Lahat ng Kabanata ng BURNING WITH THE MAFIA PRINCE : Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

Adeline's POVThe east wing suite stopped feeling like a comfortable prison on day two.By day three, it felt like a tomb.I'd been allowed my phone but nothing else. No laptop, no network access, just four walls and guards.Kayden visited when he could. We had brief, tense conversations where we pretended everything would be okay.Belle had stopped responding to my texts.Eleven days until the wedding.On the morning of day three, they came for me.Tech specialist Dr. Chen, looking apologetic, accompanied by three people I didn't recognize and two Council members, Victoria and Vincent."Mrs. Gravano," Victoria said coldly. "The Council has authorized a formal technical interrogation.""I've already told you everything.""You've told us your version. Now we verify it."They set up equipment, laptops, recording devices, monitoring systems.One of the specialists, Teresa, sat across from me. "How long have you been Midnight Cerulean?""Ten years.""And you've worked alone this entire ti

Adeline's POVV arrived ninety minutes later.She was a tall, sharp-featured woman, carrying a discrete black case. She moved with the precision of someone who'd done this hundreds of times."Blue Ray." She nodded at me."V. Thank you for coming.""You said it was urgent." Her eyes flicked to Kayden. "This is the husband?""Kayden Gravano.""And you've authorized enhanced interrogation?" V asked him directly."Whatever it takes to find Annabelle," Kayden said.V nodded. "Show me the subject."They moved Grey to a secure interrogation room and strapped him into a chair.V prepared the injection with practiced efficiency."This will feel like drowsiness," she explained. "Your inhibitions will lower and lying will become extremely difficult."She injected the serum into Grey's arm.Kayden and I watched through the one-way glass. Marco stood with us. Victoria and two other Council members had also arrived.We watched Grey's eyes begin to glaze. His body relaxing."How do you feel?" V aske

Adeline's POVThe silence in the command center was deafening.Everyone stared at me, at my tear-stained face. My certainty about Grey despite all evidence to the contrary.I could see what they were thinking. A poor, grief-stricken woman, so desperate to blame someone that she's latched onto an innocent man."Adeline," Victoria said carefully. "We understand you're under tremendous stress, but Grey passed every test. The polygraph, the truth serum and professional interrogation. At some point—""At some point, you have to trust evidence over emotion," Vincent finished."My gut isn't emotion. It's instinct, and it's kept me alive for ten years.""Your gut also made you physically assault a man who turned out to be telling the truth.""Partial truth. He's still hiding something.""Or you're seeing conspiracies where there are none."I looked around the room. At the Council members, at Marco, atthe tech specialists.No one believed me.No one except—"I believe you."Kayden's voice whis

Adeline's POVThe address Russio gave us led to an industrial complex on the east side of Moruva."This is it?" Marco asked, studying the building through binoculars."According to Russio," Kayden said."Do you trust him?""No. But we don't have other options."We'd mobilized quickly a tactical team with full gear and every resource we had.The building was three stories. An old factory looking abandoned from the outside."Thermal imaging?" I asked.One of the specialists checked his equipment. "Getting readings. Multiple heat signatures from the second floor. Could be people or equipment still generating heat.""We breach in five minutes," Kayden ordered.While the team prepared, Kayden and I stood together, waiting."Grey is your half-brother," I said quietly."Technically.""Does it change anything? How do you feel about this?"He was silent for a moment. "I keep thinking about growing up. How I felt like I never had a real family. My mother died, my father was cold and distant. An

Kayden's POVThe Moruva Steel foundry complex sprawled across twenty acres of abandoned industrial wasteland. Nine buildings, all connected by a network of tunnels and catwalks that had once ferried molten steel between processing stations.Now it was a rusted graveyard of American manufacturing, condemned and forgotten.The perfect place to hide someone.We parked half a mile out, approaching on foot to avoid alerting Grey to our presence. Forty-three men, moving in tactical formation through the darkness."Foundry Seven is the northeastern building," Marco said, consulting the facility maps he'd pulled. "Three stories above ground, two basement levels. The forge and smelting equipment would be in the basement—that's where we saw Belle in the video.""Thermal imaging?" I asked.One of our tech specialists checked his equipment. "Getting interference. All that old metal and machinery is creating false readings so we can't distinguish between residual heat and actual bodies."Of cours