That evening, Hazel sat in the study of their wing at the Walker Estate, the city lights beginning to appear beyond the tall windows. Clara had long since gone. The house was quiet. Alan was somewhere in the east wing, on a call she hadn't asked about.She picked up her phone and found Jonah Hiddleston's number.She thought about everything that had led here, the contract marriage that had become real, the corporate warfare, the kidnapping, the island, the waterfall, Kane's voice saying Warlord like a name from a story she hadn't known she was in the middle of.She thought about sixty men and what they'd been sent to study.She thought about Alan sitting beside her on the boat in the dark, taking her hand without making a speech about it.She pressed call.Jonah answered on the second ring."Miss Hades," he said, and then corrected himself quickly. "Mrs. Walker.""It's time," she bluntly stated.A pause. Then the quiet sound of a man reaching for a pen."I'll have everything ready by

“What your father is trying to say is that, since the day of your wedding, you've had a huge bullseye on your back, and that poor Hazel is also a secondary target,” Beatrice explained calmly, sliding a fresh cup of tea toward Alan. She added soon after, “Now that your enemies have linked your true identity to the call sign you use in the military, it's only a matter of time before another attack happens.”Alan could feel a headache coming. He rubbed his forehead and quickly interjected, “Mom, I'll be fine. I know more about this than you do. Severe measures have been taken to prevent or if it gets worse, thwart whatever is coming next. Be rest assured.”Beatrice hesitated a bit before responding, her grey eyes filled with concern, “I understand, but, the family also has elite people in the forces that can guard—”“No, not at all. Don't even go there, mom,” Alan could almost laugh.How would he, a bonafide member of the Advanced Tactical Command, hire a bodyguard to follow him everywhe

Arthur Walker was not the kind of man who lost his temper easily. It was one of the things he prided himself on, that innate ability to sit with bad news, turn it over carefully, and respond from a place of calculation rather than feeling. His father had taught him that. His years in the Dragon Race had reinforced it.So when the ShopVille acquisition appeared on his morning feed, he read the full article twice, set his phone face-down on the desk, and sat quietly for about a minute.Then he picked the phone back up and read it a third time.|Gold Aries completes ShopVille integration. Hazel Walker named to oversight board. Donovan Group confirms cooperative transition.|He put the phone down again, sighing heavily.The acquisition itself wasn't the problem. He had seen it coming. Not the specifics, but the general direction. Alan had always moved like that, quietly and then all at once, and by the time anyone understood what was happening, the position was already consolidated.What

The sedan had parked on the eastern perimeter road for the third time on Tuesday morning.Alan was quite aware of this. Jasmine had sent him a photograph at seven forty-three, same chassis, different plates again, positioned forty meters further down the road than the previous two times. Adjusting the angle. Trying to get a cleaner sightline to the estate's eastern gate.He looked at the photograph over breakfast, passed his phone back to Jasmine, and asked Hazel if she wanted more coffee.“Yeah, thanks,” she responded innocently.He'd spent three days doing nothing about it, which was the point. Let them settle into the pattern. Let them grow comfortable with what they thought they were seeing. A man with a routine, predictable movements, a security detail that followed the same rotation schedule it had followed for weeks. Nothing to suggest he'd noticed anything at all.Pietro had landed quietly at Silver Lace's private airfield the previous evening. He brought no convoy, and made s

Alan woke up with a groan and sat up after a few seconds, his dreary eyes drifting to the bedside stool. His phone buzzed incessantly.He would have ignored the call but it was Dmitri calling; the man wouldn't call so early until it was extremely important.He took the phone and answered before the call went off."The chain doesn't go up," was the first thing Dmitri said, without greeting. "It goes sideways."“Good morning to you too," Alan leaned forward and reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. Hazel was still asleep beside him, breathing slowly. He kept his voice low. "Talk me through it.""The payment routing from the surveillance contract runs through three shell companies before it hits anything traceable. The third company, registered in the Cayman Islands, standard structure, nothing unusual on the surface, has a silent partner. A Silver Lace holding firm." A brief pause. "Jasmine found it in six hours, which I'll admit impressed me.""She impresses everyone ev