Michael's hand trembled as he signed his name at the bottom of the contract, the ink flowing across the paper like blood sealing a pact with the devil. He hadn't read past the first paragraph. In fact, he couldn't focus on anything else as his mind raced with questions about how his life had spiraled so completely out of control in the span of thirty minutes.Michael stood in the warehouse bathroom, staring at his reflection in the cracked mirror while trying to convince himself he wasn't about to get killed. The bruises on his face had darkened overnight, and his s hands shook as he adjusted his tie.The first thing Michael noticed as they burst through the restaurant's back exit wasn't the flashing red and blue lights or the shouted commands echoing off the alley walls. It was the sound of Brother North's laughter. Deep, booming laughter, as if Christmas morning had arrived early. "Boys!" North bellowed as they sprinted toward the SUV, "looks like we got ourselves a party!" Spider

Michael's phone buzzed insistently as he climbed the stairs to his apartment, each vibration sending another wave of irritation through his already frayed nerves. The second quarterly assessment had been a disaster, and the last thing he needed was more spam calls or more notifications of his siblings' psychological warfare.The first message arrived at 7:43 AM on a Tuesday that had started like any other. Michael was nursing his third cup of coffee, watching Ava perform her morning diagnostics. It was a ritual that had become both reassuring and increasingly concerning as her episodes grew more frequent. His phone buzzed. The email subject line made his stomach drop: "Termination of Business Proposal - Zenith Communications." "Dear Mr. Sullivan," the message began with corporate coldness, "After careful consideration and recent developments regarding your company's practices, Zenith Communications has decided to withdraw from our preliminary discussions. We no longer feel Sullivan

Michael stared at the official document in his hands. The Treasury Department seal stared back at him boldly. The knock on Michael's door came at precisely 8 PM, three sharp raps followed by a pause, then two more. Michael peered through the peephole and saw Octavian Medici standing in the hallway, immaculately dressed in a charcoal suit and holding a slender wine bottle.Once again they were all gathered at the auditorium of the Medici Manor. Michael adjusted his tie nervously as he entered through the side entrance, having specifically avoided the main foyer where photographers clustered like vultures. The past few days events had worn him down to his core. But he was glad he'd managed to use Octavian's loan to fund Mara's coffee shop. "Jesus Christ," he muttered under his breath, surveying the crowd. "This is like a zoo." Frank looked... different. He was still frail, but seemed to have added a few more pounds since the last assessment. His eyes hadn't lost their sharpness a

The familiar aroma of freshly ground coffee beans and warm pastries greeted Michael as he pushed through the glass doors of the coffee shop. It had only been about a week since he'd handed ownership over to Mara, but the transformation was already evident. She'd changed the seating arrangement and placed flowers and aesthetic plants all around the place. "Michael!" Mara's voice carried Professor Nakamura's workshop looked like a mad man's laboratory had collided with a child's playground. Circuit boards hung from the ceiling like electronic wind chimes, tangled cables snaked across every surface, and the smell of solder and ozone permeated the air. Michael had been shocked twice already by live equipment carelessly left within reach, and they'd only been there for twenty minutes.Michael's heart hammered against his chest as he heard the distant sound of something shattering from the building's lower levels. Professor Nakamura looked up from his workbench, his face creasing with conce

Michael sat in his cramped living room, staring at the local news broadcast on his phone. The reporter, a polished woman with perfectly styled hair, spoke excitedly about yesterday's incident. "In a shocking turn of events, Maxwell Medici was arrested last night following what appears to be a family dispute that escalated into alleged breaking and entering. The incident occurred at the apartment building of Michael Sullivan, the recently acknowledged illegitimate son of billionaire Frank Medici..."Lizzy stepped into Michael's apartment and immediately looked irritated. Her gaze lingered on the peeling wallpaper, the ancient furniture, and the general air of shabby desperation that permeated the space.Several hours after they'd found Tyler, they were positioned in the Grandview Hotel's elegant lobby restaurant. Michael and Ava sat at a corner table with a clear view of Tyler's booth, where he was deep in conversation with an attractive Asian woman. Even from a distance, Michael coul