The smell of ozone from the emergency shutdown still clung to the marble walls of Moretti Tower. In the basement, which had been converted into a soundproof interrogation chamber, Dante Moretti stood perfectly still. He had removed his tuxedo jacket and now wore only a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. In his ear, a specialized earpiece pulsed quietly, transmitting live biometric data from the target seated before him.Scythe, Zhukov’s legendary hired assassin, was strapped to a steel chair in the center of the room. Her gunshot wound had been wrapped in rough bandages, but her face still radiated pure hatred.“Boss, her heart rate is stable at sixty two. She is using breathing techniques to suppress adrenaline,” Maya’s voice came through the audio system. “She is a professional, Dante. She will not talk just because you stare at her through those dark glasses.”Dante smiled faintly, an expression that carried

The fourteenth floor of Moretti Tower vibrated subtly with the hum of thousands of servers operating at maximum capacity. Dante Moretti stood in the center of the control room, his back to the glass wall that revealed the foggy dawn over Milan. He did not need to see the beauty of the city. His ears were already feasting on the symphony of chaos he had just unleashed across the international markets.“Dante, you need to hear this,” Elena Rossi’s voice broke the silence. She had just entered, the scent of bitter coffee and the lingering sea air from La Spezia still clinging to her tactical jacket. “BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera are broadcasting the submarine footage on repeat. They are calling it ‘The Greatest Forgotten Archaeological Discovery.’”Dante slowly turned. He removed his black glasses, allowing those pale, sightless eyes to face the direction of Elena’s voice.“Not a discovery, Elena. Call it a forced r

 Morning in Milan welcomed the return of Dante Moretti’s private jet beneath a clear sky, as if last night’s thunder over Brindisi had washed every trace of filth from Italy’s atmosphere. Yet on the fourteenth floor of Moretti Tower, the mood was not as bright as the eastern horizon. The room pulsed with intense digital activity, filled with the heavy aroma of strong black coffee and the antiseptic scent from Kael’s wounds.Dante Moretti stood tall at the center of the control room, the collar of his black shirt slightly open. He was not wearing his sunglasses, allowing his empty white eyes to face the rows of monitors he could not see, yet whose frequencies he completely controlled.“Final status, Maya. Do not miss a single decimal,” Dante ordered. His voice was low, but its resonance filled every corner of the room.Maya, her hair tied in a messy knot and her eyes red from staying awake all night, spun her chair

Instantly every streetlight and every lamp inside the furniture warehouse went dark. Dense darkness swallowed the hill. From inside the warehouse came panicked shouting and the clattering of weapons being cocked. “What happened? Check the generator!” shouted a voice Elena immediately recognized as Bruno Valente. Dante stepped toward the main entrance. “Elena, stay behind me. Kael, you know what to do if any bullets stray from their path.” “Understood, Boss,” Kael’s voice came from the trees above the hill. Dante kicked the iron warehouse door open. The thunderous clang of metal striking the wall produced an echo that Dante used to map the positions of twelve men inside the vast room. “Bruno Valente,” Dante’s voice thundered, vibrating at a frequency that made the dust on the warehouse floor tremble.

 Moretti Tower stood tall against the Milan sky, now tinted red by light pollution and the haze of dawn. On the fourteenth floor, the pulse of life never stopped, but this morning carried a different frequency, a tension vibrating beneath the marble floors. Dante Moretti stood before the vast glass window, without his sunglasses, allowing his pale white eyes to seem as though they pierced the horizon."Zhukov is not bluffing, Dante," Elena Rossi said as she stepped in, her voice heavy with the intelligence report she had just received. "The energy markets in Eastern Europe have shown unusual fluctuations. Someone is pulling massive liquidity from our logistics projects in the Balkans."Dante did not move. He focused his hearing on the soft hum of the servers behind him. "Pulling money is a coward’s move, Elena. Zhukov is trying to build a dam to block the flow of our information. Maya, did you find it?"Maya, her fingers flying across the keyb