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"Leave us," Roman’s voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the room like a piano wire. / Chapter 3 / 6

Chapter 3 - A KING REBORN

Julian stared at his palm, his face draining of all color. "You... you lying bitch!"

He lunged forward, his hands reaching for Elena’s throat, but before he could touch her, a loud, echoing BANG shattered the silence of the basement.

The heavy iron door didn't just open; it slammed against the concrete wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

Standing in the doorway, framed by the dim light of the corridor, was a ghost.

Roman Bellandi stood upright. He wasn't wearing the black silk pajamas anymore. He wore a tailored charcoal suit, crisp white shirt, and a dark tie. He was still pale, and his frame was noticeably thinner, but the lethal, predatory aura that had made him the ruler of the Midwest was fully back. In his right hand, he held a smoking Beretta.

Behind him, four heavily armed loyalist soldiers flooded the room, their rifles immediately training on Tomas and Julian.

Tomas dropped to his knees instantly, his hands raised in terror. "Roman! Please! It was Julian! He forced me! He threatened my family!"

Roman didn't even look at Tomas. He walked slowly into the room, his black leather shoes clicking rhythmically against the concrete. He stopped right in front of his younger brother.

"Julian," Roman said, his voice a low, gravelly purr that sent shivers down Elena’s spine. "You always were impatient. You never could wait for dessert, let alone a crown."

Julian stumbled backward, his back hitting the wall. "Roman... she’s lying! She poisoned me! Look at my hand!"

"She didn't poison you, you idiot," Roman said quietly. He glanced at Elena, a faint, genuine smirk playing on his lips. "She bluffing. She didn't have any extract left on her hands. But you just confessed to everything in front of my inner circle."

Elena wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She looked at Roman. "The cure worked faster than I expected."

"I threw up a gallon of black bile, slept for three hours, and woke up feeling like a man who had been dragged out of a grave," Roman said, turning back to Julian. "But my mind is perfectly clear now."

Julian looked between his brother and the armed guards. Realizing he had no way out, his fear turned into desperate, weeping rage. "You think you're a god, Roman? Everyone hates you! Everyone is waiting for you to fall! I just had the balls to push you!"

Roman sighed, looking genuinely bored. He raised his gun, pointing it directly between Julian’s eyes.

"Roman, wait!" Elena blurted out, stepping between the two brothers.

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The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure terminal on my desk flashed a violent crimson. I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours, my eyes burning from staring at columns of ghost figures, duplicate invoices, and shell corporations linked to Dominic Rossi. But the red alert wasn’t from Rossi’s faction. It was an internal security flag originating from the estate’s main vault deep beneath the west wing.

The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure ter...

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scattering the light from the chandeliers. The muffled laughter died instantly, replaced by a suffocating, heavy silence that crept outward from the grand staircase.

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scatter...

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking out the clinical, terrifying silence of the kitchen. Evelyn Crane stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, her hands folded over her apron with the rigid precision of someone who had spent decades micromanaging every square inch of my estate. Behind her, Norah hovered near the doorway, clutching her clipboard like a shield.

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking...

The guards gasped. No one interrupted the execution of a traitor. Roman’s eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at the girl from Queens. "Move, Elena. Family business doesn't concern outsiders."

"If you kill him here, like this, you're proving he was right about you," Elena said, her voice fiercely protective of her own moral code. "And more importantly... you still don't know where the rest of the poison came from. Julian is a spoiled boy. He didn't smuggle rare Himalayan toxins into the country by himself. Someone else is pulling the strings."

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