All Chapters of KICKED LIKE A DOG, RETURNED LIKE A HIDDEN HEIR: Chapter 191
- Chapter 200
201 chapters
Survival
Chapter 180Black Veil didn’t announce itself.It moved quietly—like a shadow slipping under locked doors.Across three continents, dormant accounts came alive. Old favors were called in. Files long buried surfaced. Names that hadn’t been spoken in years appeared on Alexander’s private dashboard, blinking red.Matias stood behind him, watching the data populate in real time.“Black Veil is fully active,” he said carefully. “Phase One complete.”Alexander didn’t turn. “And Phase Two?”“Already moving,” Luca replied from the far desk. “We’ve identified five operational cells tied to the woman. Private military contractors, off-book. They’re not loyal to anyone—except money.”Alexander’s fingers tightened on the edge of the desk.“So they can be bought,” he said.“Yes,” Luca answered. “But not cheaply.”Alexander finally turned.“Then we don’t buy them,” he said calmly. “We dismantle them.”The penthouse felt different now—too quiet, too controlled. Even the air seemed monitored.She sat
Finish job
Chapter 182The memory came back wrong at first.Not as a picture, but as a sound.Metal screaming. Glass shattering. A voice shouting his name—too far away, distorted, panicked.Alexander froze mid-step in his office as the sensation hit him like a blade between the ribs.He gripped the edge of the desk, breath shallow.Matias noticed immediately. “Boss?”Alexander didn’t answer.The sound grew louder in his head.A woman’s voice.Not Selena.Older. Colder. Controlled.“Make sure he survives.”Alexander’s fingers curled into a fist.“Boss,” Matias said again, sharper now.Alexander straightened slowly. His face had gone pale, but his eyes—his eyes were burning.“I remember something,” he said.Luca looked up instantly. “What kind of something?”“The night of the accident,” Alexander replied. “I wasn’t the target.”Silence slammed into the room.Matias frowned. “What do you mean?”“They didn’t want me dead,” Alexander said quietly. “They wanted me erased.”Selena was in the kitchen wh
Hunting
Chapter 183The first mistake the woman made was assuming Alexander would react emotionally.The second was believing she still understood him.Alexander didn’t move immediately after discovering the authorization file. He didn’t confront anyone. He didn’t rage. He didn’t tighten security or pull Selena closer out of fear.Instead, he did what he did best.He disappeared.Not physically—his face still appeared in meetings, his signature still moved contracts, his voice still answered calls. But the real Alexander Morrelo slipped into the shadows, operating beneath layers even his closest men weren’t aware of.Only Matias knew.And Selena.“Why now?” Selena asked quietly as they sat in the private war room beneath the Morrelo estate. “Why let yourself remember now?”Alexander stared at the holographic display rotating between hospital blueprints, old medical logs, and redacted personnel files.“Because memory isn’t the weapon,” he said. “Control is.”She frowned. “Explain.”“They wiped
Message
Chapter 184Selena didn’t sleep.Not because she was afraid—but because something inside her had shifted.For the first time since Alexander pulled her out of the line of fire, she realized the truth he hadn’t said out loud:She wasn’t being protected anymore.She was being prepared.At dawn, she dressed herself without assistance. No guards hovering. No calls cleared in advance. She chose a simple outfit, hair loose, face bare of strategy.When Alexander found her in the private library, standing before a wall of old Morrelo portraits, he knew immediately.“You’ve decided something,” he said.Selena didn’t turn. “You once told me power doesn’t come from force. It comes from position.”“Yes.”She faced him then. “You moved me off the board because I was valuable. But you forgot something.”Alexander waited.“I was never fragile,” she said. “I was unseen.”His expression shifted—subtle, sharp.“What are you planning?” he asked.Selena stepped closer. “I’m going to step into the light.
Future
Chapter 185The cost arrived quietly.Alexander discovered it at 6:14 a.m., while the city was still pretending to sleep.Three Morrelo-controlled humanitarian corridors—routes used to move medical supplies through conflict zones—had been suspended overnight. No explanation. No appeal window.Just a cold international directive stamped with unanimous consent.Leonardo read the notice twice, then once more aloud. “They’re citing ethical review failures.”Alexander’s fingers curled slowly against the desk.“That review board answers to no one,” Matias said. “It’s a ghost committee.”“No,” Alexander replied. “It’s a message.”Selena stood near the window, arms crossed, face unreadable.“They’re punishing the people you protect,” she said.Alexander didn’t deny it.“They want me to choose efficiency over exposure,” he said. “Silence over scrutiny.”Selena turned to him. “Then don’t.”That was the moment Alexander understood something dangerous.She wasn’t asking for permission.She was as
Survival
Chapter 186The first crack didn’t come from the enemy.It came from inside the room.Leonardo was the one who said it.“If Selena joins that council,” he said slowly, “she becomes a symbol. Symbols don’t belong to themselves.”Selena didn’t look away. “Neither do leaders.”Leonardo met her gaze. “Leaders choose when to be visible. Symbols don’t get that luxury.”Alexander watched the exchange without interrupting. This wasn’t about authority. This was about truth—three people standing on different sides of the same blade.Matias broke the silence. “There’s chatter already. Analysts are speculating about a fracture inside Morrelo leadership.”Selena exhaled. “That fast?”Alexander nodded. “They’re hoping for distance. Emotional, operational—any kind.”Selena turned to him. “Then let’s deny them that.”She reached for his hand again—but this time, Alexander didn’t immediately take it.Not because he didn’t want to.Because he understood what was coming.“If you step into that council,”
challenge
Chapter 187At exactly 4:12 a.m., he stood in his study, staring at a locked drawer he hadn’t opened in over fifteen years. The wood was worn smooth where his thumb rested—proof that some habits never left, only waited.He opened it.Inside lay a single key and an old insignia—unmarked, unofficial, never registered. The kind of symbol that didn’t belong to governments but to operations governments pretended never happened.Leonardo closed his eyes.“So they found it,” he murmured.He didn’t call Alexander.Not yet.Because once spoken, some truths could never be taken back.Selena’s day took an unexpected turn.The council meeting was cut short when a junior analyst—barely thirty, too nervous to lie convincingly—handed her a sealed envelope.“No return address,” the analyst said. “It was marked personal.”Selena waited until she was alone before opening it.Inside was not a threat.Not a warning.It was a photograph.An old one.Leonardo—much younger—standing beside a woman Selena had
Unauthorized
Chapter 188Alexander didn’t react immediately after Selena told him about her father.That silence worried her more than anger ever could.He stood by the glass wall of his office, the city stretched beneath him like a living map, every light a decision, every shadow a threat. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, controlled.“They didn’t pick him by accident.”Selena nodded. “I know.”“They’re looking for emotional leverage,” Alexander continued. “Something older than money. Older than power.”Selena stepped closer. “Then stop shielding me from it. Let me stand where I’m strongest.”Alexander turned to her, studying her face—not as someone he needed to protect, but as a partner choosing the battlefield.“You’re sure?” he asked.Selena didn’t hesitate. “If they’re going to use my family, then I should be the one facing them.”For the first time since Black Veil was activated, Alexander changed strategy.“Then we go on offense,” he said. “Not with force. With exposure.”The follow
Home coming
Chapter 189Alexander reached Paxton’s building in under twelve minutes.Too fast.The kind of speed that came from instinct, not planning.The lobby was quiet—too quiet. No security desk clerk. No ambient music. Just the low hum of electricity and the soft echo of Alexander’s footsteps as he crossed the marble floor.Matias’s voice came through his earpiece. “No forced entry detected. Cameras looped for forty-six seconds.”Alexander stopped walking.“Forty-six?” he asked.“That’s not a glitch,” Luca added. “That’s a signature.”Alexander’s jaw tightened. “They wanted him conscious.”He stepped into the elevator and hit the top floor.Paxton’s apartment door was open.Not broken.Open.Alexander entered slowly, every sense sharpened.The apartment looked… normal.No overturned furniture. No blood. No signs of struggle.But something was wrong.The air felt wrong.Paxton sat on the couch, hands resting on his knees, posture straight. His eyes followed Alexander, but his expression didn
Ends
Chapter 190The betrayal didn’t come loudly.It arrived wrapped in procedure.Alexander was midway through a risk briefing when Luca’s tablet vibrated twice—priority code. Luca glanced at it, stiffened, then slowly looked up.“Boss,” he said carefully, “we have a problem.”Alexander didn’t interrupt the meeting. He raised one finger, finished his sentence, dismissed the room, and only then turned.“Talk.”Luca swallowed. “The injunction wasn’t filed externally. It was initiated internally.”Silence.Matias leaned forward. “That’s impossible. Only three departments have access to that authority.”Alexander’s expression didn’t change. “Which one?”Luca turned the tablet around.Filed by: Morrelo Legal Oversight CommitteeAuthorizing Signature: D. HargreeveMatias swore. “Hargreeve? He’s been with the family for twenty years.”Alexander nodded once. “That’s why he was trusted.”“And now?” Luca asked.Alexander straightened. “Now we confirm something I’ve suspected since Jeffery fell.”He