Cassiel’s body hadn’t even cooled, but Adrian knew the war wasn’t over.
Valentina stood by the water’s edge, unmoving, her back to the world and the weight of what she had just done. The sun crept across the horizon, casting golden light on the blood-soaked soil of Cassiel Dain’s paradise. A paradise built on bones now reduced to ruin.
He didn’t interrupt her. Not yet.
She needed a moment to let the silence settle in her bones. A moment to feel the victory or mourn it.
Adrian turned back toward the villa. Matteo and Elise were securing the perimeter, burning files, wiping every trace of their presence. No mistakes this time. No trail to follow. This final kill would be buried in whispers.
But inside Adrian’s chest, the silence felt too loud.
He had wanted this. Cassiel’s death. Justi
