Location; Caracas, Venezuela – Rivari Estate Underground Vault
Rafael slammed the heavy vault door shut as Nora paced behind him, clutching the encrypted device they had retrieved from the wreckage of the breached mine.
"He was taken without a trace," Rafael growled. "My son… my blood! And not a single security feed captured their faces."
"They weren't ordinary intruders," Nora said grimly, decrypting the final layer of code. "These were Order-trained ghosts. Their signature disappears even from thermal traces. And they had an inside man."
Rafael's fist clenched. "You think I have a traitor in my own house?"
"Not just in your house," Nora said, showing him the screen. "In your bloodline."
The display revealed an old photo—Rafael's cousin, Esmeralda, long thought dead in a plane crash. Only now she was alive, aged but unmistakable, and listed as the current commander of the rogue faction called Red Heir.
Rafael's face darkened. "She always believed the Southern Branch was denied leadership. She swore revenge."
"She's working with Archer now," Nora added. "And she has your son."
Location; Tavara – Damien's Private Jet, En Route to Siberia
Damien sat motionless, a thousand thoughts racing. In his hand was a photo from the capsule—his cousin Elira. Preserved in cryostasis for decades. A message had been carved into the capsule lid in old Latin: She awakens when blood calls.
"She's one of us," Damien murmured. "Another heir. But why was she hidden?"
Viktor leaned forward. "According to the archive logs, her mother tried to flee with her during the War of Separation. She feared the child would be used as a weapon. They caught the mother. They froze the daughter."
"Until now," Damien said.
His phone buzzed. A message from Nora.
> "One of Rafael's twins taken. South American traitor confirmed. Red Heir."
Damien's jaw tightened. "This isn't just about secrets anymore. It's family. They're targeting our heirs."
Location; Tavara – Alina's Training Grounds
The chamber had changed. Where once it was cold and shadowed, now light pulsed through every crevice. Alina stood surrounded by translucent projections of ancestors, each echoing in languages she didn't know but somehow understood.
Lucia handed her a sealed scroll.
"This is the Lineage Concord. It recognizes you as the Ascendant of the Ninth Line."
Alina opened it—runes shifted and glowed, transforming into a family tree that spanned continents. Her name shimmered near the center.
"I don't know these people," she said.
"But they'll soon know you," Lucia whispered. "And not all of them will kneel willingly."
Suddenly, Alina's eyes widened. A sharp pain ripped through her chest.
"What is it?" Lucia asked.
"I… saw him," Alina whispered, trembling. "Damien. He's in danger. And so is a girl… frozen… like me."
Lucia froze. "Then the real war has begun."
Location; Moscow – Private Boardroom, Red Heir Headquarters
Esmeralda Valemont, regal and commanding in a crimson trench coat, stood over a table lined with holographic profiles—Nora, Damien, Alina, Rafael, and now Elira.
She tapped Elira's photo.
"She's waking. That will throw off our timeline."
Her aide, a tall Russian man with half-metallic skin, replied, "We still have the boy. That gives us leverage."
Esmeralda smiled coldly. "Let them come for him. It will be their undoing. The Old Blood must fall before the New Order can rise."