"Blood covered the marble beneath my face when I decided to pretend I couldn't move, and the two women in my mansion reacted in completely different ways. My maid dropped beside me without hesitation while my fiancée stood watching from the staircase for four long seconds, but what Vanessa did next made me realize my fall might not have been an accident at all.

“Do not surrender!” Grace shouted into the phone, breaking into a full sprint down the grand marble hallway toward the garage. “I am bringing the extraction team! Hold your position!”

“Listen to me, Grace,” Daniel commanded, his voice carrying the heavy, absolute finality of a king accepting his fate. “If I fight the feds in a building full of politicians, it becomes a massacre. The syndicate will be labeled a terrorist organization. Everything we built will burn.”

“I don't care about the syndicate! I care about you!” she screamed, tears blurring her vision as she reached the armored SUV.

“I am going to let them take me,” Daniel stated smoothly. “It buys us time. The charges are fabricated, which means they left a digital trail. You are the smartest person I have ever met, Grace. You have to find the ghost who set this up, dismantle the RICO case from the outside, and get me out.”

“Daniel, please,” she sobbed, the terrifying reality of losing him crushing her chest.

“You are the head of the family now, Grace,” Daniel whispered fiercely. “Rule them with iron. I love you.”

The line went dead.

Grace dropped the phone, standing paralyzed in the cold, damp air of the underground garage. The man she loved had just sacrificed his freedom to save their empire.

She wiped her tears, her sadness instantly crystallizing into a cold, apocalyptic rage.

She climbed into the back of the SUV, her dark eyes burning with an unholy fire.

“Change of plans, Elias,” Grace ordered, her voice devoid of any warmth or mercy. “Take me back to the study. We have a war to wage.”

Later that night, Grace sat alone in the massive, quiet study, sitting in the heavy leather chair that rightfully belonged to Daniel. She stared at the complex web of financial documents spread across the mahogany desk, hunting for the invisible enemy.

Suddenly, she noticed a small, black envelope resting perfectly in the center of the desk.

It hadn't been there ten minutes ago.

Grace’s heart stopped. She slowly reached out, picking up the envelope. The back was sealed with a heavy pool of silver wax, stamped with the insignia of a coiled serpent—the exact tattoo that Julian had possessed.

She broke the seal with trembling hands and pulled out a single, thick card.