Domenico Falcone stepped into the atrium and froze at the sight of his daughter on the floor

The rain fell in sheets as Vincent threw open the rear doors of the warehouse, his lungs burning with cold oxygen. In the alleyway where his command vehicle was parked, two of his personal guards lay dead on the asphalt, both shot cleanly through the base of the skull at point-blank range—an execution by someone they never expected to fear.

The command SUV was gone. Don Angelo was gone.

"Marco!" Vincent screamed into his radio. "Status at the mansion! What is happening at the mansion?!"

Static hissed, then Marco’s frantic voice broke through: *"Don Vincent! The estate’s power grid has been cut! Auxiliary generators failed to engage! The security systems are fried from an internal terminal! We are taking heavy fire at the main gates!"*

"Ruby!" Vincent roared, hot panic violently piercing his stoic composure. "Where is my daughter?!"

*"Consigliere Angelo arrived ten minutes ago using your emergency clearance code! He took Donna Ruby into the primary vault, claiming the perimeter was breached! We cannot get inside—the vault door is locked from the control console!"*

Vincent threw himself into the remaining tactical SUV, slammed the transmission into gear, and floored the accelerator. The heavy armored vehicle fishtailed across the wet gravel, tires screaming as it burst onto the highway, hitting ninety miles an hour in seconds.

Vincent gripped the steering wheel so hard the leather groaned. Angelo. The man who had stood by his father's side. The man who had held Vincent as an orphaned boy after the first syndicate war. The man who had sworn an oath of blood to protect Ruby with his last breath.

*Why?*

His mind raced through thirty years of history. Angelo had handled Caterina's funeral. Angelo had managed the trust funds. Angelo had insisted Ruby be named heir today.

*It wasn't an honor,* Vincent realized, nausea gripping his gut. *It was an elevation. Angelo needed Ruby officially declared the sovereign heir so that her signature, her legal bloodline, could activate the offshore family covenants. And now that she is crowned... her father is an obstacle.*