All Chapters of The Billionaire and his Blood-Bride: Chapter 41
- Chapter 50
182 chapters
Chapter Forty-One – Grey’s Reflection
Meanwhile, Grey paced the hallway near the main entrance of the mansion, his boots echoing against the polished stone floors. The estate, for all its grandeur, seemed alive with its own rhythm—the groan of beams settling, the faint creak of a distant door, the whisper of wind through cracked windowpanes. Each sound made him tighten his grip on the small leather-bound case at his side.He thought of Lana upstairs, alone in the room she had claimed for herself. A quiet force, resilient yet vulnerable. The thought made him clench his jaw; he wanted to guard her, protect her, and yet he knew that his presence here could not shield her from every danger.The mansion was imposing, a fortress draped in elegance, but to him it felt like a cage. Every corridor led somewhere, yet he could never be sure which path would bring them closer to their goals or farther into peril. His mind ticked with possibilities, contingencies, and the weight of responsibility he carried.Grey stopped by a tall win
Chapter Forty-Two – Conversations in Quiet
Lana descended the mansion’s staircase, her shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders. The hall was silent, almost reverent, the thick carpet muffling each step. The European mansion felt both grand and intimate, the flicker of the fire from the library calling her forward. Grey was there, leaning against the desk, tall and still. His eyes lifted as she entered, and for a moment, silence held them both in place. “I wanted to speak with you,” Lana said softly. “Before tomorrow. Before we open it.” He nodded, gesturing to the chair across from him. “I was hoping you would.” She sank into the seat, smoothing her shawl over her lap. Outside, rain tapped lightly against the tall windows. Inside, the mansion seemed to hold its breath. “I…” Lana began, unsure how to start. “I grew up somewhere safe, predictable. My family… they weren’t wealthy, but they had stability. I thought that was enough. I thought I knew what life would be.” Grey listened quietly, hands resting on the desk
Chapter Forty-Three – The Weight of Tomorrow
The knock did not come again.Grey opened the door to find only emptiness — the corridor dim, shadows stretched across the paneled walls. He lingered for a moment, listening, before closing it again with deliberate care.When he turned, Lana was still by the fire. She hadn’t moved, though her hand was pressed against her chest where the locket lay hidden.“No one?” she asked.“No one,” Grey confirmed. But his expression stayed guarded.He crossed the room, standing near the window, looking down over the manicured lawns and the dark sweep of forest beyond the iron gates. The rain had slowed, leaving the night mist curling like smoke across the grass. Somewhere out there, danger was waiting — not here yet, but circling, biding its time.Lana rose from her chair and joined him at the window. For a while they stood side by side, saying nothing. The mansion seemed too large around them, its silence heavy with old secrets.“It’s strange,” she whispered at last. “I used to dream of places li
Chapter Forty-Four – Edges in Firelight
The storm had quieted to a whisper beyond the stone walls. In the library, the fire burned low, the crackle of its embers the only sound cutting through the silence.Lana sat in one of the high-backed chairs, the locket warm against her skin beneath her blouse. She couldn’t remember the last time her body had felt this still — but her mind raced as though it had never learned how to stop.Across from her, Grey leaned forward, forearms braced on his knees, the firelight throwing amber into his sharp profile. He wasn’t speaking, and neither was she, but the space between them vibrated with things unspoken.When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than she expected. “You asked me once why I don’t walk away. Why I don’t sell everything I know and disappear.”Lana’s gaze flicked to him. “I remember.”He turned the glass in his hand slowly, though he hadn’t touched the drink inside. “I could’ve. More than once. But power… it isn’t just money. It isn’t leverage. It’s knowing where all th
Chapter Forty-Five – The Fracture in the Quiet
The silence between them was razor-sharp, the kind that begged to break. Grey hadn’t moved, and neither had Lana, but the firelight etched every line of tension on their faces.Her pulse thundered in her ears. If he said another word, if he reached for her again, she wasn’t sure what would happen — what she would let happen.But before she could find out, the mansion itself answered for them.A sharp crack split the night — not thunder, not the old timbers settling. Glass. Shattered glass.Grey was on his feet in an instant, the mask sliding back into place so fast it made her chest ache. “Stay here.”She rose too. “Don’t you dare—”“Lana.” His voice was low, commanding, not cruel but final. He crossed to the wall and pulled open a concealed panel she hadn’t noticed before. Behind it, a steel drawer slid free with the press of his palm. From inside, he retrieved a sleek pistol, its weight sure and familiar in his grip.The fire’s glow had changed him again. No longer the young man she
Chapter Forty-Six – The Breach
The first sound was not a shout, nor even the blast of gunfire, but the low groan of reinforced doors giving way. Grey had been half-turned toward the fire, Lana at his side, when the mansion itself seemed to tremble. The thunder outside drowned most of it, but the reverberation through the marble floors left no doubt: they weren’t alone anymore.Seraphine reacted first. She was already moving, her dark coat flaring as she drew a sleek pistol from the inside lining. “They’ve breached the east entrance.” Her voice was clipped, every word sharpened by experience.Grey’s jaw locked. “How many?”“Too many for subtlety,” she replied without looking back.Lana felt her pulse kick against her ribs. She pressed a hand to the locket at her throat, the small weight like a talisman, though it offered no real shield. She had barely absorbed the revelations of the past days — the vault, the chest, the truth about her bloodline — when this storm came roaring to claim her.“Stay close,” Grey told he
Chapter Forty-Seven – Fire on Marble
The grand staircase had become a war zone. Shards of chandelier glass crunched underfoot, smoke stung the air, and the polished marble now ran slick with crimson.Grey’s blade carved arcs of steel through the tight crush of bodies, each strike brutal and efficient. He fought like a man who had no choice, every movement measured to protect the one person pressed close behind him.“Stay with me, Lana!” His voice was raw with command.She could barely breathe, but she obeyed, clutching the curve of his sleeve, her knuckles white. The roar of gunfire split the hall, deafening her, but somehow his words always cut through the chaos.Seraphine covered their flank with machine precision. Every bullet she loosed found its mark. Her coat flared with her movements, her expression unflinching even as the walls of the mansion seemed to collapse under the storm of intruders.But for every man they cut down, more filled the space. A tide, endless and merciless.“They’re not retreating,” Seraphine h
Chapter Forty-Eight – The Passage Beneath
The stairwell ended in silence.Cool stone closed around them, the air damp with age, smelling of iron and earth. A lantern mounted on the wall sputtered weakly, its flame trembling as though it, too, feared the dark.Lana pressed against Grey’s side, her hand still locked in his. Her ears rang with the echoes of the mansion above — the screams, the fire, the relentless crash of gunfire. Now it was all muffled, distant, like a storm raging far out at sea.But her body wouldn’t let go of the terror. Her legs trembled as she stepped onto the uneven floor, her breath sharp in her throat.Grey released her hand only long enough to light another lantern from the wall. The glow flared, stretching shadows down the corridor. He turned, his face streaked with soot and blood, but his voice steady.“Keep close. These passages weren’t meant for anyone outside the family. They’ll twist back on themselves if you don’t know the way.”Lana swallowed, her fingers brushing the locket beneath her blouse
Chapter Forty-Nine – The Hunt in the Woods
The forest swallowed them whole.Branches clawed at Lana’s clothes as she ran, the damp earth sucking at her boots. The night pressed in from every side, thick with pine and fog, and the faint glow of the burning mansion faded behind them with each step.But it wasn’t silence they ran into.The sharp crack of gunfire split the trees, followed by the guttural shouts of men. Searchlights slashed across the darkness, sweeping the trunks like hunting spears. The mercenaries had followed.“Down!” Grey yanked Lana low just as a beam of light skimmed over where her head had been. She hit the ground hard, breath knocked from her lungs. Beside them, Seraphine cursed under her breath and raised her gun, eyes narrowing.“They’re spreading wide,” she said, her tone like steel. “We’re the foxes in the hunt.”Grey glanced around, his mind working faster than his breath. The forest was familiar to him—he’d studied its ridges and paths from the estate’s maps—but under fire, every shadow looked the sa
Chapter Fifty – The Hidden Mark
The flare’s crimson glow still bled through the forest canopy as they pushed forward, branches snapping against their soaked clothes. Grey’s grip on Lana’s hand was unrelenting, the only tether pulling her through the chaos. Her lungs screamed, her legs burned, and still they ran.The mercenaries weren’t far. Their shouts carried on the night air, deliberate and sharp, like wolves driving prey into a trap.“We’re too exposed,” Seraphine hissed, pausing near a low ridge. She crouched, scanning the trees through her scope. “They’re spreading tighter. They’ll herd us east.”Grey’s jaw set. “They won’t herd us anywhere.” He angled Lana down a narrower path, shielded on both sides by thick brush.But even before Lana could breathe relief, a sound ripped through the night — the crash of bodies tearing through undergrowth from their left. Too close.“Down!” Grey shoved Lana aside just as gunfire shredded the air where they’d been standing. Bark splintered, spraying into Lana’s hair. She drop