"She thought the mafia boss would fire her for crying outside his office—until he heard the threat against her dying brother and quietly reached for his g.u.n. "

The metallic click of the pistol echoed through the cavernous foyer, sharp as a whip.

Julian took a step back, his hands rising slightly in a gesture of surrender. "Adrian, be rational. You are reacting emotionally to a domestic situation. She is a house cleaner. She has no loyalty to you."

"She works in my home," Adrian replied, his voice terrifyingly calm. "That makes her my responsibility. You, on the other hand, were paid ten million dollars a year to keep threats away from my door. Instead, you brought the threat inside."

"Mr. Marchetti, please!" Clara cried out, her fear breaking through her shock. She stepped between the pistol and Julian, her arms outstretched, shaking violently. "Don't shoot him! If you kill him, they’ll kill Evan! The text said—"

"The text came from Julian's office," Adrian cut in without lowering the weapon. His dark eyes shifted to Clara, softening by an almost imperceptible fraction. "Look at the time stamp on the message on your phone, Clara. 11:42 p.m. Julian arrived at my gate at 11:45 p.m."

Clara looked down at her phone screen with numb fingers.

11:42 p.m.

Tell your brother to stop talking. Next time, we won't warn you.

She looked up at Julian. The elderly lawyer’s polite, refined expression had completely vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating glare.

"You..." Clara whispered, her voice cracking. "You sent it?"

"I gave you two weeks to resign and leave the city, Miss Bennett," Julian said coldly, dropping his arms to his sides. "I sent you anonymous severance pay. I gave you three separate warnings. You stayed because you were greedy for your little hourly wage."

"I stayed because I needed money for my brother's life support!" Clara screamed at him, tears bursting from her eyes. "He’s on a ventilator! He’s dying!"

"He should have died on that road two months ago," Julian spat.

The moment those words left Julian’s mouth, Adrian moved.

It wasn't a slow, deliberate step. It was a blur of motion. Adrian closed the space between them in a fraction of a second, driving his left hand into Julian’s throat and slamming the older man against the marble wall with enough force to rattle the glass in the chandelier above.

Julian gasped for air, his face turning red, his glasses falling to the floor and shattering on the stone.

Adrian pressed the barrel of the pistol directly beneath Julian’s chin.

"Say that again," Adrian whispered.

Julian choked, his fingers clutching uselessly at Adrian’s iron wrist. "Adrian... please... the Morettis... they have my family..."

"I don't care about your family," Adrian said, his voice flat and terrifying. "I care about mine. And I care about the rules of this house."

He pulled Julian forward and slammed him back into the wall a second time.

"Who ordered the hit on Evan Bennett?" Adrian demanded. "Was it Carlo Moretti? Or was it you, trying to cover up your own skim from the harbor accounts?"

Julian’s eyes bulged. He managed to cough out two words: "Both... of us."

Clara pressed her hands over her mouth to muffle her sob.

"Julian," Adrian said, leaning in until his lips were inches from the lawyer's ear. "You have five minutes to sign over every asset, every offshore account, and every master key you hold for the Marchetti estate. Then my men will take you to the basement."

"You... you can't..." Julian gasped.

"I can," Adrian said. "And I will."

Adrian tossed the lawyer onto the floor like a sack of trash. Julian lay there, coughing violently, gasping for breath on the cold marble.

Adrian turned to Clara. The pistol was still in his right hand, but he held it pointed toward the floor, away from her.

"Get your coat," Adrian told her.

Clara stared at him, her chest heaving. "What?"

"We’re going to St. Jude’s Hospital," Adrian said, stepping over Julian’s shattered glasses. "Before Julian’s friends realize he failed to secure your brother."

"You're... you're going to help him?" she asked, her voice trembling.