"Lock every gate, seal every exit, and cut the main grid to manual," I barked, my voice cutting through the heavy air of the ballroom like a razor.

I stared in absolute horror at the woman standing beside Lily.

Sophia.

My head housekeeper, the woman I had trusted with my son’s life, stepped into the room holding a heavy military-grade sidearm fitted with a tactical illuminator. The frantic, weeping mother who had begged for forgiveness on the ballroom floor was gone. In her place stood a stone-cold operative wearing black tactical gear beneath her oversized cardigan.

"You acted your part well tonight, Dominic," Sophia said, her voice dropping the warm, timid accent she had carried for seven years. "Devoted father. Merciless mafia boss. So eager to protect your family that you believed every word I fed you."

"The DNA records..." I whispered, the brutal reality hitting me like a physical blow. "Elena's sister... all of it?"

"A complete fabrication," Sophia sneered. "Elena had no sister. The microchip in the locket was pre-loaded with synthetic data designed to give you emotional closure so you wouldn't question who was really pulling the strings. You needed a miracle, so I handed you a wrapped gift."

"Where is my son?" I growled, my vision darkening with lethal fury.

"Ethan is currently sleeping soundly in the back of an unmarked van," Sophia said smoothly. "His blood contains the only stable strain of the genetic sequence Vanguard spent two decades developing. Your mother wasn't trying to destroy the Moretti bloodline because of a grudge—she was trying to destroy Ethan because she realized what Vanguard had turned him into."

I didn't care about genetics. I didn't care about Vanguard. All I cared about was the boy currently being dragged into the dark.