My Fiancée Kicked the 82-Year-Old Woman Who Raised Me Down the Stairs—Then She Claimed My Mother Was Still Alive.

"It's a sweet reunion, Victor," a cold, harsh voice echoed from the hallway outside. "Too bad it ends tonight."

Don Vale stepped into the doorway of Room 104, flanked by six heavily armed bodyguards in dark suits. At sixty-five, Celestine’s father was a ruthless, sharp-faced crime lord with graying hair, dressed in an expensive charcoal coat. He held a sleek silver pistol in his hand.

Behind him, two guards grabbed Frank and Victor’s bodyguards, disarming them at gunpoint.

Victor slowly stood up to his full height, his broad frame creating a protective wall in front of his mother. His dark eyes turned into razor slits of liquid nitrogen.

"Vale," Victor said, his deep voice dropping into a lethal, quiet growl. "You entered my house forty years ago. Now you enter my mother's room."

Don Vale let out a dry, mocking laugh. "Your father was a fool, Victor. He hid his wife in this woods, thinking I wouldn't find her. But Celestine spent two years hunting down every offshore transfer from the Santoro trust."

Celestine stepped up beside her father, her eyes glittering with renewed malice as she adjusted her diamond bracelet. "Give us the master bloodline deed, Victor. Sign over the harbor rights, or your mother dies in front of you."

Eleanor stood tall behind Victor, her hand resting gently on her son's broad back. "Do not give him anything, Victor. A Santoro does not bow to scum."

Don Vale’s face flushed with rage. He raised his pistol, aiming it directly at Eleanor's chest. "Sign the paper, Victor! You have ten seconds!"

Victor didn't move. He didn't flinch.

"Look at your watch, Vale," Victor said softly.

Don Vale frowned, glancing down at his gold watch. The hands clicked to 11:58 PM.

Suddenly, a loud electronic chime echoed from Don Vale’s coat pocket. His private satellite phone was ringing wildly.

Don Vale answered it with a trembling hand, pressing the speaker button.

A panic-stricken voice screamed through the phone: "Don Vale! The federal prosecutor’s office just seized our Manhattan headquarters! All our shipping accounts have been frozen under an emergency RICO warrant!"