A little girl stunned me in front of my entire company when she pointed out the tattoo I'd kept hidden for thirteen years—and the instant her mother whispered my supposedly dead brother's name, I realized she was the key to a deadly family secret.

Lucien’s calmness was unnerving. He stood amidst the blinking servers of his command center, entirely unbothered by the heavily armed men aiming rifles at his chest. He took another slow sip of his whiskey and set the glass down on a metal table.

"You're a long way from Corsica, Lucien," I said, keeping my weapon trained on him. "And you made a mistake coming to my city."

"Did I?" Lucien chuckled, adjusting his cuffs. "I think the mistake is yours, Sebastian. You believed the fairy tale that a wolf could become a sheepdog. You built a legitimate empire on the bones of your father's enemies, and you thought the past would simply forget you."

"The past is dead. You’re just a scavenger digging up graves."

"I am a businessman," Lucien corrected smoothly. "The shipping lanes you control are vital to my organization's expansion. I merely intend to acquire them. Initiating a war between you and the Volkovs was just a hostile takeover strategy."

"Viktor is slaughtering your men right now," Marcus growled, stepping forward.

"Those men were expendable mercenaries," Lucien replied dismissively. "A necessary sacrifice to keep the Russian brute occupied while I deal with the real threat. You."

Suddenly, the monitors around the room flickered, displaying a live feed. My blood turned to ice. It was the front gate of my mountain estate. Dozens of armed men in tactical gear were pouring out of unmarked vans, cutting through my perimeter defenses.

"You didn't think I would leave myself defenseless, did you?" Lucien sneered. "While you came here to cut off the head of the snake, my real army went up the mountain. Your family is alone, Sebastian."