My name is Evelyn Parker, and invisibility had kept me alive. At Vale Holdings, I wore charcoal slacks, beige cardigans, low black shoes, and my hair pinned into the same plain knot every morning. People thought I was nervous.

Julian Vale looked at the signet ring, then at his son, then at the bloodthirsty eyes of the syndicate bosses surrounding him. He realized, in one agonizing second, that his empire had collapsed like a house of cards.

"Guards!" Julian screamed frantically. "Kill them all! I'll pay ten million to whoever gets me out of this building!"

The four heavily armed mercenaries guarding the corners of the room raised their assault rifles.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Four muffled gunshots rang out from the ceiling vents. The four guards collapsed to the floor simultaneously, disarmed and unconscious before they even realized what happened.

The heavy glass windows behind Julian shattered as four tactical operatives swung into the room on ropes, securing the room in under three seconds. They were Victor Vance's elite strike force, dressed in black tactical gear.

The syndicate bosses threw their hands in the air, completely overwhelmed.

Victor walked up to Julian Vale, pulling a heavy silver revolver from his coat. "Nine years I waited for justice for Nikolai Vance," Victor hissed, placing the cold barrel of the gun against Julian's forehead. "Give me the word, Vanya."

The room held its breath. Every eye was on me.

Adrian looked at me. He didn't defend his father this time. He stood tall, accepting whatever judgment I passed down, proving his absolute loyalty to my command.

I looked down at Julian—a broken, bitter old man trembling in a wheelchair, surrounded by the wreckage of his own greed.

"No," I said quietly.

Victor blinked, shocked. "Vanya? He killed your father!"

"And death is too easy for him," I replied, my voice dropping into an icy register that terrified everyone in the room. "If we execute him here, he becomes a martyr for whatever loyalists he has left. Instead, we hand him to the Federal District Attorney along with the unredacted Black Ledger. He will spend the rest of his miserable life in a federal maximum-security solitary cell, watching everything he built crumble into my hands."

Julian's eyes widened in sheer horror. To a man who valued power above all else, solitary confinement in a cold cell was a punishment far worse than a bullet.

Adrian let out a slow breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly. He looked at me with profound respect and something far deeper shining in his dark eyes.

"Take him away," Adrian ordered the tactical team.

Two operatives stepped forward, unceremoniously grabbing Julian's wheelchair and wheeling him out of the boardroom. Julian screamed curses at us all the way down the hall until the elevator doors slammed shut, silencing him forever.

Travis was dragged out next, whimpering as he clutched his bleeding shoulder.

The remaining syndicate bosses slowly lowered their hands, looking nervously between me and Adrian. The hierarchy had been completely shattered, and a new power structure needed to be established immediately.

Victor Vance stepped forward, bowing his head toward me. "The Vance Syndicate is yours again, Vanya. What are your orders?"

I looked at the assembled men, then turned to face Adrian Vale.

"The war is over," I announced clearly. "Vale Holdings and the Vance Syndicate will merge into a single entity. Adrian Vale will remain Chief Executive Officer of commercial operations. I will take total command of the board and security networks."

The bosses murmured in agreement. It was a brilliant, ironclad alliance. Together, we controlled the legitimate money and the shadow authority of the entire region.

"Any objections?" I asked, scanning the room.