Chapter 8 - The Shadow of the PastFor all the power we had accumulated, the underworld has a long memory. Just as the dust from Caleb’s downfall began to settle, a new storm gathered on the horizon.
It started with an anonymous envelope left at the Continental’s brass keypad—no return address, no gold embossing, just heavy black cardstock containing a single photograph and a dossier.
The photograph showed Roman’s older brother, Julian Costa—a man rumored to have died in a mysterious yacht explosion five years ago—walking through a high-security port in Zurich. The dossier detailed a hostile takeover of Roman’s shipping lines, orchestrated not by rival syndicates, but by an elite coalition of federal prosecutors and old-money families who wanted the Continental wiped off the map permanently.
I brought the file straight to Roman’s private study, placing it on his mahogany desk.
When Roman saw the photograph, the color drained from his face—a reaction I had never witnessed before. The untouchable king of the city looked, for one fragile second, like a man mourning a ghost.
"Where did you get this?" Roman asked, his voice dangerously low.
"Left at the entrance," I said firmly, pulling up a chair and sitting across from him. "Whoever dropped it off knows about the shipping yards, and they know about Julian. They aren't trying to scare us, Roman. They're setting a trap."
"Julian is dead," Roman muttered, gripping the edges of the desk so hard his knuckles turned white. "I buried him."
"Bodies can disappear when money talks," I reminded him gently, leaning forward. "Just like yours almost did when Caleb left you holding his debts. You told me once that the society we're afraid of losing will abandon us the second we lose our power. Well, someone inside that society is trying to strip yours away."
May you like
Roman looked up from the photograph, his eyes locking onto mine. The vulnerability vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, incandescent fury. "If Julian is alive, and he’s playing a game with my name... I’m going to burn his entire world to the ground."
"Then we do it together," I said. "No secrets. No solo plays."
