All Chapters of THE MAFIA'S BLOODY POSSESSION: Chapter 161 - Chapter 167

Ace's PovI had eleven hours left when I finally admitted to myself that hiding it was no longer a choice I could sustain.The tremor had started in my left hand first. The same way it had in the cabin. I kept both hands in my pockets through most of the morning to avoid either of them noticing. Rem knew, he had run the field test. Rem had agreed, against his own judgment, to let me handle the next step myself before bringing it to Nikolai and Ivan."This is reckless." Rem watched me pull up the secondary relay."I know.""You have seventy two hours. You have already used twenty-three of them. Hiding it from them does not buy you anything.""It buys me time to find the antidote. Without them stopping me from doing whatever finding it requires.""They would not stop you.""They would try to protect me first. Protecting me costs time I do not have."I sent the message through the relay to the only contact who might know where a compound this specific had come from. The response came ba

Ivan's PovI came back to consciousness in a holding cell. I had no memory of how I had gotten there. My face throbbed where someone had clearly worked it over while I was unconscious. The first coherent thought I had was that I needed to find Nikolai. Whoever had taken me might decide I had outlived my usefulness.The cell door was not as secure as whoever built it had intended. I had it open within twenty minutes. I used nothing but the frame's weak hinge point. The same trick I had used to free Nikolai from a different room months ago.I moved through the building fast. I took down the two guards I encountered. I did not give either of them time to raise an alarm. I made it to the surface before anyone realized I was already gone.Rem answered on the first ring when I called from a stolen phone."Ivan." Rem's voice had gone sharp with relief. "Where are you.""I do not know the exact address. I need extraction. I need it fast.""Nikolai is awake. He has been frantic since he found

 Nikolai's Pov I crossed the room before the syringe was even fully empty. My hands closed around her wrist. The damage was already done by the time I forced her away from him. Ace stumbled backward. His hand went to his neck. His face shifted into something pale and unfocused that had not been there a second ago. "What did you give him." My voice came out as something close to a roar. "Something new." She was completely unbothered. She stepped back toward her chair. "Untested on humans, technically. I had it prepared as a contingency. In case the antidote conversation went exactly the way it just went." "You poisoned him again." Ivan had moved to Ace's other side. Both of us held him upright as his legs began to fail. "I did not poison him. This is something different. I genuinely do not know what it will do to him. That is precisely what makes

 Ivan's Pov  The screen went dark. Ace's body seemed to lock in place. Caught between whatever instruction had been embedded and the will fighting against it from somewhere underneath. "Ace." Nikolai's voice was quiet. "Look at me. Just me." Ace's eyes found Nikolai's face. For a long moment it seemed like the worst of it had passed. His shoulders dropped slightly. His breathing slowed. Then his expression went flat again. All at once. Like a switch had been thrown somewhere deep inside him. "Ace." He turned toward me. The punch landed before I had time to brace for it. His fist connected with my jaw hard enough to send me backward into the wall. The impact drove the breath from my lungs, the room tilted. I forced myself back upright. "Ace, stop." Nikolai moved to intercept him. Ace turned on