All Chapters of Shadow bound: The beast within : Chapter 131
- Chapter 140
182 chapters
Chapter 131: Whispers Beneath the Bloodline
The night was quieter than it should have been. Rome slept beneath a thin veil of fog, its streets silvered by the moonlight, its heartbeat muffled beneath the distant hum of the city. Luca stood by the window of his father’s old study, the same room that had once smelled of cigars, oak, and power. Now it smelled of dust, burnt memories, and something darker—like smoke that never left.The desk still bore his father’s mark: neat, ordered, and precise. Papers stacked with military discipline, letters sealed with the Romano crest, and a silver lighter engraved with the initials V.R. But behind that order was chaos—a life built on silence, loyalty, and blood.Luca traced his fingers over a photograph left lying face-down. When he turned it over, he froze. His father stood beside Emilio Marcelli, smiling. Both men were younger, standing in front of what looked like the ruins of an old monastery. There was a mark carved into the stone behind them—a symbol he had seen only once before. A circ
Chapter 132: The Keeper of Shadows
The road to the monastery wound through the hills like a scar carved into the land. The city lights had long faded behind me, swallowed by the fog that rolled down from the mountains. My headlights flickered across half-buried statues and cracked stone pillars, relics of a time when faith still had a voice.By the time I reached the gates, night had fallen completely. The iron was rusted, its hinges groaning when I pushed them open. Inside, the courtyard was empty except for the sound of wind moving through the hollow windows. The air smelled of rain and old incense.It felt like stepping into a memory I didn’t belong to.My father used to speak of this place when I was younger. He said it was where the Romano line first began—before power, before blood. I had thought it was just another story, one of those myths he used to hide the truth. But now, standing here with the curse humming faintly beneath my skin, I could feel it. The ground itself recognized me.I moved carefully through the
Chapter 133: The Lie Beneath the Blood
The drive back from the monastery felt longer than it should have. The rain had started again, steady and cold, like the sky itself was washing away everything I thought I knew. My hands were tight on the steering wheel, my mind replaying Rian’s words until they echoed louder than the thunder outside.“Someone inside your house let him in.”That sentence wouldn’t leave me.I’d faced death, betrayal, and shadows that crawled through my veins—but nothing compared to that single possibility. That night my father died, the blood spilled wasn’t just because of enemies outside the gate… but because of someone inside.I pulled over near the cliffs outside Verona, the same place I used to go with my father when I was a boy. Back then, we’d come here to breathe, to look out at the city lights and imagine the world wasn’t as broken as it was. Now it just looked like ashes in the rain.I leaned against the car and tried to steady my thoughts. The curse pulsed faintly beneath my skin, restless, as if
Chapter 134: The Letter That Never Burned
The storm didn’t stop as we drove back toward the ruins of the old Romano estate. The world outside the windshield was a blur of rain and memory. Every road we passed carried a ghost of something I’d tried to forget—the vineyard walls my father built, the gate where I used to wait for his car headlights after every business trip.Now, it all felt like driving through a graveyard.Valeria sat quietly beside me. She hadn’t spoken since the cliff. Her fingers rested in her lap, trembling slightly each time lightning flashed. I wanted to reach for her hand, but something held me back—maybe guilt, maybe fear. Or maybe the unspoken truth was that we were walking straight into something neither of us would come out of unchanged.When the estate finally came into view, it was nothing but bones. The walls had caved in years ago, and the vines had swallowed the courtyard. But the stone pillars still stood, scorched black where the fire had eaten through. I stopped the car near the main archway, ki
Chapter 135: The Ruins Remember
The rain had softened to a drizzle, but the air still carried that electric charge—the kind that comes right before something terrible happens. Rian stood at the edge of the courtyard, the wind tugging at his coat, his silhouette framed by the broken arch where the old Romano crest still hung. His smile didn’t reach his eyes.For a long moment, neither of us moved.I could hear Valeria’s breath behind me, shallow and uneven. My pulse beat like thunder in my ears. The last time I had seen Rian, he had been nothing but a ghost in the shadows—a name my father used to whisper like a curse. Now he was real. Flesh, blood, and danger.I took a step forward, mud squelching under my boots. “You shouldn’t be here.”He chuckled quietly. “Neither should you. But here we are—back where it all ended.” His gaze drifted across the ruins, as if he were admiring the handiwork. “Leonardo always did know how to throw a grand party.”The mention of my father’s name made my fists tighten. “Don’t talk about him.
Chapter 136: The Echo of Her Voice
The night was too still. The kind of stillness that felt alive, like something was holding its breath, waiting for me to make the wrong move. The city outside my window slept in its usual chaos, engines humming in the distance, streetlights bleeding through the fog. But inside, it was silent. Too silent.I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my hands. They didn’t tremble anymore, but sometimes I wished they would. At least then I’d know I was still human. The blood under my skin pulsed differently now, slower, heavier, like something ancient had taken its place. I remembered what Elen said—that the mirror was a curse disguised as salvation. And maybe she was right. Because even though I destroyed it, its reflection still lived inside me.Tonight, I could feel her again. Valeria.Not in the way a man remembers the woman he loved—but like a shadow brushing against the walls of my mind. She wasn’t a ghost. She wasn’t alive either. She was somewhere in between, trapped in that thin veil o
Chapter 137: Bloodline of Shadows
The rain fell over Rome like a confession. The city lights blurred through the downpour, turning the streets into rivers of gold and shadow. Luca stood before the old Romano mansion, his coat soaked, the weight of the ledger still heavy in his hand. Inside it were pages his father had hidden, names that had shaped the bloodlines of both loyalty and ruin. But it was the final entry that refused to leave his mind.Trust no brother. The curse feeds through betrayal.The words were written in Vittorio’s hand, uneven, almost desperate.A flash of lightning tore across the sky, and suddenly Luca was no longer standing in the rain. He was a boy again, ten years old, sitting on his father’s desk as the Don signed papers under the dim glow of the chandelier.“Why do you write so much, Father?” Luca had asked, swinging his legs.Don Vittorio looked up, smiling the way men rarely smiled in their world. “Because, my son, ink remembers what people choose to forget.”He tapped the page with his pen. “One
Chapter 138: The Night It Chose Him
The rain started before midnight, soft at first, then harder, a steady drumming against the glass that filled the silence Rian had left behind. I stood by the window, staring into the blur of city lights below. Every drop that hit the glass felt like a heartbeat, a memory, a whisper from the past refusing to stay buried.When Rian returned, he didn’t say a word at first. His clothes were damp, his hair was slicked back with rain, and his eyes were darker than before. He dropped something on the table—a small black box, the kind used for jewelry—but I knew better. Nothing Rian brought ever carried beauty alone.“What’s that?” I asked quietly.He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he poured himself a drink, sat across from me, and let out a long breath. “It’s your father’s,” he finally said. “Or what’s left of him.”The words hit me harder than they should have. I looked at the box again, unsure if I wanted to open it. “You told me everything was burned that night.”“Not everything.” Rian’s
Chapter 139: Shadows Don’t Die
The night smelled of rain and old smoke. I stood on the balcony of the apartment, staring down at the city that never seemed to rest. Lights flickered below, people moved like restless ghosts, and in their noise, I could almost hear my father’s voice again—faint, buried beneath the weight of memory.It had been years since that fire. Years since I watched the only man who ever made me believe in strength turn to ash. But the past had a way of following me, of clawing at the edges of my mind like a shadow that refused to die. And tonight, it was back.The letter had arrived at dawn—no name, no signature, just a seal burned into the corner. The same symbol that had been carved into the door the night my father died. A serpent eating its tail. A mark of silence.My hands trembled as I unfolded the parchment again.“The fire wasn’t an accident. Seek the one who walks in firelight.”The words had haunted me all day. Every breath I took felt heavier. Every whisper of wind sounded like a warning.
Chapter 140: The Seal Beneath the Fire
The storm didn’t stop all night. The rain kept falling, turning the ground around the old mansion into a pool of mud and memories I wanted to drown in. Rian tried to speak a few times, but there were no words left to fix what I’d just heard.My mother.I still couldn’t say it out loud. The thought of her standing there, watching everything burn—it tore through me like something alive.I sat on the broken steps, head in my hands, watching the smoke rise from what used to be our home. The fire was gone, but I could still feel its warmth on my skin, as if time hadn’t moved at all.“Luca,” Rian said quietly, stepping closer. “You can’t stay here.”I didn’t look up. “You can leave. I’ll follow when I can.”He hesitated, then sighed. “Fine. But don’t do anything stupid.”When he walked back to the car, I finally lifted my gaze. The house loomed over me, hollow and lifeless. Yet deep inside, something pulsed—like a heartbeat buried under stone.I rose slowly, the letter still in my pocket. The one t