A Little Girl Pointed Toward My Upstairs Office—Then the Door Opened and My Fiancée Went Pale.

Damien and Marco ascended the spiral stone staircase to the upper observation terrace overlooking the dark, misty expanse of Lake Como. Rain lashed against the panoramic reinforced glass windows.

Standing in the center of the dark terrace, silhouetted against the flash of distant lightning, stood a slender figure in a dark trench coat.

She didn't run. She didn't draw a weapon. She merely stood there, watching the storm roll across the lake, holding an unlit cigarette between two slender fingers.

"Hold it right there," Marco barked, leveling his weapon. "Hands where we can see them!"

The woman slowly turned around.

When the next flash of lightning illuminated her face, Damien’s breath seized in his lungs.

It was Clara.

Every line of her face, the high cheekbones, the arch of her eyebrows, the deep hazel of her eyes—it was an exact mirror of the woman he had buried six years ago. The only difference was the cold, predatory hardness in her gaze and a thin, surgical scar running beneath her left ear.

"You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Damien," she said, her voice smooth, carrying an aristocratic European lilt that Clara had spent years hiding.

"Who are you?" Damien demanded, his gun trained steadily between her eyes.

"I am Vivienne Vance," she said calmly, tossing the cigarette onto the stone floor. "Clara’s identical twin. And the woman who helped her escape our father six years ago."

"Liar," Damien growled, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Klaus said the Council wants Lily for her bloodline."

"Klaus is a greedy old dog who wanted to breed Lily with his grandson to usurp the throne," Vivienne scoffed coldly, taking a step toward Damien without a shred of fear. "Our father, Archon Valerius, is dying. The Council is fracturing into civil war. The moment he takes his last breath, the rival families will slaughter each other—and they will come here with gunships and private armies to take the child."

"I will slaughter anyone who sets foot on this land," Damien warned lethally.

"You cannot fight an empire of billionaires and private militaries alone, Moretti," Vivienne said, her eyes flashing with dangerous intensity. "You are powerful in your underworld, but the Council owns governments. They have orbital surveillance, private armies, and politicians in their pockets. You cannot hide Lily forever."

"And what is your proposition, 'Aunt Vivienne'?" Damien asked, venom dripping from his words.

"An alliance," Vivienne said, stepping closer until the muzzle of Damien's Beretta was only inches from her chest. "Help me kill our father before he hands the Council to Klaus's faction. Let me take the Archon’s seat. In return, I will erase Lily's name from the imperial registry forever. She will be free. She will be just your daughter."

Damien stared into the face of his dead wife's twin, trying to discern the truth behind those familiar eyes.