Rome was burning behind them.
At least that's what it felt like as Dominic and Aria emerged from the hidden tunnel beneath the villa. Smoke billowed into the early morning sky, blending with the chill of dawn. The echoes of gunfire and crumbling concrete still reverberated in Aria's bones.
They were alive. Barely.
A black SUV waited on the street outside. Felix sat behind the wheel, pale but calm. "Did you get him?"
Dominic didn't answer.
Aria slipped into the seat beside him, her body shaking.
Felix caught her glance. "You saw Daniel?"
Aria nodded. "He's... different. Cold. Controlled."
Felix's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Then Phase Two has begun."
Back in Manhattan, the war came home.
Dominic stood in front of the penthouse windows, staring down at the city he once ruled from the shadows. Now, the shadows moved without his command.
Reports were flooding in: hostile takeovers, political leaks, financial attacks. Stock prices plummeted. Offshore accounts drained. Allies disappeared.
WRAITH had declared war.
And Daniel was leading the charge.
Aria watched the news unfold with growing dread. Every attack felt personal. Every headline whispered his name.
Daniel.
But it wasn't just the destruction. It was the precision. The surgical nature of it. He knew Dominic's systems. His people. His flaws.
This wasn't revenge.
This was retribution.
That night, a message arrived.
Encrypted. Anonymous. But unmistakably from Daniel.
"You built your kingdom on lies. Let's see how long it stands without your secrets."
Attached was a single document: a list of names.
Board members. Investors. Officials. Each one tied to illegal dealings through Blackwood International.
Aria turned to Dominic. "What is this?"
He took the tablet, scanned the file. His jaw clenched.
"It's my insurance file. The one I swore never to open."
"You kept records?"
"I had to. If I ever fell, I needed leverage."
Aria's voice was cold. "Daniel's going to release this. Everything will implode."
Dominic nodded slowly. "Yes. And when it does, I'll lose everything."
She stepped closer. "Then let me help you fight."
Dominic looked at her, and for the first time in days, he nodded without resistance.
"Then we do this together."
Elsewhere, in a darkened high-rise, Daniel stood overlooking the city.
Marlowe approached from behind, slow and calculating.
"You gave them a warning," he said.
Daniel didn't turn. "I gave them time."
"To do what?"
"To prepare. To choose who they really are."
Marlowe stepped beside him. "And if they choose to fight?"
Daniel's eyes glittered.
"Then we burn the whole thing down."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a device—a detonator disguised as a phone.
"Time to collapse the foundation."
He pressed a button.
Back in Manhattan, Dominic's encrypted server lit up with an internal breach alert.
The file vault.
The core of his operation.
Erased.