All Chapters of Beneath The Steel And Silk: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

The morning after their narrow escape from the DevCorp facility was quiet, almost too quiet. The safehouse hummed with a strange tension, the team gathered around the table while Damian plugged the stolen USB drive into a secure laptop. The screen flickered to life, revealing a labyrinth of encrypted files.Sage leaned forward, her arms crossed over her chest. “Tell me you’ve got the tools to crack this.”Maya's voice echoed through their comms from her remote location. “Cracking it isn’t the issue. What’s on it might be.”Drake raised an eyebrow as he leaned back in his chair, his trademark smirk in place. “That sounds ominous. What are we looking at, Sage?”“Give me a second,” she said, the sound of furious typing audible in the background. “This level of encryption screams top-secret. I’m guessing blueprints, payment records, maybe even some dirt on Elena’s higher-ups.”Damian’s fingers drummed on the table as he watched the files decrypt, line after line of data appearing on the sc

The sun rose over the city, casting long shadows across the skyline. In the new safehouse, the team moved like gears in a well-oiled machine, though the tension between them was palpable. Every second felt like a countdown, the 48-hour ultimatum from Elena ticking away relentlessly.Sage stood at the small kitchen counter, pouring herself a cup of coffee. The rich aroma filled the air, but it did little to soothe her nerves. Damian appeared in the doorway, his hair slightly disheveled, evidence of another restless night.“You’re up early,” he said, his voice still rough with sleep.“Couldn’t sleep,” Sage replied, taking a sip of her coffee. “Too much on my mind.”Damian moved to stand beside her, his presence a calming force despite the storm swirling around them. “We’re going to get through this,” he said quietly.She gave him a sidelong glance. “You’re awfully confident for someone being hunted by a psychotic criminal mastermind.”His lips twitched into a faint smile. “Confidence is

The early morning light seeped through the edges of the safehouse curtains, casting long shadows across the room. The aftermath of the warehouse explosion still lingered heavily in everyone’s minds. They had struck a blow against Elena, but it wasn’t without cost. The tension within the team was now a fragile thread, ready to snap at the slightest tug.Sage paced in the living room, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Her mind replayed the events of the previous night—the guards, the explosion, the narrow escape. But most of all, the haunting words one of Elena’s men had shouted before falling:“She’ll never stop hunting you!”Damian entered the room, his presence both reassuring and unsettling. His expression was unreadable, though his exhaustion was evident in the lines etched into his face.“Morning,” he said, his voice low.Sage stopped pacing and turned to face him. “Morning.”They stood in silence for a moment, the air thick with unspoken words.“I know what you’re going

The team didn’t sleep that night. The stolen documents splayed across the table were the most incriminating evidence they’d ever obtained against Elena. Every line was a revelation, and every revelation was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Damian stood at the head of the table, his hands braced against the surface, his knuckles white.“We don’t have time to strategize for weeks,” he said, his voice sharp and commanding. “Elena’s list is a declaration of war. If she starts targeting people close to us, this whole operation is over before it starts.”Sage watched him carefully. Damian had always been intense, but now there was an edge to him, like he was teetering on the brink of something he couldn’t come back from.“What do we know about this facility?” she asked, trying to ground the conversation in practicality.Alex. sitting cross-legged in front of her laptop, flipped to a blueprint displayed on one of the monitors. “Project Haven isn’t just a stronghold—it’s also a factory.

The silence in the safehouse was heavy, filled with an unspoken tension that even the success of the mission couldn’t dispel. Damian stood near the window, watching the first rays of sunlight filter through the blinds. He hadn’t slept; his mind was a battlefield of plans, regrets, and the ever-present question of what came next.The team’s return to their safehouse in the Romanian countryside had been uneventful. But even as they regrouped, Damian could feel the weight of Markov’s death settling over them like an oppressive cloud. This was supposed to be a victory, another step toward dismantling the remnants of Elena’s empire. Yet, something about the mission felt... unfinished.Behind him, the faint sound of footsteps broke his reverie. He turned to find Sage entering the room, her hair tied back, exhaustion etched into her features. She held two mugs of coffee, the steam curling into the cool air.“You’ve been standing there for hours,” she said, handing him one of the mugs.“Couldn