Jaxon stood on the terrace of his penthouse, the city lights stretching endlessly beneath him like a glittering, indifferent sea. The cool night air bit at his skin, but the chill in his bones had nothing to do with the weather. It was the weight of what Victor had told him that pressed against his chest, the unbearable truth that shattered everything he had believed about his family.
His mother was alive.
More than that, she had been the shadow behind the trafficking ring, the architect of the poison spreading through their empire. The woman he had mourned, the woman he had blamed for leaving him alone in the cold world, was still here, pulling strings from the darkness.
Victor’s voice echoed behind him, steady and grim. “She’s the one running it all. The trafficking, the arms deals, t
