All Chapters of BLOOD AND ASHES : Chapter 71
- Chapter 80
113 chapters
THE SAINT’S REVENGE
The rain hissed louder now, angry and endless, soaking everything it touched. Smoke and thunder rolled together above Ciudad de Sanvelis, turning the skyline into a furnace of shadow and light.Tobias stood there—still, drenched, unmoving—his black coat clinging to him like a second skin. In his hand, the small device kept blinking red, pulsing like a heartbeat in the dark.Luis stared at it, breathing hard, his gun was trembling. “What… what the hell is that thing?”Tobias tilted his head slightly, his lips curving into a faint smile.“This, this is a surprise for you.”Luis’s men exchanged looks. The three of them shuffled their feet, uncertain whether to shoot or run. The only sound was rain pelting the metal railing, and the faint whimper of the tied-up girls behind them.Tobias’s voice came again—low, steady, and calm enough to be terrifying.“You like surprises, don’t you, Luis? You liked scaring those girls. You liked playing god.”Luis swallowed, the taste of smoke and fear wa
THE FATHER’S BARGAIN
The chapel was silent except for the soft hiss of rain whispering against its stained-glass windows.Candles burned low across the altar, their flames swaying like souls trapped between faith and fear.Father Romeo knelt before the cross, the rosary trembling in his hands. His eyes were closed, his voice raw.“Lord,” he murmured, “I have failed You. I have failed as a shepherd… and as a father.”His words echoed through the hollow hall, fading into the vaulted ceilings above. His knees ached from the marble, but he didn’t care. Every prayer that left his lips came with tears — not for himself, but for the child he had lost to the world.He raised his face toward the crucifix. “Please,” he whispered, “bring her home. I don’t deserve it, but she does. She’s still Your child… she’s still mine in spirit.”The flicker of candles dimmed.Then — there was a sound.The heavy wooden doors groaned open.Father Romeo’s head turned sharply. The first instinct was fear; he’d grown used to the soun
WHISPERS BENEATH THE ALTAR
Father Romeo chuckled softly, wiping his tears. “Ah. So that’s what this is about.”He turned fully toward Tobias, resting his palms on the edge of the altar. “You really think she’s mine, despite speaking to you about our history don’t you?”“I think,” Tobias replied, “that you’re a man who hides things behind confessions.”The priest laughed again — a tired, harmless sound. “That young girl has never lived with me in my house, Mr. Sheldon. She stays with her foster parents. She only comes here to help with the choir, clean the pews, and assist the sisters.”Tobias’s expression didn’t change.Father Romeo walked a few steps closer, the crucifix towering above them both. “As I told you, I saved her years ago from Saint Celia’s,” he continued quietly. “She was abandoned — half-starved, terrified. I brought her here, gave her to a couple in the congregation to raise. But she never stopped calling me Father. I tried to let her go, but she refused.”His gaze softened. “There’s a bond that
THE CHAPEL OF SAINT VENERA
The priest’s eyes lifted to the great crucifix above the altar. “To the ruins of Saint Venera,” he said at last. “An old chapel built before the revolution — abandoned after the fires of 1824. No one prays there now. No one dares to.”“Why?” Tobias asked.“Because the ground remembers,” Father Romeo whispered. “Saint Venera once held a sanctuary for the dying. When the war came, it became a vault for gold and arms. Later, the Poderon family turned it into something else — a treasury hidden under God’s name.”He moved to the altar, his steps echoing softly. From beneath it, he drew out a weather-worn wooden box and opened it with a creak. Inside lay an old parchment sealed in red wax.“Is that a map?” Tobias asked quietly.Father Romeo nodded. “It was given to me years ago by a man whose family was under attack from forces that couldn't be traced until this day. Everyone from the Poderon family was killed."A form of familiarity dawned on Tobias because he remembered the story. All of
DAWN – THE ROAD TO SAINT VENERA
By morning, the rain had thinned to mist.Tobias’s car tore through the fog-choked countryside, its engine coughing against the cold. The dashboard clock read 5:12 A.M. and his phone screen glowed faintly with a cruel truth: Account balance — $7.82 million.He smirked to himself. Seven dollars or seven million — influence still spends better than money.The folded parchment lay beside him, next to Elena’s coded note — the one Camila Orantes had given him, the folded paper containing the code he smuggled out of Delgado’s desk. The triangulated coordinates lined up perfectly with the map Father Romeo had given him.Two trails. One truth.When the first light of dawn bled over the horizon, the ruins appeared — half-swallowed by the fog like a cathedral of ghosts.The place looked older than memory itself.Stone walls blackened by fire still stood, cracked and bent beneath creeping vines. A single steeple rose like a finger of ash pointing to the heavens.Broken angels lined the pathway,
THE FOG OF OWNERSHIP
The air around Saint Venera had grown heavy again.Fog rolled in thick ribbons over the valley floor, curling around the cracked statues and the blackened steeple like living breath. Tobias stood near the car, his coat brushing against the mist, his eyes were fixed on the name glowing on his phone screen: Don Esteban Dorada.He hesitated, his thumb hovering above the green icon—then pressed.He heard the voice from the background as it began talking.“Okay,” he said simply, his voice was low, steady.Then, almost deliberately, he added, “Saint Venera Ruins. Southeast ridge. Old cathedral perimeter.”Static hissed softly on the line. A click followed.And then—silence.Tobias lowered the phone. The faint echo of engines still reverberated across the fog. He knew what that silence meant. He had just painted a target on the map.Davide Del Mantuno’s laughter was the first sound to break the quiet.He stepped forward, his tailored coat gleaming faintly beneath the weak morning light, cig
THE CROWS OFFER
The laughter came first.Loud, cruel, echoing through the ruins of Saint Venera like a choir of jackals.Davide Del Mantuno’s cigar shook between his fingers as he pointed at Tobias, laughter spilling from his mouth until tears gathered in his eyes.“Good Lord,” he choked between gasps. “You’ve finally gone mad, Sheldon! Tell me, what do they feed you at that run-down school of yours—ghost stories?”The men around him erupted again. Their laughter rolled through the mist, bouncing off the blackened chapel walls. Even Alvaro Mendez de Larios, the property negotiator, smiled behind his restraint.Tobias didn’t flinch. He stood still, his coat stirring faintly in the cold wind, his eyes were fixed on Davide like a hawk studying prey that didn’t know it was being hunted.Davide smirked and gestured broadly. “Look at him—wandering among ruins and talking in riddles. Tell me, gentlemen, doesn’t he sound like a priest who’s lost his sermon?”One of Davide’s bodyguards snorted. “Are you sure
THE SILENT COMMAND
Davide’s voice rose in outrage. “You can’t be serious, Alvaro! You mean you would actually entertain this madness?”Alvaro shrugged, he looked professional and calm, but there was a glimmer of greed in his eyes. “A higher bid benefits all parties. You of all people should understand that.”Davide’s nostrils flared. “He’s bluffing. He has nothing. Don’t play games with me!”Alvaro raised a hand, ignoring him. “We’ll start the bidding at seven million.”The assistant looked stunned but began preparing his notes.Alvaro’s tone turned formal. “We begin in five…”Davide scoffed. “This is absurd.”“Four…”The wind picked up, dragging fog across their faces. The valley seemed to whisper with it.“Three…”Tobias’s coat flapped lightly in the breeze. He didn’t move. His eyes were locked on the road beyond the ruins, a faint glimmer reflecting in them like distant headlights.“Two—”The sound of engines ripped through the air.Loud. Deep. Approaching fast.Everyone turned at once.Through the f
THE PRICE OF FEAR
The mist hadn’t moved.It hung over the valley like a veil of ghosts—dense, watchful, unblinking.And in that cold silence, Tobias Sheldon’s voice cut through like a blade.“Let’s begin. I’m ready.”The words were simple, but the tone behind them was something else—steady, lethal, calm as a loaded gun on a table.Alvaro blinked once, the corners of his lips twitching. He straightened his jacket, forcing himself to sound composed. “Very well,” he said, glancing at his assistant. “Let the bidding commence.”The assistant nodded, adjusting his notepad with trembling hands. “Starting at seven million,” he announced. His voice cracked on the number.“Eight million,” Davide snapped immediately. His chin was raised, confidence flickering back into his expression. He gave Tobias a smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes.“Nine million,” Tobias replied, without a blink.There was no hesitation. No show of calculation. Just that single, sharp word that sliced through the fog like thunder.Alvaro
THE BID THAT BROKE A KING
Davide’s lips parted, but no sound came.Alvaro cleared his throat, breaking the tension. “Do we have a higher bid?”The valley waited.Davide’s assistant spoke again, his voice was low but urgent. “Sir, please—our budget—this is beyond safe limits. If you push this any further, the board will—”“I said shut up!” Davide barked, spinning on him. “You think I’ll lose to this lunatic?!”He turned back to Tobias, fury glowing behind his eyes. “Forty-five.”Tobias didn’t even breathe. “Fifty.”The assistant nearly dropped his clipboard. The fog seemed to recoil.Davide stared at him, disbelief was written all over his face. “Fifty million?”“Fifty,” Tobias repeated, as if confirming a receipt at a supermarket counter.It was casual. Effortless.And that calmness was killing Davide faster than the number itself.“You’re bluffing,” he hissed. “You can’t pay that much.”Tobias gave a faint smile, the kind that said I’ve already won. “Then call it.”Davide’s nostrils flared. He turned to Alvar