The world of shadows has no loyalty.
In the hush of early dawn, while the rest of the city still dreamed or plotted, unseen forces began to stir. Whispers slithered through underground halls and smoky rooms, Valentina De Lucas was alive, and she was in Adrian Costa’s possession. That knowledge, in the wrong hands, wasn’t just dangerous. It was lethal.
And someone wanted her dead.
Adrian stood in his office, the amber light of the rising sun cutting through the thick glass windows like a blade. His hands were behind his back, fists clenched, jaw set. He wasn’t a man easily shaken. But the envelope that sat on his desk, sealed in blood-red wax with the insignia of the Vitale syndicate, had shifted something in him.
Inside, a photo of Valentina. A clean shot, taken from a distance, her fe
