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The pressurized air of the cabin suddenly felt thick, heavy, and suffocating. My lungs burned as I fought the urge to grab Julie by her linen collar and force the rest of the truth out of her right there at thirty thousand feet. / Chapter 12 / 20

Chapter 12 - The Perimeter Breach"Naomi," I whispered, my hand dropping smoothly to the concealed holster beneath my overcoat. "Walk slowly toward the carriage path. Do not look back. Take Lily and head straight for the black SUV waiting at 72nd Street."

Naomi didn't ask questions. Living with me for three months had taught her that when my voice dropped into that lethal, controlled register, every second counted. She turned, calling out to our daughter with a bright, fabricated cheerfulness that broke my heart.

"Lily! Come here, sweetie! Let's go feed the ducks by the lake!"

I pivoted on my heel, stepping directly into the path of the man in the trench coat. He tried to blend back into the crowd of tourists walking toward the Bethesda Fountain, but I closed the distance in four long, aggressive strides.

"You're walking the wrong way, friend," I said, my hand closing heavily around his shoulder with enough pressure to bruise bone.

The man gasped, dropping his folded newspaper to reveal a scarred face and cold, dead eyes. Before he could reach into his pocket for a blade or a silenced piece, I swept his legs out from under him, slamming him hard against the damp granite stone of the terrace wall.

A suppressed gasp rippled through the nearby tourists, but my cold, authoritative glare kept them backing away instantly.

"Who sent you?" I snarled, pressing my forearm against his windpipe until his face turned a mottled purple. "Was it the Sicilian council? Or did one of Viktor’s lieutenants crawl out from the woodwork?"

The man choked, a bitter, bloody smile twisting his lips. "You... you think you're safe in the light, Moretti? The syndicate... they don't care about your little art designer or your bastard child. They want the crown back."

I tightened my grip, ready to snap his collarbone if he didn't give me a name, when my phone buzzed violently in my interior pocket.

It was Marcus.

I answered on speaker without taking my eyes off the operative pinned to the wall. "Talk to me, Marcus."

"Boss!" Marcus’s voice crackled through the encrypted channel, laced with genuine panic. "We’ve got a major security breach at the loft. Someone bypassed the biometric locks while you were in the park. They left a message."

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The heavy oak door of the master suite swung wider, letting out a sharp draft of chilled air that smelled faintly of expensive bourbon and cold rain. Lorenzo Moretti did not blink.

The heavy oak door of the master suite swung wider, letting out a sharp...

The rain in the lower district did not fall; it drifted like smoke, slicking the asphalt and carrying the smell of coal smoke and rotting citrus from the wholesale market two blocks down.

The rain in the lower district did not fall; it drifted like smoke, slic...

The word mother hung in the sterile terminal air like a frozen dagger.

The word mother hung in the sterile terminal air like a frozen dagger.

My heart hammered against my ribs like a sledgehammer. "What kind of message?"

"A package on the kitchen island," Marcus panted. "A silver locket with your mother's initials... and a live GPS tracker counting down to zero."

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Chapter 13 - The Race Against the ClockI released the operative, letting him slump unceremoniously onto the stone walkway, and sprinted toward 72nd Street where our Maybach was idling with the engine running.
Chapter 14 - The Silver LocketThe loft was deathly quiet. The afternoon sun still streamed through the massive steel-frame windows, casting long, golden bars across the hardwood floor where Viktor’s blood had dried months ago.
Chapter 15 - The Ghost of the Family"Hello, nephew," Salvatore’s voice echoed through the loft’s high-end sound system, raspy, cold, and dripping with venomous amusement.
Chapter 16 - The War CouncilThirty minutes later, the loft was transformed into a command center.
Chapter 17 - Red Hook Docks at MidnightThe salt air of the Brooklyn waterfront was biting, carrying the heavy scent of diesel fuel, rotting seaweed, and rust.
Chapter 18 - The Ambush in the DarkBefore Salvatore's arm could finish its downward gesture, a deafening explosion shattered the corrugated steel roof of warehouse four.

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