The news of the bounty hung over the West Wing like a shadow, but Dante’s immediate response was not to retreat, it was to strike.
Before sunrise, three tactical units had been dispatched to trace the Western Syndicate’s banking proxies. Yet, before Dante could finalize his departure for Geneva, an unexpected message arrived through official syndicate channels: Matron Elena Vane requested an immediate private audience with Clara at the Vane family's historic estate on the outer cliffs.
The message was framed as a formal gesture of surrender, a tradition in northern syndicate law where an elder family member offers a ceremonial tea to acknowledge a new matriarch before stepping down.
"You're not going," Dante said, his voice flat as he stood by the heavy glass windows of his study, adjus
