All the other men who witnessed what had happened scrambled for their lives, running in every direction.Some of the men that were with Lombard tried to regroup, but Lombard raised a hand to stop them. “Take a picture and tell the Belmont family to see if they can do any better,” Lombard instructed the group still with him.“Y-yes… s-sir,” the leader of the group stammered, still in awe of the sheer power they had just seen. All his life, he had only heard of LD’s feats—but no one had ever described them this way. This was next-level.The man snapped a quick picture and sent it immediately to the Belmont family.Lombard turned to leave. Two men hesitated, wanting to ask why he had helped them, but he spun around, stopping on his heels like a shadow.“No one follows me. I’ll be back when there are people worth my time,” Lombard said, ice-cold.“Why… why are you helping us, sir?” the boss asked, his voice trembling.“Because this belongs to you,” Lombard said, gesturing to the trunk fi

He pushed the door wider, trying to compose himself. But as the door fully opened, standing there was… not LD. It was Lombard.“What the hell are you doing here, you idiot?” Cassian snapped.“You’ll be grateful,” Lombard said coolly.“Get lost! I have someone important coming, and if he sees you… you’re dead.”Lombard raised a brow, clearly amused.“And… who is this important person?”Cassian glared. “You idiot. You think I’m fooling around? LD is coming to my house right now. You know him?”Then as if he overated Lombard's IQ too for a second, he laughed at himself. “What were you thinking? You can’t know him. But all you need to know is: get the hell out of here right now, before he arrives. If he sees you here… you’re dead.”“I doubt that,” Lombard said, his tone dismissive as hell.That hit Cassian hard. He glared at Lombard, anger boiling inside him. He knew LD would be here in a couple of minutes, if not seconds. And what better way to finally teach this dude a lesson tonight?

All of Abigail’s attempts to have a proper conversation with her father had failed miserably.Every time she tried, he circled back to Lombard.When is he coming back?How did you meet him?What does he do exactly?Eventually, she gave up.They were sitting far apart in stiff silence when the doorbell rang.Lombard was back.Abigail watched in disbelief as her father practically sprinted to the door.“I thought you were never coming back!” her father said warmly the moment Lombard stepped in.“Even if I regret my words,” Lombard replied smoothly, “I can’t break a promise to my girlfriend.”He winked at Abigail.She froze.Blushed.Oh no. Not now.Even if he didn’t mean it, that line landed directly in her chest.“How are you, babe? I was thinking about you all through,” Lombard said casually, walking over to her.Her father looked unconvinced. Suspicious. Watching everything.Lombard leaned in, pretending to hug her.“Were you able to talk to him? You have five hours left,” he whisper

The Belmont family didn’t sleep. Not one of them.The goods were gone. Their leverage was gone. And worse—Cassian’s story from the night before had rewired the entire room.LD wasn’t just a name anymore.He might be something else.Something… beyond normal.Fear had turned into fascination.“If he really has that kind of ability,” one of the elders muttered, “then we don’t fight him. We align with him.”They didn’t say it out loud, but everyone was thinking the same thing.A man who can vanish?A man who can move unseen?A man who orchestrates death without leaving a trace?That’s not an enemy.That’s an asset.But Rowan wasn’t smiling.They should’ve been focused on him.He was the hero here, he's probably got way more power than LD. He had no idea who the guy was anyway, but it had to be one of those rouges who's all talk with no power. He was double sure of that. The fact that the men he sent the night before had failed to retrieve the goods had already put him at a disadvantage.

The Belmont family believed nothing would go wrong.In fact, they were certain their plan would work perfectly.But they had never been more wrong in their lives.Because at this very moment, Abigail was sitting inside Lombard’s car.She still felt numb and cold from everything that had happened in the last ten hours. Her father’s death hadn’t fully registered in her mind yet. The world around her felt distant, unreal.She slowly opened her eyes.Lombard had stepped out of the car.Parked beside them was another vehicle—sleek, expensive, the kind that only belonged to people who moved entire industries with a phone call.The door of that car opened.And a woman stepped out.Not the type of woman you casually see walking down the street in daylight.No.This was the kind of woman people talked about when they spoke of power.When people mentioned successful women in the country, her name always appeared somewhere in the conversation.Five years ago, she had risen to fame almost overnig