The maid’s three-year-old daughter knocked the cake from a mafia boss’s son’s hands just before he took a bite—then she revealed the man who had poisoned it was someone the family trusted most.

The silence in the vault was suffocating.

Julian’s eyes darted toward the elevator, then toward Victor, who stood motionless by the door with his hand resting on his holstered firearm.

"I don't know who Aris Thorne is," Julian whispered, his face losing color.

"He's a chemist," Dante said flatly. "He lost his medical license six years ago for supplying untraceable toxins to the cartel. My men paid him a visit twenty minutes ago, Julian. It took them four minutes to break his fingers, and thirty seconds after that, he gave up your name. He even gave us the serial number of the offshore bank transfer you sent him from your dummy corporation in Grand Cayman."

Julian’s hands began to tremble against the cold iron surface of the table. The sophisticated, charming facade cracked wide open, revealing the bitter, venomous coward underneath.

"He was weak, Dante!" Julian suddenly spat, his voice turning shrill and vicious. He pointed an accusatory finger at Ethan. "Look at him! He’s soft! He’s like his mother! In five years, the Castellano family will swallow our empire whole because you’re raising a poet instead of a soldier! Our father built this family with iron and blood, and you’re turning it into a charity foundation!"

Ethan flinched at his uncle’s words, tears welling in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

Sophia hugged Lily tighter, horrified by the cold hatred radiating from Julian.

"I built this empire," Dante replied, his voice chillingly calm. "Not you. You were always just the shadow walking behind me, Julian. And shadows don't get to wear the crown."

"You think you won?" Julian sneered, a wicked grin spreading across his face despite the corner he was backed into. He slowly leaned back in his chair. "Check the cameras, Dante. Why do you think I let you drag me down here so easily?"

Dante frowned. He immediately tapped his comm unit. "Control room, report."

Static hissed in the earpiece.

Then, a sudden high-pitched whine tore through the vault’s intercom speakers. Above them, the heavy overhead fluorescent lights flickered once, twice, and then slammed into complete darkness.

The auxiliary emergency lights buzzed to life half a second later, bathing the underground vault in an eerie, blood-red glow.

"Intruder alarm tripped on Sector Four," Victor shouted, drawing his sidearm. "The main breaker upstairs was just sabotaged! Dante, we’ve got hostiles inside the manor!"

Julian laughed in the red shadows, lunging forward. He didn't draw a gun; instead, he kicked the heavy iron table straight toward Dante, using the distraction to dive behind a stack of metal crates where a secondary emergency access shaft was hidden.

"Get Ethan and the girl to the sub-tunnel!" Dante roared, dodging the heavy table and drawing his custom Colt .45. "Victor, lock down the lift! Nobody leaves this bunker alive!"