The sound of shattering glass and tactical gunfire echoed through the rain-slicked streets of downtown, but inside his armored SUV, Alejandro didn't even blink. He stared coldly at the tactical tablet in his lap, watching the live security feeds of his financial headquarters. A six-man hit squad from the Rossi syndicate had breached the lobby, attempting to draw him out. "They think they can distract me with money," Alejandro murmured, his voice a low, lethal hum. He tapped the screen twice. "Lucas, activate the building's internal suppression system. Do not leave a single one of them alive to carry a message back to their Don." "On it, Boss," Lucas’s voice crackled through the comms. Within thirty seconds, the live feed showed the Rossi mercenaries being neatly cut down by Alejandro's automated defense protocols. The downtown threat was neutralized without Alejandro ever having to step out of his vehicle. But Alejandro didn't celebrate. His genius mind was already calculating the enemy's next move. Why send a weak six-man squad to a heavily fortified tech building? The realization hit him like a physical blow. The downtown attack wasn't a real assault. It was a decoy. "The estate," Alejandro growled, his heart stopping for a fraction of a second as he slammed his hand against the front seat partition. "Turn the car around! Drive! They are going after Sarah!" Back at the heavily fortified mansion, Sarah stood in the center of Alejandro's massive master suite. The ambient red security lights cast a dark glow over the black silk sheets and mahogany furniture. While any other woman would be panicking, Sarah remained characteristically cool. She walked over to Alejandro’s desk, bypassing the locked drawers, and pressed her hand against a hidden biometric scanner under the desk lip. A panel in the wall slid open smoothly, revealing a monitor connected to the estate’s perimeter cameras. Sarah leaned in, her serene eyes narrowing as she scanned the feeds. The outer gates were silent, but along the western wall, hidden by the thick tree line, she spotted three unmarked black vans pulling up. Heavily armed men in tactical gear began spilling out, cutting through the perimeter wires. Her phone buzzed. It was Alejandro. "Sarah! Look at me," Alejandro’s voice boomed through the speaker, raw panic bleeding through his usual icy exterior. "They are at the estate. Lucas and I are ten minutes away. I need you to go into the master bathroom, slide the mirror open, and enter the panic bunker. Now!" "I see them, Andro," Sarah said, her voice shockingly calm compared to his frantic breathing. She kept her eyes locked on the monitor as the first Rossi soldier stepped onto the manicured lawn. "But your panic bunker doesn't have a view of the cameras. If I hide in there, I’m flying blind." "Sarah, this is not a game!" Alejandro roared over the sound of his SUV’s engine screaming as it tore through the city streets. "They will kill anyone in their way! Get in the bunker!" "You always say I'm the queen of your heart, Andro," Sarah murmured, a faint, sassy spark returning to her voice despite the impending danger. She reached into the hidden wall compartment, bypassing the panic room switch, and instead grabbed a sleek, lightweight silver handgun Alejandro had custom-made for her years ago. She checked the magazine with an effortless, practiced motion. "And a queen doesn't hide in a closet while her castle is under siege." "Sarah—!" Before Alejandro could finish his sentence, the heavy thud of an explosion rocked the lower levels of the mansion. The main power grid cut out, plunging the master bedroom into pure darkness, lit only by the pale moonlight filtering through the cracks of the security shutters. Sarah hung up the phone, stepped away from the desk, and raised the firearm, pointing it directly at the heavy double doors of the bedroom. The shadows were moving, and the real battle for the empire was about to begin.

The Shadows Strike