Chapter 5 - The Serpent's Alliance
Lena felt a chill run down her spine as the silent video continued to loop on the giant monitor.
There was no mistaking the ice-blue silk, nor the diamond pendant resting on Clara’s collarbone—a gift Victor had publicly given her only three months prior to celebrate their arranged engagement.
In the recording, Clara’s lips moved with rapid, vicious urgency. Leon nodded once, slipped the vial into his tuxedo jacket, and kissed the back of her hand before disappearing into the banquet hall.
Victor stood completely motionless in front of the screen.
To an outsider, he might have looked indifferent. But Lena, watching his reflection in the dark glass of the window, saw the lethal stillness that overtook him. His hands did not clench; his breathing did not change. He simply became a monster waiting to strike.
"She wanted the Romano estate," Dmitri muttered, his jaw clenched tight. "The Whitmore syndicate is drowning in debt from European shipping defaults. If you died tonight, Boss, Clara’s marriage contract guaranteed her forty percent of your liquid holdings within seventy-two hours."
"And Leon gets the remaining operational territory," Victor concluded. His voice was terrifyingly soft, like velvet wrapped around razor wire. "A clean coup. Elegant. Ruthless."
He turned slowly toward Lena. "And ruined by a girl holding an empty serving tray."
Lena swallowed hard. "Clara knows I saw Leon before the shot. She knows I’m the variable they didn't account for. That’s why she tried to convince you I was an enemy on the phone."
"She’s already moving her pawns," Victor agreed.
Suddenly, an alarm blared across the ceiling speakers—a sharp, rhythmic pulsing red light that bathed the obsidian library in crimson.
Dmitri tapped his earpiece, his face draining of color. "Boss! Front gate security is offline. Black SUVs—unmarked—just breached the outer courtyard. They didn't come to talk."
Victor didn't hesitate for a single second. He walked to the wall behind his desk, pressed his palm against a hidden scanner, and the wood paneling slid back to reveal a fully stocked armory.
He reached inside, pulled out a lightweight tactical pistol, chambered a round with a crisp, metallic snap, and turned to Lena.
He offered her the weapon handle-first.
Lena looked from the cold steel up to Victor’s piercing eyes. "You're giving me a gun?"
"You saved my life twice tonight," Victor said, his gaze burning with dark intensity. "Now I'm giving you the means to save your own. Can you shoot?"
Lena closed her fingers around the grip. The weight was familiar; her father had taught her that too.
May you like
"Only when I intend to kill," she whispered.
Victor’s lips twitched into a lethal half-smile. "Good. Because tonight, nobody who enters this penthouse leaves in an ambulance."
