THE SILENT SHADOW OF ASHFORD HOUSE: BLOODLINE, BETRAYAL, AND THE MAID WHO SAVED US ALL

The shock of the freezing water stole my breath for a split second, but the burning fury in my chest drove my fists forward.

Luca thrashed beneath the surface, trying to bring his revolver to bear, but I grabbed his wrist, slamming his arm against the steel hull of the moored boat until the weapon slipped into the black depths of Lake Michigan.

I dragged him by the collar onto the wooden dock, hauling his sputtering, coughing body onto the slick planks. He lay there, retching water, clutching his broken wrist, staring up at me with absolute, paralyzing horror.

“Marcus... please... we were brothers for fifteen years...” Luca choked out, backing away on his elbows until his back hit the warehouse wall.

“Brothers don’t send death squads into a kitchen with children, Luca,” I said, my voice dead and cold as the grave.

I raised my Kimber, centering the sights between his terrified eyes.

“Wait! Vale!”

The voice came from behind me.

I didn't lower my weapon, but I glanced sideways. Walter Sterling had emerged from the shipping containers. But he wasn't looking at me.

He was holding Claire at gunpoint.

Claire had taken a bullet to her left shoulder—blood was soaking through her black tactical shirt—and Sterling had his heavy combat magnum pressed against her temple, using her as a human shield.

“Drop the gun, Vale!” Sterling shouted, his voice echoing frantically across the cavernous warehouse. “Drop it, or I blow her brains across this dock!”

Claire looked at me through strands of wet, sweat-soaked hair. Despite the gun at her skull and the blood running down her arm, her eyes showed zero fear. She gave me a slight, imperceptible nod, her fingers subtly tapping a rhythmic pattern against her right thigh.

Three taps.

She was signaling a break to the left.

“Let her go, Sterling,” I said, slowly lowering my pistol toward the floorboards. “Your army is dead. Victor Ramos is in custody. Your offshore accounts are frozen. It’s over.”

“It’s not over until I walk out of here alive!” Sterling screamed. “Kick the gun into the water! Now!”

I bent down, pretending to set the Kimber on the dock.

In that fraction of a second, Claire executed the break.

She threw her head backward violently, slamming the crown of her skull directly into Sterling’s nose. Bone cracked. Sterling roared in pain, his aim jerking wildly upward as his gun discharged harmlessly into the rafters.

Claire dropped instantly to the deck.

I came up from my crouch with the Kimber, firing three hollow-point rounds in rapid succession.

The first round struck Sterling in the center of his chest. The second tore through his throat. The third punched through his forehead.

Walter Sterling collapsed backward off the pier, his body hitting the churning black waters of Lake Michigan with a heavy splash, disappearing beneath the surface forever.

On the dock behind me, Luca Vance scrambled to his feet, attempting one last desperate sprint toward the exit.

I didn't even turn fully around. I extended my arm and fired a single round through the back of Luca’s knee.

He collapsed onto the concrete, howling in agony.

I walked over, stood over the man who had betrayed my empire and endangered my daughters, and looked down at him without an ounce of pity.

“Green Garden, Luca,” I whispered.