“Your daughter isn’t in that grave.” The words were so soft Adrian Vale almost mistook them for the wind moving through the white carnations. He lowered his eyes.

Marcus gasped for air, his face turning gray as Adrian’s forearm pressed hard against his windpipe.

“You... you’re making a mistake,” Marcus choked out, clawing at Adrian’s sleeve. “Grant Mercer... Mercer’s syndicate planned the ambush! I tried to stop them!”

“Grant Mercer is sitting in a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, and his men haven’t moved an inch in three years,” Adrian whispered, his voice dangerously low. “The only person with the security clearance, the encryption keys, and the motive to route Evelyn’s convoy through that ravine was my chief of security.”

Adrian released his grip slightly, letting Marcus stumble forward onto his knees, coughing violently against the hearth.

“Why?” Adrian asked.

Marcus wiped a streak of blood from his lip, letting out a harsh, bitter laugh. He looked up at Adrian with eyes full of venom and long-buried resentment.

“Why?” Marcus sneered. “Because you were going soft, Adrian. You met an art teacher from Wisconsin, and suddenly the ruthless king of the Midwest was talking about charity boards and retirement homes. You handed over control of the shipping lanes to regional managers who couldn’t run a lemonade stand. You were destroying everything your father built—everything we built!”

“So you killed the woman I loved?” Adrian’s voice trembled with a rage so intense it felt cold.

“Evelyn was collateral damage,” Marcus spat back defiantly. “She was going to take you away to Europe. She was going to scrub your name clean and leave the organization to rot. But the baby... the baby was the real threat. An heir with your blood and her morals? That child would have locked the vault forever.”

Adrian looked down at the man he had trusted with his life for a decade and a half. There was no remorse in Marcus’s eyes—only the cold calculation of a parasite who believed he was the true host.

“You thought you’d inherit the empire once I broke,” Adrian said quietly.

“I thought you’d be too broken to notice,” Marcus corrected, his hand sliding slowly toward a heavy brass fireplace poker resting against the stone base. “And I still can’t touch you if you kill me here. The syndicates will tear your shipping routes apart within a week without my logistics network.”

“Who said anything about killing you?” Adrian asked.

Marcus frowned. “What?”

Adrian pulled a heavy silver-plated zip-tie from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor beside Marcus’s hand.

“Federal marshals are currently outside the front gates,” Adrian said calmly. “Along with the U.S. Attorney’s office, armed with the complete financial records of your offshore accounts in the Caymans—accounts you set up using stolen signatures from my father’s estate.”

Marcus went completely rigid. “You... you hacked my accounts?”

“I didn't have to,” Adrian replied, stepping back. “Grace found the routing slips in Thomas Kane’s personal effects eight months ago. We’ve been draining your reserves since November. By noon tomorrow, you won't just be arrested for treason and murder; you’ll be bankrupt.”

Panic finally broke through Marcus’s frozen facade. He lunged for the fireplace poker, swinging it wildly toward Adrian’s head.

Adrian didn’t flinch. He sidestepped the clumsy blow with casual ease, grabbed the heavy brass poker near the end, and twisted it out of Marcus’s grip with a sharp, wrenching snap that sent the metal clattering across the marble.

Before Marcus could recover balance, the heavy oak library doors burst open.

Four armed federal marshals rushed into the room, their badges gleaming beneath the chandeliers, weapons drawn.

“Marcus Reed! Stay down!” an agent barked, slamming Marcus face-first onto the floor and snapping heavy steel cuffs around his wrists.

Marcus thrashed against the floor, screaming curses as the marshals hauled him to his feet. As they dragged him past Adrian toward the exit, Marcus paused, his eyes blazing with hatred.

“You won’t keep her safe, Adrian!” Marcus yelled over the agents' shouts. “Your world is full of wolves! She’ll die because of who you are!”

Adrian didn’t blink.