RedNovelChapter 240
-Grayson'’s POV-
The room went deathly silent, save for the echo of Damien's voice lingering in the air like a taunt, curling around
us with a suffocating grip. My muscles tensed instinctively, my mind already working through every possible
scenario, every potential way this could play out.
| shifted my focus back to Ava. She was still seated on the floor, her posture stiff, her eyes sharp but guarded.
She scanned the room, her gaze calculating, before her voice rang out, cutting through the silence like a blade.
“I have never met anyone more hypocritical than you. You spent all this thiding and causing so much chaos,
and now you're still a coward, putting us in here and hiding behind a wall? You're not smastermind, Damien.
All you are is pathetic.”
A beat of silence followed. No one spoke. The tension thickened like a heavy fog.
Then-a slow, creaking sound filled the air, low and drawn-out, reverberating through the walls. A section of the
room, one that had appeared solid and seamless, began to shift. A hidden doorway. Shadows bled into the dim
light as the corridor beyond was revealed, and then-Damien stepped into view.
But there was still a barrier between us and him, and his gaze settled on Ava with a slow, serpentine smile.
“I know your parents were insufferable, Little Dove,” He mused, his voice smooth but laced with poison, “but
maybe you should remember their lessons on respect. Or perhaps | should take a page from their book on how
to keep you in line.”
Ava didn’t flinch. She didn’t even blink. Instead, she pushed herself up to her feet with measured grace, tilting
her head slightly as she met his gaze.
“I have told you to stop callingthat,” She said evenly, her tone like ice over steel.
His smile didn’t falter, but something flickered in his expression-annoyance, or maybe amusement. He let out a
slow breath, like he was reigning something in, then his eyes swept across the room before settling on me.
“You're awfully quiet, Your Highness,” Damien drawled, tilting his head. “I expected more from you. Maybe some
threats, sdefiance? No?”
I met his gaze without so much as a flicker of emotion, “Everyone else has something better to do. Why don’t
you skip the theatrics and get to the part where you intend on killing us all?”
His smirk deepened. “Oh, I intend to.”
Then, without warning, he snapped his fingers.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor, deliberate and heavy. Moments later, another figure was dragged into view-
a figure bound, bruised, and battered.
Raina.
Her hair was tangled, her lip split, her wrists bound tightly. Whoever had handled her hadn't been gentle. But her
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇteyes- despite everything-still held a spark of defiance as they landed on Ava.
A sharp intake of breath from Evelyn broke the silence.
Damien, reveling in the reaction, let out a low chuckle. “You see,” He said, gesturing toward Raina as though she
were nothing more than an inconvenience, “I thought about killing her. She was... difficult, to say the least.
Stubborn. Annoyingly so. And impossible to find, until your little meeting with her helped us along.”
No one spoke.
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09:17 Sat, 1 Mar
Chapter 240
Damien’s smirk widened, “Nothing to say? No outrage? No tic declarations?” He spread his arms. “No one?
Not even a little?”
A heavy silence hung in the air.
Then Evelyn stood, “What do you want?”
Damien barely spared her a glance before his eyes flicked back to Ava. “I want Ava,” He said simply.
The words settled like ice in my veins.
Before | could think, | moved, stepping in front of Ava instinctively. | heard her sharp inhale behind me, but |
didn’t look back. My eyes never left Damien.
“You're delusional if you think that’s happening,” | said, my voice low and lethal.
Damien chuckled, tilting his head, “Oh, but | think it is.”
“Okay, can everybody just hold on with their tic dialogues for a second?” Isabella cut in, waving a hand as
if she were a director pausing a terrible scene. “First of all this is going to coff as selfish but | think everyone
should be given an option to speak for themselves because | do not want to be part of the we that wants to be
killed. And secondly, am | the only one wondering who this old lady is? Because that cannot just be me. Right?”
Elaine, who had been leaning against the wall with a deadpan expression, sighed. “I have a headache, but yeah,
I'd like to know. Also,” she turned her gaze lazily to Damien, “do evil psychopaths have access to water?
Dehydration is terrible for my skin, and | learned that firsthand during my tin the vault. So... could you get
“I'd like a glass too,” Isabella added, nodding seriously, “Being kidnapped sucks.”
“Make mine stronger,” Maria chimed in. “Actually, just bring the whole bottle, if you may, and-"
Ava and Evelyn shook their heads in exasperation at the stime.
Damien's patience finally snapped.
“Will all of you just shut up?!” He roared, his voice thundering through the room, eyes flashing with rage. His jaw
clenched so tight | thought his teeth might crack.
Ava moved closer toand whispered, “I thought he wanted us to talk.”
| bit back a smile despite the situation.
But silence fell.
For a moment.
Then Isabella leaned toward Maria and whispered, “So... does that mean no drinks?”
Elaine snorted. Maria pressed her lips together, fighting a laugh.
Damien exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples like a man on the verge of a breakdown. “I swear to all that is
unholy, if one more person-"
He sucked in a deep breath, visibly restraining himself, before a slow, cruel smile spread across his face.
“You know what?” Damien mused, stepping forward, his voice laced with something sickly sweet, something
dangerous. “Let’s get to it. I've always enjoyed moving you all around my chessboard, so now... we are going to
do exactly that. And this time,” His grin sharpened into something wicked, “I get front-row seats. Now split into
teams.”
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Chapter 240
Ava blinked, “What?”
A ripple of confusion passed through the room, a tangible hesitation that hung heavy in the air. No one moved.
No one spoke.
Damien sighed tically, shaking his head as if he were dealing with disobedient children. Then, in one swift
motion, he turned-and did something so sudden, so cruel, that Raina let out a bloodcurdling scream.
| snapped my gaze toward her-bound, vulnerable, eyes wide with pain. The sick satisfaction gleaming in
Damien's expression made my hands twitch with the urge to rip his throat out.
“If you don’t do it immediately,” Damien said, his voice deceptively calm, “then she will keep suffering.”
Evelyn gasped, hand flying to her mouth, horror settling in her features.
Isabella, ever the one to speak before thinking, snapped, “We don’t even know her.”
Damien merely smiled, “Ah, | almost forgot to make the official introduction.” His gaze flicked back to Ava, and
the amusement in his eyes turned into something more poisonous. “Little dove, this is the High Priestess your
mother and the love of your life went seeking. But | think Evelyn might have forgotten to mention...” he tilted his
head, letting the words linger, savoring the tension, “she is your grandmother.”
Ava'’s entire body went rigid.
Her gaze snapped toward Evelyn, her mother, her expression a war between disbelief and betrayal. Evelyn
looked torn- caught between glaring daggers at Damien and the deep, undeniable worry for her mother.
| felt the weight of the revelation settle over everyone, heavy and suffocating.
Damien let the silence stretch, let the realization fester, before his voice cut through like a blade. “Now. Split up.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmTeams of twos. Or else.”
Ava turned to me, her jaw clenched, but | could see the calculation in her eyes. Then, without hesitation, she
looked at Evelyn and said, “I pick my mother.”
Evelyn's eyes flashed with surprise.
Isabella let out a tic gasp, “I am offended, Lilian.”
Everyone, save for Rickon-who had been eerily silent, watching like he wasn’t even there-turned to glare at her.
Isabella, undeterred, crossed her arms, “It is a free world, and | will let my emotions out as they come. Especially
if-" she turned her glare directly on me, “he keeps saying ‘we’ and ‘kill us’ in the ssentence.”
| exhaled sharply, glancing between Maria and Elaine. Before | could speak, Elaine cut in first, “I pick the witch.”
I blinked at her.
Maria raised a brow. “While | do know that | am not part of this little inner circle of yours and | do appreciate to
have been picked, the nis Maria.”
Elaine rolled her eyes.
Then, | looked at Isabella.
She hesitated, her gaze flicking between Rickon and me. Then, with a decisive nod, she said, “I pick Grayson.”
That snapped Rickon out of his daze instantly. His head jerked up, his gaze locking onto her, “What?”
09:17 Sat, 1 Mar
Chapter 240
Isabella folded her arms. “Oh, so you are aware that | exist after all.”
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Rickon’s jaw clenched, a flicker of something unreadable passing through his face before he scoffed. “Fine.
Whatever.”
Then, as if to make a point, he turned to Damien and said, “There’s no one left. Luther is unconscious.”
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| didn’t miss the flash of hurt that crossed Isabella's face. It was brief, barely there before she masked it with
anger, but | saw it. She stomped towardwithout another word.
Damien tilted his head, “Then | guess you will be the first person out.”
Like his words were the trigger, instantly a shot rang out and then next second, Rickon fell to the ground.
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