LOGINTERRAI had underestimated her. Julia. Every subtle strike I thought would shake her, every whispered rumor I planted, every minor chaos I orchestrated, it had all been anticipated, neutralized, corrected before it could even reach her. And now she was watching. Not just watching, but seeing. Understanding. Reading the patterns I had tried so hard to disguise. I had believed she was fragile, weak, someone who would crumble under pressure. I had been wrong.Livia paced the room like a caged animal, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she moved. “She notices everything. Every minor detail. Every shift in the manor, every change Marcus makes… she sees it.”I clenched my fists, ignoring the dull ache of frustration in my shoulders. “Good,” I said, though my voice sounded sharper than I intended. “Then she will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect forever.”Livia froze, her eyes wide. “Everyone except her. She is… s
TERRAI should have known something was wrong the moment my subtle manipulations stopped having any effect. Every probe I sent into the Lucchesi manor returned nothing. Messages disappeared before they could be delivered. Allies who had once moved like shadows through the network now faltered, unsure, hesitant, waiting for orders that never came.Livia was frantic. Her panic was audible even across the room, sharp and high-pitched, slicing through my careful composure. “This isn’t just suppression anymore,” she hissed. “They’re erasing us. They know every move, every contact, everything!”I slammed my hand against the table, ignoring the splintering wood under my fingers. I hated the feeling of helplessness, of my careful plans being anticipated before they were even set in motion. How could this happen? Julia was just one girl, vulnerable, fragile… yet the Lucchesi forces surrounding her moved with precision I could not touch.“She’s growing stronger,” Nero said quietly, his voice ca
JULIASomething was different in the manor that evening. I could not put my finger on it at first, but a faint sense of order, almost imperceptible, pressed against the edges of my awareness. Subtle, deliberate changes. The curtains in the sitting room were slightly repositioned from how I remembered them. The books on the library shelf had been realigned with a precision I had not seen before. Even the faint smell lingering near the study had disappeared, replaced with the neutral scent of polished wood and ink.Phoebe noticed it too, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the hallway. “Julia, do you feel that?” she asked. “Something has shifted. I do not know if it is the rooms or the people behind it.”I nodded slowly, sensing what she could not yet articulate. The disturbances we had cataloged before—the scuff marks, the displaced cushions, the doors left slightly ajar—had stopped. But the subtle shifts we were seeing now were not mistakes. Someone had corrected everything. Carefully.
MARCUSJulia’s observations had reached me before she even realized the weight of them. Every subtle anomaly she and Phoebe had noted was a thread in a larger web, a web I could now manipulate to trap those who sought to undermine us. Terra and Livia had grown reckless, and I intended to ensure that recklessness became their undoing.I reviewed the compiled intelligence carefully. Minor disturbances at the manor, faint manipulations of staff schedules, and even subtle changes in the estate’s routine—all pointed to the same conclusion. Terra was desperate, testing the boundaries of control. Livia was panicking, attempting to reach allies, probing for weaknesses, sending silent messages that would never reach their destination.I issued orders quietly, precisely. Operatives moved into positions around the manor, near probable access points, and along all known communication channels. Surveillance was refined to cover even the tiniest gaps, and redundancies were added so that no action,
JULIAI had always noticed things, even before the Lucchesi protection. Small inconsistencies, the slight misalignment of objects, the faintest irregularity in someone’s step. But now, with the pregnancy, with the new awareness Marcus had helped me cultivate, and with Phoebe at my side, my senses were sharper than ever.That evening, after dinner, I wandered the manor alone for a few minutes, ostensibly to fetch some documents for Marcus, but really to observe. The corridors were quiet, yet the shadows seemed to stretch just a little too long. A faint scent lingered near the sitting room, one I didn’t recognize. I paused, inhaled, and let my mind catalog it. Not the staff. Not Phoebe. Someone had passed through here in the last hour.I knelt briefly, noticing a faint scuff on the polished floor near the library doors. My pulse quickened. Every detail mattered. The scuff suggested weight, someone tall, deliberate, but cautious. Too cautious for a casual visitor, too deliberate for a mi
MARCUSThe intel from the manor was precise. Julia had noticed subtle anomalies, small shifts in the environment that even my most trusted staff might overlook. Her observations, combined with Phoebe’s vigilance, gave me insight into the enemy’s probing without alerting them.I studied the report quietly. Every altered delivery, every misaligned object, every shadow that moved without reason was accounted for. Terra and Livia were testing boundaries, seeking weaknesses in our network. That they had not realized how closely they were monitored was to our advantage.I convened the command room, reviewing the anomalies with my lieutenants. “The probes are deliberate,” I said. “Every action is a test. They are desperate and reckless. We will allow them to continue, but each move will be tracked and neutralized. No one reaches Julia. No one touches her world.”One lieutenant asked, “Sir, do we move against them now?”I shook my head. “Not yet. Let them act. Every attempt will reveal their







