She Thought I Was Nobody at the Head Table—Then One Signet Ring Made Every Crime Family in the Ballroom Stand.

The return journey to Manhattan was no longer a diplomatic inquiry; it was a military deployment.

Victor sat in the passenger seat, his phone pressed to his ear as he dialed an old, encrypted frequency that had remained dormant for nearly a decade.

"Carlo," Victor spoke into the receiver.

A rough, gravelly voice answered on the third ring. "Don Bellacorte? By God... we heard you were in the city."

"Assemble the old guard at the Brooklyn perimeter. Heavy weapons, discreet transport. We move on Rossi’s private bank before midnight."

"Understood, Sire. Twenty minutes."

Victor hung up. He looked in the rearview mirror at Clara, who was curled up in the back seat, wrapped in Julian’s dry wool coat.

"The convent in Queens," Victor said without turning around. "What is the name?"

"Saint Jude’s on Fourteenth Street," Clara answered quietly. "The mother superior was Elena’s cousin. Sophia is registered under the name Lily Moreau."

Suddenly, the headlights of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler flared through the rain ahead.

The massive truck didn't stay in its lane. It swerved violently across the yellow line, jackknifing directly across the two-lane mountain highway to block their path.

"Brace!" Julian shouted, slamming on the brakes.

The sedan skidded on the wet asphalt, tires screaming as Victor reached across and grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the vehicle into a controlled slide that brought them to a halt mere feet from the truck’s steel trailer.

Before the smoke could clear, four black SUVs screeched to a halt behind them, boxing them in completely.

Doors slammed open. Men in tactical armor and balaclavas stepped out into the rain, raising automatic submachine guns.

Leading them from the front SUV was Celeste Moreau.

She had traded her ruined silver gown for a black leather jacket, her face tight and merciless. Beside her stood a man in an expensive grey overcoat, holding a silenced pistol—Councilman Dominic Rossi.

Rossi stepped under an umbrella held by a bodyguard and tapped the hood of Victor's car with the barrel of his weapon.