Chapter 3

Dock One, where the ocean wind howled sharp and bitter.

Massive floodlights blazed across the empty work zone, lighting it up bright as midday. Two giant industrial steel barrels sat beneath a crane, with a roaring cement mixer parked right beside them.

Victor stood up on a raised platform, barking orders at his men as they roughly tossed the two charred, black-bagged corpses straight into the barrels.

Two of his bodyguards had escorted me to the scene, forcing me to watch this gruesome act of covering up murder.

Lilia had changed into a dry trench coat and clung to Victor’s side. When she spotted me walking over, she deliberately pulled free from his grip, clicked her heels over to me, and plastered that sickeningly innocent look across her face.

“Don’t be so upset, sis.” Lilia lowered her voice, speaking only loud enough for the two of us to hear. “You should actually thank me. If my jet ski hadn’t crashed into your yacht, you never would’ve realized—even as the high-and-mighty mafia heiress, you don’t mean half as much to Victor as a single strand of my hair.”

She covered her mouth and giggled, malice blazing in her eyes.

“Look at this. Even after I killed your mom and brother, Victor’s still willing to dump their bodies in cement like trash just to protect me. Doesn’t that hurt worse than dying?”

I stared at her face, twisted out of shape by jealousy and smug triumph, and didn’t even feel the urge to get angry. Wasting a single word on this fool wasn’t worth my breath.

“You know something, Lilia?” I leaned forward slightly, my gaze drifting past her to Victor, who was overseeing the cement prep work. “The harder you laugh right now, the harder you’ll cry later.”

Lilia’s face went rigid, then she scoffed. “All talk, no bite. Once that cement pours, everything’s over. What do you even have to fight me with?”

“Keep your eyes wide open and watch.” I stood straight, crossed my arms over my chest, and stared at her like I was already looking at a dead woman.

“Victor, we’re ready to pour!” One of his men shouted from a distance.

Victor turned to glance down at me from his high perch, his eyes overflowing with the arrogant pride of a winner.

“Vera, this is your last chance. Sign the papers, and I’ll tell them to stop everything.” He waved the private settlement document in his hand.

“Go to hell.” I spat the four cold words out flatly.

Victor’s face turned livid with rage. He snapped his arm upward in a sharp gesture. “You want to play hardball? Pour it! Seal them tight, sink the barrels out in international waters, and make sure they never resurface!”

RUMBLE—

The mixer’s valve swung open, pale gray cement slurry cascading down like a waterfall, inches away from swallowing the barrels holding the bodies whole.

Lilia trembled with excitement, glued to the horrific sight. Victor wore a cold, relieved sneer. He thought once those cement blocks sank to the seabed, all proof of his embezzlement, his affair with Lilia, and his plot to kill the Corsica bloodline heirs would vanish forever.

The very instant the first drop of cement was about to hit the metal barrel—

BANG!

A deafening sniper shot split the night sky.

The crew manning the mixer screamed as the bullet cleanly pierced his wrist. Blood spurted everywhere, and the valve slammed shut instantly.

“Who the hell’s out there?!” Victor panicked, yanking his sidearm from its holster in one violent motion.

Next, blinding floodlights swept across the ocean surface. Three heavy black speedboats, fully armed, cut through the waves like ghosts, circling the entire dock within seconds.

Lines of elite soldiers in black tactical vests lined each vessel, automatic rifles raised—every barrel locked straight onto Victor’s crew.

These were the Black Flame, the Corsica family’s most loyal, deadly core hit squad.

Victor’s ragtag group of henchmen’s knees buckled with terror, and they dropped their weapons one after another.

“What—what is this?! Vera, you dared deploy the family’s private army without permission?!” Victor lost his composure, roaring at me with shaky, hollow bravado.

I ignored him completely, my gaze locked on the boat at the center of the formation.

A reckless young figure in a black leather jacket stood balanced on the bow, tossing a silver USB drive between his fingers, a bloodthirsty smirk tugging at his lips.

“Brother-in-law, why the rush to pour cement? Scared something’s gonna float back up to the surface?”

Victor and Lilia spun around sharply, and their eyes blew wide the second they laid eyes on my younger brother.