Chapter 37
Echoes in the Dark
The digital clock on the bedside table glows a bleak, frozen 2:50 AM.
Downstairs, the heavy main gate of the penthouse opens with a soft, metallic click. The maids left hours ago, at seven in the evening, leaving the sprawling space swallowed in an oppressive, velvety silence.
In the master bedroom, Tessa is completely asleep. She curls into herself, tiny and vulnerable in the centre of the massive bed, holding her pillow tight against her chest like a child clinging to her mother for protection. Her breathing is slow, soft, and completely peaceful.
Then, the quiet shatters.
Lucius moves through the shadows like a phantom. He slides open the wardrobe, pulls out a fresh change of clothes, and turns toward the en-suite bathroom. The heavy click of the bathroom door cutting through the silence instantly snaps Tessa out of her slumber.
Her eyes flutter open, heavy with sleep. Through the dim light, she spots his towering silhouette.
Lucius pauses. Sensing her gaze, he shifts his path and walks back to the bed.
The sheer exhaustion of a brutal day rolls off his shoulders as he sinks onto the mattress beside her.
Without a word, he leans down, his fingers gripping the back of her neck as his lips crush against hers in a deep, desperate kiss that steals the very air from her lungs.
When he finally pulls away, Tessa blinks up at him, her voice a thick, sleepy murmur. "When did you come?"
"Just now," Lucius whispers, his thumb tracing her cheekbone.
"How... how did your deal go today?" she asks, trying to shake off the haze of sleep.
A slow, triumphant smile spreads across his face, a rare flash of genuine happiness breaking through his usual cold mask. He lets out a low, nonchalant laugh that vibrates against her skin. "Don’t you think my queen is thinking a bit too much about me and my deals? Hmm?"
Tessa lets out a tiny, soft laugh of her own, the rich sound of his amusement comforting her. Lucius leans in again, pressing a warm, lingering kiss against her forehead before finally getting up to take his shower.
When the water stops and he steps back out into the room, he looks over at the bed. Tessa is already asleep again, her long lashes resting against her cheeks. Lucius stands there for a breathless moment, refusing to disturb her peace.
But the warmth fades the moment he turns away.
His mind shifts instantly into a cold, lethal state. It is time to protect her. To protect his underworld. To protect the fragile love he keeps hidden from the rest of the world.
He steps into his private elevator, the elevator that descends straight into the subterranean depths of his penthouse. Underground Hacker Base Number 6.
The doors slide open to reveal a stark, high-tech bunker. As Lucius steps inside, Kai looks up from a bank of glowing monitors, a mocking smirk playing on his lips. "Well, boss... what about this absolute obsession of yours towards Tessa?"
Lucius lets out a dark, quiet laugh but says nothing.
Kai leans back in his chair, tapping a finger against his desk. "So, what are we doing with these footages? The ones you recorded when she wasn’t with you. All these CCTV clips."
"Don’t you dare delete those," Lucius commands, his voice dropping an octave, turning sharp and dangerous.
He stares into the distance, his eyes darkening with a memory.
"My obsession... it faded the exact day I brought her into my mansion. The moment she started living there, looking so comfortable, so safe... she completely broke my calculative mind. I couldn't accept it before. But now? Now I can say I have fallen deeply."
He cuts himself off, his business persona instantly taking over. "Right. By the way, why were you messaging me during my work? Any important talk?"
From across the room, Kael, Kai’s brother, speaks up, his face grim. "Gambino just wants her, boss. He doesn't want to kill her. If he wanted her dead, he would have killed her long ago—back when he gave her aunt the money to move away."
Lucius’s gaze turns icy. "Any information about Washington’s grandma’s house?"
Kai sighs, shaking his head. "Gambino destroyed everything there. There is absolutely no point in going."
Rage explodes inside Lucius. He steps forward, his voice a terrifying, angry roar. "Did you check everything? Did you actually go there yourself? Did you talk to the owner of the house, or to the grandma?"
Bang!
Lucius slams his fist onto the wooden table, the force echoing through the concrete room.
"Alright, alright, boss! Cool down!" Kai says quickly, putting his hands up. "Kael and I are going there tomorrow."
"I don’t care," Lucius snaps, his jaw tight, his chest heaving with suppressed fury." I need every single piece of information available."
"Yes, boss," Kai and Kael reply in unison, their playful attitude completely gone.
"Take my private jet. The second one," Lucius orders, pacing the floor." One more thing. If you find any paper, any old phone, or even a hidden phone number, you secure it and bring it straight back to me. And the moment you reach the grandma’s house, you call or video call Tessa."
He pauses, a calculated, brilliant glint entering his dark eyes.
"When she talks to her grandma, she will feel comfortable. She will let her guard down. That conversation will give you two hidden access to the truth—especially if she is hiding anything from Gambino."
"Make sure to earn her trust first," Lucius commands, his gaze boring into them.
"Stay there for a week. If any emergency situation arises, call me or Victor. Don’t you dare disturb Alex. He is completely tied up working on the Chinese illegal case. Once he talks with me, we go to court next month. Did you understand?"
Kai and Kael straighten up, their expressions turning serious. "Yes, Boss."
Lucius pulls out his sleek phone, his fingers sliding across the screen with cold precision. "Look at your bank accounts. Two million dollars each. That is four million total."
He shifts his dark eyes toward them, testing their greed. "Are both of you okay with that?"
Kael, the level-headed older brother, nods smoothly. "Its fine, Boss."
But Kai crumbles instantly, whining like a stubborn baby. "Please, Boss... I need one million. Just one million more, please."
Lucius lets out a dark, breathless scoff, but his fingers tap the screen again anyway. He authorizes the extra transfers. Now, both brothers have a staggering six million dollars sitting in their accounts.
"Tomorrow at 7:30 AM," Lucius states, his tone sharp as a razor.
With wide, happy smiles lighting up their faces, they chorus, "Yes, Boss!"
The moment Lucius leaves the underground hacker base; his phone begins to vibrate in his palm. It is Victor, his most ruthless fixer. Lucius answers, pressing the cold metal to his ear as he walks down the dim corridor.
On the other end of the line, Victor is deep inside the concrete underbelly of Lucius’s personal mansion.
Two prisoners are currently chained down there.
The first is the woman—the one who was caught trying to move dirty investment money, which Victor had shot in the leg before dragging her away.
The second is the young boy—the one who kept shifting his eyes suspiciously, acting out, and refusing to listen during the drug dealing meeting.
Suspicion had sealed his fate, and he had been thrown into the dark basement right alongside the woman.
Crunch.
A sickening, wet sound echoes through the line, followed by a raw, ear-piercing scream that tears through the basement's damp air. Victor has just severed the little fingers off both prisoners.
"Don't kill that girl! Please!" the boy shrieks into the dark, his voice weeping and entirely broken. "Our boss wants her alive! Just don't kill her!"
The agonizing cries echo loudly against the stone walls, the heavy sound bleeding directly through Lucius’s phone speaker. Lucius stops dead in his tracks, his jaw tightening as the raw noise rings in his ears.
"Victor," Lucius cuts in, his voice dropping into a harsh, warning whisper. "Don’t talk to me in there. Go outside the basement."
Without disconnecting the call, Victor steps through the heavy iron doors, leaving the muffled weeping behind. The air grows quiet as he stands in the hallway, repeating everything to Lucius in a low, grim tone.
"Gambino wants her alive, Boss," Victor confirms, his breathing steady.
Lucius stands completely frozen in the empty hallway of his penthouse. A massive, terrifying question begins to burn through his mind.
Why? Why does a monster like Gambino want Tessa alive?
Kai and Kael collect their bags and quietly stand up, leaving the bunker.
Upstairs, Lucius steps into his second, more private study.
The phone remains pressed tightly against his ear, Victor's grim voice still filling the silence.
Neither of them has a single clue, not even a phantom of a reason, as to why Alessio Gambino wants Tessa alive.
The mystery burns like acid in Lucius's chest.
"No one would ever guess I am a mafia don," Lucius murmurs into the line, his teeth gritting so hard his jaw aches.
"Because you work with us from the shadows," Victor answers his voice a low, gravelly vibration. "And second of all, you are a high-profile, outer-world lawyer. Your hands look clean to the public."
A sudden vibration buzzes against Lucius’s palm. A text message flashes on his screen from Kai, who has just left. 'Talk to my FBI friend. The one who destroyed the evidence against that Chinese bastard, Zhao Ming.'
Lucius ignores the screen for a moment, keeping his focus entirely on Victor. "Forget the text for a second. Talk to me, Victor."
"New information just came in from Teajun," Victor says, his tone shifting into something sharper.
Lucius’s grip tightens on the phone, his knuckle cracking in the dark. "What kind of information?"
A rustle echoes through the line as Teajun takes the phone directly from Victor's hand.
His voice is breathless, laced with the exhaustion of a late-night hospital shift.
"I am working late at the hospital, Lucius. A few Italian men—doctors, or guys posing as them—were whispering in the corridors. They were asking if they could come here if someone suffered a severe drug overdose, or if this place could be used for their black-market medical work.
They explicitly mentioned the A.G. and O.G. gangs. They were talking about their casinos, their bars... all of it."
Teajun takes a sharp breath, his voice dropping into a tense whisper. "I am going to investigate further, Lucius. Then I will speak with you in person. Phones are not secure for this."
"I am going with him," Victor interjects, taking the phone back, his protective instincts kicking in.
While they speak, Lucius is already moving. He steps out of the study and enters the private elevator, his shoes clicking softly against the metal floor.
"Keep your eyes open," Lucius commands.
The call ends.
Lucius looks down at the screen. The glowing numbers read a brutal 4:00 AM.
The elevator doors slide open with a soft hiss, leading straight to the main entrance of his private penthouse’s living room.
He presses his thumb against the biometric scanner.
A soft beep echoes through the dim hallway, the heavy security lock releasing with a heavy thud.
He steps inside, locking the massive door securely behind him.
The penthouse is freezing. He walks over to the dining table, his throat dry and burning. With a trembling hand, he pours a glass of ice-cold water, downing it in one sharp gulp, letting the chill shock his throat.
Another message pops up on his phone. This one is from Alex.
'You have court tomorrow. Don't worry about it. Focus on your own personal matters right now.'
Before Lucius can even lock the screen, a second text from Alex floods in, lines of a deeply rooted brotherhood breaking through the professional mask.
'Remember the agreement we signed years ago, long before we even started working together. If you cannot make it to court, I will fight the case in your place. That is why I am coming to see you tomorrow morning.
I need your signature on a paper—a legal transfer so I can handle this Chinese bastard in front of the judge myself. The FBI has already been briefed. Take care of your girl.'
Lucius stares at the glowing screen, the text blurring as a terrifying, cold fury takes over his body. His knees give out slightly, and he sinks heavily into a dining chair. His breathing goes completely ragged, his chest heaving as the walls of the penthouse seem to close in on him.
He clenches his fist until his nails draw blood against his palms. The image of Tessa sleeping peacefully upstairs flashes through his mind, mixed with the horrific thought of Gambino’s hands reaching for her.
"Yes," Lucius whispers into the empty, dark room, his voice shaking with a dangerous, psychotic edge. "I will strip Alessio Gambino of everything he owns. I will tear down his empire brick by brick."
He stands up, his dark eyes fixed on the ceiling, looking toward the bedroom where his vulnerability lies sleeping.
"I am ready to die," he vows, the words ripping from his throat like torn velvet. "But I will bleed him dry and watch his soul leave his body before I take my very last breath."
He turns toward the grand staircase, his heart hammering against his ribs like a caged animal.
Every instinct inside his calculative mind screams that he is walking straight into a slaughterhouse.
But as he looks up into the shadows of the hallway, he realises one terrifying truth.
He isn't doing this to survive anymore. He is doing this because the monster who owns the underworld has finally found something he loves more than his own life—and he will burn the entire world to ashes just to keep her safe in the dark.
~