique was ancient, something Augustine had called “life transference,” though it wasn’t truly transferring life so much as jumpstarting the body’s own healing mechanisms.The crowd held its breath. Sixty seconds passed in silence.Then

Dorian and Margot crawled across the marble floor of the Obsidian Lounge, the chains on their wrists clinking with every humiliating move. Cordelia’s security officers walked beside them, watching without emotion as the crowd stepped aside. People laughed, jeered, and whistled mockingly, shouting crude comments that would haunt them for years.Dorian’s face burned with humiliation and rage. This disgrace, this public destruction of his dignity, was entirely Thaddeus Crane’s fault. The worthless ex-convict had somehow ruined everything. As the doors closed behind them and the night air hit his face, Dorian made himself a promise. He would make Thaddeus pay for this. No matter what it took.Inside, Thaddeus lifted Elspeth carefully into his arms. She weighed almost nothing, her body fragile from years of neglect. His coat wrapped around her shoulders, but she was still shaking.“Brother,” she whispered, her voice tight with fear. “Dorian’s family—the Blackwells, they’ll come after you.

The deep voice silenced the entire hall like a hand closing over a throat.Elspeth froze. Her hands, still braced against the blood-slick floor, trembled as recognition washed over her. She knew that voice. Had listened to it tell her bedtime stories when she was small, had heard it promise he’d always protect her, had clung to the memory of it through three years of abandonment and cruelty.Her brother.Thaddeus stood framed in the shattered doorway, pieces of mahogany still settling around his feet. His eyes found Elspeth immediately—took in her pale face, the chains binding her ankle, the blood that covered her arms and forehead and feet. Something dark and terrible moved behind his gaze, a rage so complete it seemed to warp the air around him.He stepped forward. When he spoke again, his voice had softened into something gentle, meant only for her. “I’m here. You’re safe now.”Margot’s laugh cut through the moment like breaking glass. She straightened from where she’d been leaning

The question hung in the air, unanswered and uncomfortable.Margot felt a jolt of recognition shoot through her chest. Riverbend. That was where she’d been this morning, finalizing her divorce from Thaddeus. If he hadn’t wasted so much of her time with his pathetic attempts to make her reconsider, maybe she could have stayed longer. Maybe she could have seen the new chairman herself. With her looks and charm, she could have caught his attention directly, bypassed all these middlemen, secured the partnership without needing to grovel.The thought made her blood boil. She whirled on the cage suddenly, her heel striking the iron bars with a sharp clang.The cage shook violently. Elspeth lost her balance and pitched forward, her body slamming into the internal spikes welded to the bars. A gash tore open along her forearm, deep enough that bone-white gleamed for a moment before blood welled up and spilled over. Elspeth convulsed, her scream strangled in her throat as pain overwhelmed her a