Chapter 10: Shadow in the Crowd

Kasimir’s POV

My hand tightened around the stem of my crystal flute until the glass groaned under the pressure.

Three men. My security team had taken down two of them in the underground garage ten minutes ago. But the third was still somewhere in the crowd, moving between the men in suits and women in silk dresses. I knew he was still here. Then the person behind all of this finally showed himself.

Soren Lindner.

The head of Lindner Maritime was walking through the VIP lounge. He looked calm and confident, like a man who was used to getting what he wanted. People in the city knew he had connections with the police and other important people in the shipping business. He wore a neat black suit, with his hair brushed back. A thin scar ran through his left eyebrow. I knew that scar well. He got it the night my father’s cargo ship sank in the Baltic Sea fifteen years ago.

"“Kasimir,” Soren said, raising his glass with a small smile. “You really went all out tonight. I heard you bought the Falkenrath family’s debt for almost nothing.”

I didn't lift my glass. I stepped half an inch to the left, subtly blocking Vespera’s form from his view. I could feel the heat radiating from her back, the faint scent of her rosewater perfume mixing with the sharp tang of my adrenaline. She was terrified. I could feel the tense, rigid posture of her spine but she held her head high, her eyes fixed on “Soren looked calm, but he seemed dangerous. Soren," I rasped, my voice dropping into a register that made the nearby waiters back away. "I’m surprised you found time to leave Hamburg. I thought you were busy dealing with the federal audit I triggered on your docklands yesterday."

Soren’s eyes darkened, the smile fading from his lips for a fraction of a second before he recovered. "Audits come and go, Kasimir. But blood,blood stays in the soil forever. Your grandfather “I understand that. Too bad he couldn’t handle you. "Try me," I rumbled, leaning in close enough for him to smell the whiskey on my tongue. "“And you’ll see how weak I am when I take down your whole fleet.”The mood between us suddenly became tense. Our families had been enemies for generations, and the feud had already cost both sides a lot of money, men, and destroyed goods.

"Herr Adler!" Jonas’s voice crackled sharply through the earpiece hidden in my right ear. "We have a breach on the west balcony perimeter. Unidentified signal moving toward the fuse boxes. We need you to verify the server code in the security hub now."

I swore under my breath. I couldn't leave Vespera alone for a second in this room. But if the power grid was cut, this entire ballroom would turn into a slaughterhouse within three seconds.

I turned my head slightly, my hazel eyes locking onto Vespera’s pale face. I reached out, my calloused thumb lightly grazing the sensitive skin at her jawline a quick, fierce touch meant to anchor her.

"Stay right here," I ordered softly, my tone leaving no room for argument. "Do not step away from this marble pillar. I will be back in two minutes."

She didn't nod, but her silver eyes held mine, sharp and fiercely intelligent.

I broke away, threading through the crowd toward the server corridor with brutal efficiency. But the moment I reached the heavy double doors of the security suite, a sickening realization hit me. The server lines were completely normal. Jonas hadn't called me. The frequency in my earpiece had been spoofed.

It was a decoy.

I turned on my heel and sprinted back toward the VIP lounge, shoving past startled council members and laughing heiresses,“My heart was beating very fast.”

I burst into the mezzanine just in time to see Soren standing far too close to Vespera. He had stepped inside her personal space, his hand resting on the polished marble pillar right beside her head, his face bent low to her ear.

Panic and pure, unadulterated rage exploded in my chest, hot and blinding.

I closed the distance between us in three long strides, grabbing Soren by his heavy lapels and slamming him backward against a mirrored pillar hard enough to make the glass rattle.

"Get your hands off my wife," I snarled, stepping into his space until he was pinned beneath my shadow, my knuckles white against his suit jacket.

Soren didn't jump. He just laughed softly, wiping a trace of dust from his sleeve as I held him against the wall. He looked past my shoulder, his dark eyes locking onto Vespera with a sickening, triumphant gleam.

"You're too late, Kasimir," Soren whispered, leaning close so only I could hear the poison in his voice. "Ask your sweet little bride where her sister's ambulance was heading before my men intercepted the transport five minutes ago."