Chapter 18 - The Shadow at the Edge
Peace, however, in a world built on high stakes, is never absolute.
Three hundred miles away, in a secluded underground bunker outside Geneva, a man named Viktor Vance—Julian’s estranged older brother and the true, unseen patriarch of the remnants of the Consortium—sat staring at a high-resolution surveillance feed of the Rickai estate.
"He thinks he won," Viktor Vance muttered, his voice cold and raspy as he swirled a glass of aged cognac. "He thinks by dismantling our outer shell, he can walk away into the sunset with a housekeeper and a child."
A younger operative standing by the command console nodded grimly. "The federal raids took our European assets, sir. But our primary sleeper cell in North America is still intact. We don't need a direct assault. We hit him where his new life is anchored."
Viktor Vance’s eyes narrowed into slits. "Get me the background files on Lena Moretti. Every relative, every former address, every weak point. If Dante Rickai wants to play family man, we'll show him what happens when the past comes back to collect its debts."
Back at the estate, completely unaware of the new storm gathering on the horizon, Dante and Lena were planning something that would have sounded impossible a year ago: a trip outside the gates.
May you like
Sophia had never seen the ocean.
When Lena mentioned it offhand over dinner, Dante had immediately closed his laptop, looked up, and said, "We're going this weekend."
