The winter of 2014 was not just cold; it was lethal. Wind rushed off Lake Michigan, turning Chicago’s industrial district into a corridor of ice, exhaust, and blinding white.

The grand drawing room of the Vance estate was dead quiet. Viktor Vance walked in, wearing an expensive camel-hair coat, a hypocritical smile plastered across his face.

"Lucian!" Viktor called out, throwing his arms open. "Thank God the girls are safe! I’ve been tearing the city apart looking for the bastards who did this!"

Lucian stood by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the icy lake, his back turned to his brother.

"You searched everywhere, Viktor?" Lucian asked softly. "Even behind the dumpsters at the Rusty Fork?"

Viktor’s smile froze. A micro-expression of panic flashed across his eyes before he quickly recovered. "What are you talking about, Lucian? I had my men sweeping the north side..."

Lucian turned slowly. In his hand, he held a sleek black tablet showing an audio waveform.

"This is a recording of a satellite call placed at 11:12 p.m. on Tuesday," Lucian said, his voice as smooth and lethal as polished steel. "The girls are in the secondary vehicle. Kill the driver, take the kids, and force Lucian to sign over the docks."

Viktor reached for his coat pocket, but before his hand could even touch leather, six red laser dots appeared on his chest. Armed guards stepped out from behind the heavy velvet curtains, guns drawn and locked.

Viktor’s face drained of all color. "Lucian... listen to me... they threatened my family! They forced me!"

"You have no family," Lucian said coldly, stepping forward until he was inches from Viktor’s face. "You targeted my little girls. You left them to freeze to death in an alley like garbage."

At that moment, the side door clicked open. Sophia stepped into the room holding Melanie’s hand.

Sophia looked at her uncle, her small eyes filled not with fear, but with absolute clarity. "You were the wolf, Uncle Viktor."

Viktor collapsed onto his knees, weeping and pleading for mercy, echoing the exact position Lucian had taken days earlier—but where Lucian had found salvation, Viktor found judgment.