Chapter 1 - The Scorpion
Amara leaned closer, her small hands resting on the edge of the mahogany table.
The dining room fell into an absolute, suffocating silence.
I leaned forward to hear her tiny, trembling voice.
"My mommy said you used to have a little girl too," she whispered softly.
Then her dark eyes darted toward the armed men standing by the door.
"She also told me to warn you about the man with the scorpion on his neck."
My blood ran entirely cold.
My daughter, Elara, had supposedly died in a tragic mansion fire two years ago.
No one in this house ever spoke her name aloud.
More importantly, only my inner circle knew that my second-in-command, Dante, had a scorpion tattoo hidden beneath his collar.
I slowly turned my gaze toward Grace, whose face was completely drained of blood.
She took a panicked step backward, gripping the fabric of her maid uniform.
I raised my right hand, signaling my guards to lock the heavy wooden dining room doors.
The metallic click of the deadbolts echoed loudly through the cavernous space.
"Nobody leaves this room," I commanded, my voice dangerously low.
Dante, who was standing by the window, immediately reached inside his tailored suit jacket.
He realized the little girl had just exposed his deepest secret.
Before Dante could pull his weapon, I grabbed the heavy silver steak knife from my plate.
I threw the blade across the room with lethal precision.
The handle struck Dante squarely in the wrist, causing him to drop his gun to the floor.
My loyal guards instantly tackled him, pinning his face against the polished marble.
I stood up slowly from my chair and walked directly toward a trembling Grace.
"Who exactly are you, Grace, and how do you know about Dante?" I asked.
Grace fell to her knees, wrapping her arms protectively around little Amara.
"I was a nurse at the hospital the night your daughter died," she sobbed hysterically.
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Then she looked up at me with tears streaming down her face.
"The little girl in the morgue was not your daughter, Julian."
