A Terrified Woman Ran Into My Club Fleeing Her Boyfriend—Then an Old Photograph Revealed Her Mother Was My Missing Sister.

Adrien didn't lower the barrel. "Give me one reason not to put a bullet between your eyes, Julian. You were my father’s consigliere. You forged my signature to exile my sister."

Julian looked at Lena, his watery eyes widening with genuine sorrow. "God... she has Elena’s eyes."

"Don't look at her," Adrien barked. "Talk."

"I forged the document because Elena begged me to," Julian whispered, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "She found out something she was never supposed to know. She realized that Marcus—my own flesh and blood—was being groomed to control her from the moment she got pregnant."

Lena stepped out from behind Adrien, her face pale. "Marcus was twelve years old back then! How could he groom me?"

"Not Marcus alone," Julian said, coughing weakly. "His grandfather. My father. We were indebted to a faction that wanted the Viscari legitimate assets. Antonio had put ninety percent of the family’s legal holdings into Elena’s name before she was even twenty. To take the money, they needed Elena out of the way, and they needed her child under Marcus's legal custody."

Adrien stepped into Julian’s personal space, pressing the cold steel of the gun barrel against Julian's forehead. "Who is the faction, Julian? Name them."

Julian swallowed hard, sweat beading on his wrinkled brow. "I can't say the name. They have eyes in your house, Adrien. But I can tell you where Marcus took Elena’s original will."

"Where?" Adrien demanded.

"In a private safe deposit box at Manhattan Trust," Julian choked out. "Box four-hundred-and-four. But you can't open it without the key."