The paper in my hand trembled as the lawyer, a sharply dressed man with silver-rimmed glasses who introduced himself as Marcus Vance, stepped past me into the narrow hallway of my small apartment. He didn’t wait for an invitation.

While the domestic and international syndicates had largely fallen in line, absolute power in the underworld never goes unchallenged for long. Just two weeks after settling into the upstate New York estate, our global intelligence monitors picked up encrypted communications originating from a rogue faction of ex-mercenaries operating out of Eastern Europe.

They called themselves The Vanguard—a group of highly trained, heavily armed operatives led by a ruthless former special forces commander named Dmitri Volkov. Volkov hadn't pledged allegiance to the global council, and he didn't care about the non-aggression pacts. His objective was singular and absolute: to assassinate the new syndicate leader, destabilize the global network, and seize Carl’s hidden offshore accounts by force.

"They're moving faster than anticipated," Marcus said, striding into Carl’s private study and slamming a tactical tablet onto the mahogany desk. "Volkov’s team has landed in Montreal. They’re chartering private helicopters to cross the northern border into our territory within twelve hours."

I didn't flinch. I closed the final ledger book I was reviewing, looked up at Marcus, and let out a cold, calm breath.

"Let them come," I said quietly. "We're not going to hide in the mansion, Marcus. We're going to draw them into our own backyard and end this once and for all."

Elena stepped forward from the shadows of the doorway, her eyes gleaming with tactical approval. "What's the play, Oanh?"

"We use the estate’s security infrastructure against them," I mapped out rapidly, tracing my finger across the digital floor plan on the tablet. "We let them breach the outer perimeter. We cut off their communications the moment they cross the treeline, funnel them into the eastern sculpture garden, and spring a full tactical trap. I want Volkov alive so I can ask him who hired him."