The walls of the Romanov estate trembled.Aiden stood still, eyes narrowed, listening. Each thud that echoed from the underground tunnels felt like a calculated strike measured, intentional, not like a breach, but a return. Something ancient had been awakened.Harper’s fingers flew over the estate’s biometric control panel. “It's bypassing our systems. Not breaking in… walking through. As if the house recognizes it.”“Identify it!” Aiden barked.“I—I can’t. Whatever it is, it’s not in our logs. Not even in the private genetic bank.”Another thud. Closer now.Gregory drew his weapon instinctively. Lorenzo, surprisingly composed, poured a glass of whiskey with trembling hands. “I prayed this day wouldn’t come.”“What is it?” Silvana asked. She was holding Zia close again, protective instinct overriding her discomfort. Her belly kicked gently, a reminder of life even as shadows surrounded them.Lorenzo turned slowly to face them.“Protocol M wasn’t just a failsafe to preserve the bloodli

Silvana approached, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. “We’ll find them. But if you collapse from exhaustion, you won’t be there to protect any of us.”Before Aiden could reply, the sound of light footsteps echoed from the hallway. Zia appeared, skipping happily into the room. She was holding a small drawing—crayon lines in multiple colors. She came to stand beside Silvana, looking up at Aiden with innocent eyes.“Daddy,” Zia began, “when will my baby brother come out? I want to play with him and take him to school. I even made a picture for him.”Silvana’s lips curved into a warm smile, but Aiden felt something in his chest tighten. The innocence in Zia’s question was a stark reminder of the fragile life they were trying to build amid chaos. Silvana knelt to meet her stepdaughter’s eyes. “Soon, sweetheart. But for now, your brother is still growing, and he needs to be safe inside until he’s strong enough to come out.”Zia nodded seriously, then placed her drawing on Aiden’s des

The cold air bit against Aiden Romanov’s skin as he stepped out of the black sedan, his boots crunching against the frost-bitten gravel of the abandoned shipyard. Above, the sky hung heavy and low, a thick blanket of gray clouds threatening to spill rain over the docks. The smell of brine, rust, and oil mingled with the distant creak of metal hulls swaying in the tide. Aiden’s jaw was set like stone, his eyes scanning the fog-covered pier. Somewhere in this labyrinth of steel containers and derelict cranes, a thread of the Bloodline’s presence had been detected. Gregory’s intel, obtained after days of brutal interrogation of a captured courier, suggested that this was a temporary meeting hub for one of the Bloodline’s regional operatives. If true, it was Aiden’s best chance to finally make them bleed. His ribs still ached from the vault explosion months back, the deep scars on his side serving as a constant reminder of how close he’d come to death. But pain didn’t matter now. E

The morning sun cast a pale light over the Romanov estate, yet it brought no warmth. An unnatural stillness hung in the air, as though the walls themselves knew that this day would mark the end of an era. The Romanovs had always carried themselves with the confidence of an unshakable empire—power, wealth, influence—but that morning, Aiden Romanov stood at his office window, staring out at the grounds, feeling the weight of something crumbling beneath him.He had been awake all night. Reports from every corner of the empire had poured in—unfamiliar symbols etched onto shipments, alliances suddenly breaking without explanation, bank accounts inexplicably frozen. The Bloodline—once the most feared and untouchable syndicate—was being torn apart from the shadows. And Aiden… he couldn’t even pinpoint the enemy.Lorenzo, his grandfather, entered quietly, his face unusually pale.“They’ve taken the Ravenna Port,” Lorenzo said in a grave tone.Aiden turned, disbelief flickering in his eyes. “T

The Romanov estate no longer hummed with its usual quiet elegance. Where laughter, footsteps, and low conversations once filled the air, silence now pressed heavily on every hall and corner. Aiden sat alone in his study, the room dimly lit, the shadows stretching long across the bookshelves. His eyes, dark with exhaustion, were fixed on a glass of untouched whiskey.The events of the past weeks clung to him like a suffocating fog—losses stacked on losses, trust fractured, allies scattered. The Bloodline had been obliterated, but their destruction had come at a cost so steep it felt like defeat rather than victory. Aiden had lost control of key assets, his once unshakable empire teetering at the edge of collapse.His phone buzzed on the desk.He ignored it.It buzzed again, persistent.With a sigh, he picked it up. Lorenzo’s voice came through, low and measured.“You can’t keep shutting yourself in like this, Aiden.”Aiden’s jaw tightened.“I’m not hiding. I’m thinking.” “Thinking is