The city had always whispered about the Romanos.
About their rise.
About their fall.
About the son who rebuilt the empire brick by brick with cleaner hands than those who came before him.
But no one talked enough about the people who waited patiently in the shadows.
The ones who didn't mourn the fall of the old families —
they resented the boy who'd taken everything from them.
And tonight, one of those shadows finally stepped into the light.
The warehouse had fallen into silence hours ago.
Jace's men were gone, bodies removed, loose ends tied in blood and fire.
The only sound left was the faint creak of rusted beams and the distant echo of dripping water.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A tall figure emerged from behind a rusted metal column, illuminated only by the faint glow of moonlight filtering through broken windows.
Alejandro.
Donna Carmela's lover.
