2025-08-31 01:38:20
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
230
229. Eva had never been the type to wait for things. When she wanted something, she went after it with a smile. Or a frown. Sometimes with a gun, it depended on the situation. That evening, she had arranged everything to perfection, the candles, the wine, and a table set for two inside one of the smaller dining rooms of her estate. It wasn’t grand like the hall she used for parties. This room was more intimate, and the fragrances in the air were the type to spark some kind of emotion in one’s heart. Devin walked in with a frown on his face. He hated the place already. It was beautiful, but the fact that it was Eva’s made him feel disgust all over. “You asked for me.”Devin said flatly when he arrived, putting his hands in his pockets. “What is this?” Eva’s eyes glittered as she leaned forward on the table, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. “Dinner. Just dinner, don’t look so suspicious.” “With you?” Devin raised a brow. “That already sounds like I’m getting poisoned
Chapter 228
Got it — you want a full extended novel chapter (~2,000 words) built on that outline alone:•Eva disrupts a meeting, mocking Devin as too soft.•Devin smiles, but later corners one of her spies and has him executed as a message: softness is not weakness.Here’s the chapter:⸻Chapter Thirty-Five: The Mask of SoftnessThe chamber of the Inner Council was a room built to remind men of their smallness. Its ceiling vaulted so high that voices echoed back faintly delayed, its frescoes painted with images of conquest and divine mandate. The great table, carved from a single oak felled three centuries before, stretched nearly the length of the hall. At that table sat the empire’s keepers: generals, financiers, and power-brokers draped in velvet and furs, each nursing their own ambitions behind polished masks of civility.Devin sat among them with the ease of a man who understood performance. His suit was understated — black wool, the cut immaculate but without ostentation. Before him lay
Chapter 227
The storm had broken by the time Devin dismissed Mat, leaving only the hiss of rain against the tower windows and the occasional groan of wind through the shutters. The city glittered below, streets slick with water, lamps reflected in every puddle. Devin sat alone at his desk, his hands folded neatly atop the polished oak where Mat’s blood still lingered in invisible traces no cloth could quite erase.To anyone else, the office would have looked serene — a fortress of control, every document ordered, every object in place. But for the first time in years, Devin had broken his own pattern. He had lost the stillness he prized, slammed a man’s head against wood not once but several times, and in doing so, revealed a glimpse of something he usually kept chained deep inside.He did not know that he had been watched.⸻The spy had not meant to linger. He had been tasked with little more than routine observation: track Devin’s habits, report any irregularities, confirm whether the rumors of
Chapter 226
The night settled heavy over the city, pressing down with the weight of rain-soaked clouds. Wind rattled against the windows of the capitol building, whispering through cracks in the stone like the hushed breath of conspirators. In the high tower of the administrative wing, the lamps burned low, their light painting long shadows across hallways lined with portraits of dead men whose eyes seemed to follow anyone who passed.Mat waited in those shadows, his body pressed tight against the cold wall, listening. He had been counting the guard rotations all week. Devin kept his office heavily protected, but even careful men trusted in patterns — and patterns could be broken.Tonight was his chance.The corridor beyond was empty. Mat’s breath clouded faintly in the chill, and he drew his hood lower over his face before stepping lightly into the open. His boots made no sound on the rug that ran the length of the hall. Ahead, Devin’s door loomed, iron-banded and heavy.Mat crouched, pulling a
Chapter 225
The chamber smelled faintly of cigar smoke and old oak polish, the kind of scent that clung to politics as stubbornly as power itself. Devin sat at the long table, his papers stacked in neat lines before him, his expression calm. The meeting had already dragged on an hour past schedule — debates about allocations, disputes over enforcement, the usual tedious theatre of governance.The others barely noticed the double doors swing open until they slammed against the wall.Eva.She swept into the room with the poise of a queen, her crimson coat billowing like a banner. Her heels clicked against the polished floor, commanding attention. Conversations faltered, heads turned, and silence spread as if her presence alone had sucked the air from the chamber.“Gentlemen,” she purred, her voice cutting like silk drawn over glass. “And Devin.”Her smile when it landed on him was all mockery.Devin did not rise. He remained seated, fingers laced loosely, posture unyielding. “Eva,” he said, his ton
Chapter 224
The rain had been falling since dawn, turning the city’s granite facades into slick mirrors and flooding the gutters with a sluggish brown current. Devin moved quickly through the marbled corridor of the capitol annex, his polished shoes clicking against the floor, his expression carefully composed. But inside, his thoughts churned.Senator Halvorsen was missing.The official story was that the senator had left for a “private retreat” somewhere north of the city. But Devin knew better. No one at the office had seen him in three days. No staff memos. No phone calls. No trace on the usual travel manifests. For a man as tightly scheduled as Halvorsen, that kind of silence was not just unusual — it was impossible.And then there was Eva.Her name flickered through Devin’s mind like the snap of a lighter in a dark room. Elegant, untouchable Eva, who had a way of pulling strings without ever being seen holding them. She moved through politics like smoke, elusive yet suffocating. And Petra —
You may also like
Revenge Of The Rejected Heir
Beautypete95.0K viewsThe Secret Billionaire Son-in-law
Perry will84.8K viewsBuilding My Life
Anderson José141.0K viewsBro, what! He has a Quintillion?
Zuxian67.8K viewsThe Lost Consortium Heir
Omoyemwen2.3K viewsALMIGHTY DRAGON COMES BACK FOR REVENGE
A.Manuel722 viewsSupreme Awakening Of The General's Lost Son
Divi Chris1.1K viewsThe Hidden Supreme Son-in-Law
BOSSSESamaaaa1.5K views