Chapter 3 - The Blood Debt
The air in the Grand Ballroom turned deathly cold. Five hundred guests shrank back into their gold-gilded chairs, afraid to make a single sound.
Richard Ashford wiped the blood from his mouth and tried to summon his authority as a senior capo. “Adrian, listen to reason! Elena Marlowe was a nobody! A low-class girl who was dragging down your reputation! Victoria is an Ashford! Our family controls the docks, the shipping lanes, the political corruption in this city!”
“You poisoned her,” Adrian said, taking one slow step toward Richard.
“She was a threat to the alliance!” Richard roared, pulling a concealed snub-nosed pistol from his jacket. “I did what had to be done to secure our power!”
Before Richard could raise the barrel, Adrian closed the distance like a shadow.
He grabbed Richard’s wrist, twisting it inward until a sickening bone-snap echoed through the hall. Richard screamed in agony as the gun dropped to the floor. Adrian didn't pause; he drove a heavy knee straight into Richard’s ribs, sending the older capo crashing down onto his knees.
“Adrian! Stop!” Victoria shrieked, running forward and grabbing Adrian’s arm. “I did it for us! I loved you! She was nothing! I gave you five years of my life!”
Adrian turned his head, staring down at Victoria with eyes so cold they seemed almost black. He grabbed her by her throat, his fingers tightening just enough to cut off her breath, lifting her slightly off her feet.
“You didn't do it for love,” Adrian whispered into her ear. “You did it because you were jealous. You locked the mother of my children in a cage and let her rot while you planned to wear her crown.”
“P-please...” Victoria gasped, clawing weakly at his iron hand. “Adrian... spare my father...”
“Your father is already dead,” Adrian said flatly. “He just doesn't know it yet.”
Adrian tossed Victoria onto the floor beside her groaning father. He turned toward the front row of the wedding audience, where Catherine Ashford—Victoria’s mother and the matriarch of the family—sat trembling in a mink coat.
“Catherine,” Adrian called out.
The elderly woman stood up, her knees shaking. “Adrian... please, mercy. I knew nothing of this! I swear on my life!”
“You sat in my office six months ago and guaranteed that Elena had run off with another man,” Adrian said coldly. “You signed the forged bank documents. You helped cover up the medical facility in the mountains.”
He motioned to his men. “Seize all Ashford properties. Freeze every offshore account tied to their shipping line. By midnight tonight, the Ashford family name ceases to exist in this city.”
“You can't wipe out a capo family without a vote from the High Commission!” Richard spat from the floor, clutching his broken wrist.
“I am the High Commission,” Adrian replied.
At that moment, the heavy side doors opened again, and Dante stepped back into the room holding a black leather briefcase. He walked over to Adrian and handed him a secure satellite phone.
“Boss,” Dante reported quietly. “Our medical team just arrived at the mountain cottage in upstate New York. They located Elena Marlowe’s body.”
Adrian’s breath caught in his throat. He put the phone to his ear. “Report.”
The voice of the chief medical examiner came through the line. “Don Hale... we found her. She passed away early this morning. But sir... she left something behind in her hand. A voice recorder. And a second sealed document stamped by the state coroner’s office.”
“What does it say?” Adrian demanded, his voice thick with suppressed emotion.
“Sir... the poison used on her wasn't just a standard toxic chemical. It’s an unregistered military compound. And the shipping manifests show it was imported through the Ashford Docks three weeks ago... signed by Victoria Ashford herself.”
Adrian closed his eyes for three long seconds. When he opened them, all humanity was gone.
May you like
He hung up the phone and looked down at Victoria, who was cowering against her father’s shoulder.
“You didn't just steal my family, Victoria,” Adrian said, his voice terrifyingly soft. “You signed your own execution order.”
