I drank the whole glass of whiskey before slamming my body against the couch. These past few days have been exhausting. Just when I thought everything was going smoothly, unexpected things happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Honestly, it wasn\u2019t surprised at all. I was actually afraid this would happen. But what I didn\u2019t calculate was that it would happen sooner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have been pushing my marriage alliance with the Velasquez clan. I don\u2019t need their power. I\u2019m powerful as it is. But I needed their connection to bring down a syndicate that has been pestering my city for quite some time now. I need to infiltrate their operation. According to my sources, the Velasquez clan was the one protecting those groups. When the war starts, it will be messy. And I need to get Dylan out of the city in order to protect her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t have plans of interfering with her life. I\u2019m contented loving her from afar. But my plan changed the moment I saw Dylan in that bar. And when I figured out that she had already divorced her husband, I couldn\u2019t let that opportunity pass. I have to make her mine no matter what the cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blew out a long, frustrated breath as I pressed my fingers into the bridge of my nose, trying to ease the tension pounding behind my eyes. I\u2019d been patient for years\u2013too patient. I stepped back when she chose to be with that man; I let her build a life far from mine, convinced I could keep my distance and still protect her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But patience had its limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment she came back into my life, every thread I\u2019d been clinging to snapped. I wasn\u2019t going to lose her again. Not to fate, not to idiots who couldn\u2019t follow orders, and definitely not to men who thought they could touch what was mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My phone vibrated on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of my men spoke the moment I answered, his voice thin with panic. \u201cSir\u2013there\u2019s been an attack.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hand stilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat attack?\u201d My voice dropped, low and cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe convoy on the way to the airport\u2026 it was ambushed by armed men. They didn\u2019t even stop to negotiat sir. They opened fire immediately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart thudded once\u2013slow and heavy. \u201cWhere is she?\u201d I asked, keeping my tone flat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Silence stretched on the other end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeak.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSir\u2026 the gas station blew up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A slow, numbing chill crawled up my spine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
10.24 mu, JanT\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 55\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found\u2026 pieces. Bodies scattered after the explosion. Your men. And\u2026 one woman.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My grip tightened around the phone until my knuckles cracked. Every pulse in my body roared with a fury I hadn\u2019t felt in years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My vision went dark at the edges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He kept talking, but I barely heard him\u2013just fragments cutting through the rush of blood in my ears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t confirm identities yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing left intact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still searching. But I\u2019m afraid, Madam\u2014\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I forced in a breath, sharp and dangerous. I don\u2019t want to accept what he\u2019s about to say <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Alchemist of Broken Dreams by Sienna Rose Blackwell 55 I drank the whole glass of whiskey before slamming my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-alphas-golden-cage-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}