Elias’s hidden elite snipers—positioned in the reinforced architectural rafters above the vaulted ceiling—opened fire with suppressive, pinpoint accuracy. In less than three seconds, the two rear enforcers in Marcus’s squad dropped instantly, their bodies hitting the imported Italian marble floor with heavy, lifeless thuds.

Marcus let out a furious curse, diving behind a massive mahogany console table as glass shattered and bullets chipped away at the stone pillars.

“It’s an ambush! Fall back to the elevator!” Marcus screamed, scrambling on his hands and knees.

He lunged toward the elevator doors, punching the emergency close button with a frantic fist. But the digital display flashed a bright, mocking red: SYSTEM LOCKED.

Elias walked slowly across the foyer, his boots clicking rhythmically against the blood-stained floor. He stopped ten feet from the overturned console where Marcus was cowering, trembling as he tried to reload his weapon with sweating hands.

“You thought you could walk into my domain, Marcus?” Elias asked softly, raising his pistol and firing a single, calculated shot that buried itself into the floorboards an inch from Marcus’s right boot.

Marcus froze, dropping his weapon. He looked up, his face twisted in sheer, unadulterated panic.

“Elias... wait! I’m just an employee! Blackwood gave the orders! He said the girls—he said the twins hold the key to the entire Northern European shipping ledger!” Marcus pleaded, pressing his back against the wall.

Elias’s eyes darkened into an abyss of cold fury.

“I know exactly what those children hold,” Elias said, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. “And that is why anyone who has ever looked at them with greed in their eyes will not see tomorrow.”

Before Marcus could scream, one of Elias’s enforcers stepped forward, placing a heavy tactical zip-tie around Marcus’s wrists and dragging him away toward the subterranean holding cells below the garage.

Silence fell over the penthouse once again, broken only by the distant, rhythmic hum of the city lights outside.

I stood in the doorway of the master suite, holding my breath, my arms wrapped protectively around my babies. The reality of the violent, blood-soaked world I had accidentally stumbled into crashed over me with crushing weight.

Elias turned around, walking back toward me. The cold, ruthless syndicate boss dissolved instantly, replaced by a man carrying the heavy, protective burden of a vow.

He stopped a few feet away, noticing the terror still shining in my wide eyes.

“Are they okay?” Elias asked, his voice softening noticeably as he glanced down at the infants sleeping soundly in my arms.

“They... they didn't even wake up,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “Elias, what is happening? Who are these people, and why are they willing to tear this city apart over my daughters?”

Elias sighed, running a hand through his dark hair as he gestured toward the private study.

“Come inside, Ava,” he said gently. “It’s time you knew the full truth about the bloodline you are carrying—and the war we now have to finish.”