My husband’s mistress locked me inside a hospital room, beat me while I was thirty-three weeks pregnant, and tried to force me to surrender my marriage, my company, and my unborn child. She thought my father was a harmless mechanic—until one phone call revealed he was the most powerful anonymous mafia boss in the world. / Chapter 21 / 40

Chapter 21 - The Shadow of the Sovereign

The warm chamomile tea in my hands felt suddenly like ice. The peaceful English countryside, with its rolling green hills and chirping birds, transformed into a velvet cage. I stared at the glowing tablet screen, the decoded transmission burning into my retinas.

‘We look forward to testing it on your new grand-daughter when she grows up.’

My grip tightened around the edges of the device until my knuckles turned stark white. Across the manicured lawn, the security guards stationed at the perimeter seemed no longer like protectors, but like lined-up targets.

The sliding glass door swished open. Dad stepped back onto the veranda, holding a fresh teapot. His gentle, relaxed posture evaporated the second his eyes met mine. He saw the tablet in my hand.

"Mara," he said softly, his voice dropping the grandfatherly warmth and instantly returning to the battle-tested tone of Marcus Osei. He set the teapot down without making a sound.

"Who trained Victor Kade, Dad?" my voice trembled, though I tried with all my strength to keep it steady for Maya, who stirred slightly in her bassinet. "Who is the Sovereign?"

Dad closed his eyes for a brief second, breathing in the fresh summer air as if anchoring himself to the present. When he opened them, the dark, formidable shadow of his past hung heavily in his gaze.

"A ghost from a war I thought I ended thirty years ago," he said, walking over to stand between the bassinet and the open garden. "His name is Gabriel Vance. The founder of the original syndicate before Silas and Odalys corrupted it."

"Victor Kade was just a puppet?" I asked, horror dawning on me.

"Victor was the decoy," Dad corrected smoothly, pulling a small silver drive from his collar and inserting it into the tablet. "Gabriel let Victor take the fall to test your encryption software and measure my response time. He sacrificed his own protege just to locate us."