Chapter 16 - The Final Ledger
Leandro didn’t break eye contact with his mother, but he gestured with his hand. Daphne walked swiftly past them, sweeping the heavy oak desk and grabbing a stack of documents resting beside a laptop.
Daphne flipped open the top folder, her breath hitching. “Leandro... look at this.”
Leandro glanced down. The documents weren’t blueprints for an attack on the Vane syndicate. They were asset transfers, property deeds, and global shipping rights—all legally signed over to a single name: Leandro Vane.
“What is this?” Leandro demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerous register.
Maribel walked over to the window, watching the rain beat against the glass. “The Iron Ring wasn't my ally, Leandro. They were a cancer trying to eat away at our global routes. I didn’t invite them in to destroy us; I used them to flush out every single traitor remaining in the international syndicates, and I forced them to sign over their entire European network to our name.”
Estelle narrowed her eyes, stepping closer to inspect the papers. “You played a double game on a global scale. Why?”
“Because the world outside our borders is getting hungrier,” Maribel said, turning back to face them, her voice uncharacteristically solemn. “A soft leader breeds destruction. I had to push you to the absolute edge to see if you had the stomach to slaughter every wolf at the table—including me.”
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Before anyone could respond, a sudden, blinding flash of light lit up the room, followed immediately by a deafening explosion that shook the cliffs. The heavy oak doors blew inward, showering the study in splinters and smoke.
From the smoke-choked hallway, a squad of heavily armed Iron Ring mercenaries rushed into the room, led by a scarred lieutenant who snarled in Italian, “The old woman betrayed us! Kill them all!”
