1: Who Is This Man.

Eve.

I stepped on the gas, speeding past the three cars crowding me like vultures. Fuck Arseny’s men. If this wasn’t my own damn banquet tonight, I would’ve stopped and dealt with these bastards myself.

 This was the third assassination attempt this month.

The game of cat and mouse amused me, though. Some days I was the cat, hunting Arseny and his crew, tonight, I was the mouse running late for my own crowning.

The real trouble I stirred was turning 18. They wanted me eliminated before I could be named heir, a woman ruling the Waldorf empire? Unthinkable to most.

Dad had warned me to stay indoors, but I needed air because the constant anticipation was suffocating. There would be opposition tonight, whispers that a woman couldn’t run a gang, let alone a mafia empire.

Those were nothing but noise to my ears. Nonetheless, the one person I truly worried about was my father’s brother, pretty sure I’d never met him , but his reputation preceded him: the bloodthirsty, bloody devil with the Elders’ approval.

My eyes flicked to the side mirror, they were still charging after me. Something felt off...so wrong. Arseny’s men usually came with guns blazing, missiles, grenades, maybe even a jet overhead... anything dramatic to cause some violence and these three cars were his style, but they weren’t attacking, just… racing me, matching every turn I made.

I swerved left sharply and they followed, ignoring traffic light the way I did.

My watch beeped.

 The estate gates locks automatically at 10p.m. I was on the straight road, heart hammering. I wasn’t going to make it.

5… 4…

I floored the accelerator, engine roaring as the massive iron gates began sliding shut ahead.

3… 2…

Sweat trickled down my temples.

1—

“Yes!” I shouted in triumph as I zoomed through the narrowing gap, the gates slamming shut behind me with a heavy clang.

I killed the engine and stepped out with poise, flipping my hair. “Game over! ” I mocked , showing a middle finger to the cars outside the gate.

But the man who stepped out of the lead car wasn’t one of Arseny’s thugs. He was tall, unbelievably tall and unfamiliar. Pure blonde hair with golden shine, sharp green eyes that cut through the night. He casually pulled out a passkey, unlocked the automated gate, and drove in with two more blacked-out cars trailing him like a convoy.

“Eve… why are you just arriving? This is late. You’ll be late for your own ceremony?” A familiar sweet voice pulled me around.

It was my mother, Wilhelmina, who spoke. She was making her way out with Keaton, my stepdad. They were heading toward me, both dressed in elegant purple.

“Eve… you little brat,” dad nagged, scanning me from head to toe before his gaze locked on the stranger now walking past me without a word.

The man’s cologne hit me first like a drug, charcoal, wood, and cinnamon. I found myself trailing after him in a daze.

Who the hell is he? Why did he chase me all the way here just to ignore me like I’m a ghost?

“You shouldn’t have come,” I heard Dad say tightly.

“What? Chasing me away already, brother?” The stranger’s voice was deep, laced with amusement.

“Lovely evening, sister-in-law.”

Mother’s smile was bright but strained. “We weren't expecting you.”

“Nobody expected this ceremony either. But here we are.”

My eyes narrowed as he skirted around them, strolling into the mansion like he already owned it.

“Daddy… that man...”

“Yes, Yes. Come inside now,” dad cut me off. “I see you’re not dressed yet.”

I was still in my black leather outfit—tight pants, cropped jacket, looking every bit the gangster I was. Only my tattoos told more truth than my mouth ever could.

I strutted after them, rushing to my quarters.

The servants were already prepping my gown and jewelry when dad entered and dismissed them with a sharp wave.

The door clicked shut, leaving just the two of us.

“Will you be okay?” he asked quietly, studying me with those calculating eyes that had raised me since I was five.

I lifted my chin, flashing my signature smirk. “I was raised for this, Father. Let them come, I’ll crush every single one who doubts me.”

He nodded, but something flickered in his expression, worry, maybe but unlikely.

“ My brother Flavian is here. You may not know him but he knows you to an extent. Watch him closely tonight... He’s… unpredictable. ”

Flavian. The name sent a strange shiver down my spine, the notorious prince... or rather the one they called a 'bloody devil'

He knows me? Interesting, I want to know more.

“I can handle him,” I said, already imagining how I’d handle this uncle I’d never met.

Dad sighed. “Just… stay focused. Tonight you become my official successor. Everything changes after this.”

He left, and the servants rushed back in. As they zipped me into a blood-red gown that hugged every curve, my mind kept drifting to the blonde giant who had chased me through the streets without firing a single shot.

Flavian

By the time I descended the grand staircase and into the main ballroom, the atmosphere was alive with power. Mafia bosses, noble men and woman, allies, and elites from across the globe filled the hall.

All eyes turned to me.

Dad stood at the center, Madame Antoinette beside him like the true matriarch she was. Flavian leaned against a marble pillar, hands hidden in his pockets, watching me with those piercing grassy-green eyes... Maybe if I stared longer I might eventually decipher what the glint in his grassy-green eyes meant.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries with the people I recognized, our gazes locked again.

My pulse quickened when a smirk curved his lips. Should he smile like that at the one who's going to replace him? Something stirred low in my belly, forcing me to break eye contact first.

Yet every step I took, his eyes moved. I sensed it at every corner I stayed in or crowd I mixed with. Chuckling became harder, and now I was returning a glass of wine to the server since my wrist could no longer handle the weight....

The weight of the crowd, the weight of the air tinted with various scents and body odour... the weight of his eyes.

Click* Click* Click*

"Attention everyone," said daddy. 

The spotlight focused on h

im as he continued clicking his glass until he had full control of the room.

This is it.