The storm broke at midnight. Jolie stood in the shadows of her study, phone pressed to her ear, heart pounding with the weight of what she had just set into motion.“You owe me, Jolie,” the gravelly voice on the line rasped. “I don’t forget debts.”She swallowed, steadying her tone. “And I’m paying you back. Handsomely. Adrian Black, I want his past stripped bare. I don’t care what it takes.”A pause. Then a low, dark laugh. “You always did like dangerous men.”The line went dead. Jolie lowered the phone, her reflection staring back from the rain-streaked window. She whispered to herself, “Find him. Prove I’m not insane.”Across town, Adrian Black felt the shift. It wasn’t anything tangible, no call intercepted, no report from Marcus or Evelyn. Just instinct. The kind of instinct honed in prison, when survival depended on reading shadows. Someone was digging.He sat at the grand piano in his penthouse suite, fingers brushing the keys but playing no tune. Marcus poured himself whiskey

Victor Kane had faced death a hundred times. But never like this. The knife hovered at his throat, Adrian Black’s grip unshakable, his gray eyes stripped of all humanity. Not rage, not panic, just an abyss that swallowed men whole.Victor tried to laugh, but the sound came out cracked, like glass under pressure. “Do it then. Cut me open. Prove you’re Antonio.”Adrian tilted his head, expression unreadable. Then, to Victor’s shock, he pulled the blade back, sliding it away from his skin with surgical calm. “Not yet,” Adrian said softly. “Killing you now wastes your usefulness.”Victor staggered as Marcus released him, lungs dragging in air like a drowning man. Adrian smoothed his suit jacket, immaculate once more. “Go back to Jolie. Tell her you failed. Tell her I’m not the man she remembers. Then watch what happens when she underestimates me.”Victor spat blood onto the bar floor. “You think you can scare me into playing errand boy?”Adrian stepped closer, his presence suffocating. “I

The taste of gunpowder clung to Victor’s tongue all the way back to the city. He sat slumped in the back of the SUV, shirt torn, blood crusted on his knuckles, the silence of his men louder than any accusation.Half of them hadn’t made it out of the warehouse. The rest were broken shells, eyes hollow, like survivors of a war they’d already lost. Victor didn’t look at them. He couldn’t.Adrian’s voice haunted him with every mile. You’re mine now. Whether you like it or not. When the convoy reached Jolie’s penthouse tower, the survivors scattered into the night, too ashamed to face their mistress. Victor went up alone.The elevator doors opened into marble silence. The air was sharp with perfume, but underneath it, acid, wine, rage. Jolie was waiting in the living room, silk gown flowing like smoke, a glass of red clutched in her hand. Daniel Crane sat beside her, tie loosened, jaw tight, his phone buzzing with unanswered calls.Jolie’s smile was venomous. “My champion returns.”Victor

The storm hadn’t ended with the fundraiser. By the next morning, headlines smeared Daniel Crane’s name in black ink: CORRUPTION AT THE CORE?SECRET TAPES ROCK CRANE CAMPAIGN.DONORS WITHDRAW MILLIONS AFTER LEAK.Daniel raged behind closed doors, smashing glasses, cursing aides, spiraling in humiliation. But Jolie Crane? She was silent. Watching. Calculating.She sat in her private suite, silk robe flowing like spilled wine, the city framed behind her. The world believed Daniel was the power in their marriage.But Jolie knew better. Daniel was a sword. She was the hand that wielded it. And last night, Adrian Black had wrenched that sword from her grip. That could not stand.A knock at the door pulled her from thought. She didn’t need to ask who it was. “Enter.”Victor Kane stepped inside, shoulders hunched, suit wrinkled from a night without rest. He looked less like her enforcer and more like a man hollowed out by choices too sharp to swallow.Jolie studied him the way a surgeon studi

Morning came with fire. The headlines screamed across every screen, every paper, every whisper in the city.CRANE EMPIRE IN FREEFALL.LEAKED FILES EXPOSE OFFSHORE CORRUPTION.DONORS WITHDRAW SUPPORT.Television anchors wore smug smiles as they recounted the scandal. “Senator Daniel Crane’s campaign faces unprecedented crisis this morning after damning evidence surfaced linking him to a network of illegal offshore accounts. Sources suggest several prominent donors have already severed ties…”On Wall Street, Daniel’s holdings nosedived. In D.C., his backers retreated. In his mansion, Daniel raged like a wounded beast, throwing glasses, shredding papers, cursing every name except his own.But in a shadowed penthouse overlooking the chaos, Adrian Black smiled. He leaned back in his chair, cigarette smoke curling upward like a crown. Victor stood nearby, tense, silent. Adrian tapped the screen showing the plummeting numbers.“Watch carefully, Kane. That’s not just a campaign collapsing. Th