Creeping through the quiet halls of his own waterfront estate

Rocco unceremoniously dropped Vivien’s limp, silk-clad body onto the cold tile floor of the laundry room, completely ignoring Marco’s raised weapon.

The massive lieutenant casually wiped a smear of bright red blood from his knuckles, reporting in a low growl that the Hail family had just violently moved on the docks.

Lorenzo’s eyes snapped away from his brother, the immediate, overwhelming threat to his empire instantly overriding the painful family drama.

Rocco explained rapidly that heavily armed mercenaries on the Hail payroll had ambushed two of their primary shipping shipments within the last hour.

Marco lowered his weapon slightly, his face draining of all color as he finally realized the devastating, undeniable truth of Lorenzo's earlier warning.

Vivien had never actually intended to wait for the wedding; she had merely used the engagement to perfectly position her family's brutal strike.

Lorenzo stepped past his highly conflicted brother, looking down at the unconscious heiress with a potent mixture of absolute disgust and cold, calculating rage.

He ordered Rocco to have Vivien securely bound and thrown directly into the soundproof wine cellar until they had time to deal with her properly.

He then turned back to Marco, entirely stripping the younger man of his weapon with a shockingly fast, highly practiced motion.

Lorenzo told his brother coldly that his ultimate punishment for high treason would simply have to wait until they secured the violently contested waterfront.

He ordered Elena to lock herself and Mia securely inside the reinforced panic room located deep beneath the main library, and to absolutely not open the door for anyone but him.

Lorenzo and Rocco sprinted toward the estate’s heavily fortified armory, quickly loading heavy tactical gear and high-powered assault rifles into the back of the armored SUV.

As they sped recklessly toward the harbor, Lorenzo’s encrypted phone buzzed violently with a highly disturbing video message.

It was from Vivien’s father, Richard Hail, a ruthless, old-money patriarch who despised the deeply entrenched Italian mafia's control over the city.

Richard smugly demanded Lorenzo’s immediate, unconditional surrender, claiming his highly trained mercenaries had completely secured the entire southern pier.

The video panned slowly to show a dozen of Lorenzo’s most loyal, seasoned enforcers kneeling on the wet, bloody concrete with heavy guns pressed forcefully to their heads.

Lorenzo gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned completely white, his mind rapidly calculating an incredibly dangerous, highly unpredictable counter-offensive.

He told Rocco to immediately initiate Protocol Omega, a highly destructive, deeply scorched-earth tactic they had never actually been forced to use before.

Rocco’s eyes widened in sheer, unfiltered shock, loudly reminding his boss that Protocol Omega would completely and utterly destroy the very docks they were fighting to save.

Lorenzo’s voice was completely devoid of any emotion as he firmly stated that if the Ducas couldn't absolutely control the harbor, then absolutely no one would.

Just as they arrived at the heavily guarded perimeter of the contested docks, Lorenzo's phone buzzed again, this time displaying a terrifyingly familiar, completely unexpected number.

It was the secure, heavily encrypted landline located inside the Duca mansion's underground panic room, the exact room where Elena and Mia were supposed to be hiding safely.