"Isadora Saturn, step away from the table. Hands where I can see them."The dining room shattered into silence. Forks froze mid-air. Isadora stood slowly from her chair, eyes narrowing at the agents flooding the estate hall. Her gaze flicked immediately to Noel..standing at the head of the room, expression unreadable, a single black folder clutched in his hand."You called them." Her voice dropped to a hiss. "You called the feds on your own mother."Noel didn’t flinch. "Yes. I did.""You ungrateful..""Don’t. Don’t you dare call me ungrateful. Not today. Not after everything."Isadora’s lips parted in disbelief. "I raised you..""No. You left me. Twice. First as a child when you dumped me in Carlton’s hellhole, and again at sixteen when I begged you to take me with you and you walked away and left me standing in that rain!."Isadora stepped forward. The agents immediately tensed.Noel held up a hand. "Stand down. Let her hear this."Leontis and Alina stood at the back, unmoving. Manue
The rain had come suddenly, drumming on the dark windows of the black car parked beneath the overpass. It was the kind of heavy, slanted rain that soaked you before you could even curse it. Noel sat still in the back seat, eyes fixed on the blur of water streaking down the glass. He hadn’t spoken in nearly five minutes.Across from him sat Detective Charlie Arlow, his usual casual grin replaced by a rare seriousness. The man tapped his fingers once against the leather seat, then reached into his coat and pulled out a flash drive.He set it gently on the seat between them."It’s done," Charlie said. "The final alliances she forged outside the Saturn chain…the private traffickers, the Hydra connections, the offshore accounts she tried to bury..it’s all burned. We smoked out the last of her hidden partners this morning."Noel nodded slowly."All that remains now is the Saturn name. Still intact. Still powerful. You wanted that, right?"Noel’s gaze shifted slightly, but he said nothing.C
“I swear, if you laugh, I’ll stab you in the neck with this pen.”Lucas smirked but wisely said nothing. Nico was pacing the pristine white hallway of the clinic like a lion on caffeine, arms folded tightly across his chest, hair a mess from tugging it every other second.“I’m not laughing,” Lucas said. “I’m supporting. See?” He lifted the tote bag. “Crackers. Ginger tea. Mood mints. Very supportive.”Nico gave him a look that could curdle milk. “You packed for nausea like it was a weekend picnic.”Lucas shrugged. “One of us had to be prepared.”“I came here for peace of mind, not a goddamn prenatal welcome kit.”At that moment, the nurse stepped out from the door and smiled. “Mr. Romano? The doctor is ready for you.”Lucas nudged him. “That’s your cue.”“I’m gonna throw up again.”“You already did. Twice. Let’s go.”Reluctantly, Nico stepped into the room, Lucas right behind him. The clinic room smelled like disinfectant and bland furniture. The doctor, a petite woman with bright gla
Vincenzo walked into the penthouse with Mei in his arms. Her face was still damp from crying, pressed against his chest like she didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.“Do you want some warm milk?” he asked gently as he set her on the plush couch.Mei shook her head. “I want Daddy.”Vincenzo crouched in front of her, brushing strands of hair from her face. “Daddy’s okay. He stayed behind to make sure everything’s safe. He’ll be home soon, I promise.”“But I’m scared…” she whispered.“I know, baby. But you’re safe here. With me.”She nodded, her bottom lip trembling. Vincenzo kissed her forehead and pulled a soft blanket around her. “We’ll call him in the morning, okay?”“Okay.”He turned the TV on softly to her favorite cartoon. She curled into the blanket, her eyes flickering between the screen and the empty space beside her.Vincenzo watched her for a moment, jaw tight, his heart twisted in his chest. Noel should’ve been there beside her. Not back in the lion’s den.Noel sat
It started at the docks.Three unmarked black SUVs pulled up alongside a cargo container just after midnight. There were no sirens, no flashing lights…just coordinated silence and precise movement. A team in dark tactical gear moved in, cutting the locks off the metal doors while two agents trained their rifles at the perimeter. Inside the container were crates labeled as medical supplies…bandages, saline, prenatal vitamins.But inside the crates, beneath a false bottom, were vacuum-sealed packages of narcotics…high-grade, Hydra-distributed, and untraceable unless you knew where to look."We got her," one agent radioed in. "We got the first one."That same night, two more shipments were intercepted. One heading north to the border, another hidden in the belly of a luxury yacht. All tied back to one name: Saturn Holdings.Isadora’s name.At the Saturn estate, Isadora sat at her desk sipping wine, the fire crackling in the hearth beside her. She had just ended a call with a logistics ma
Noel had learned early that silence was power.He didn’t need to scream to make an impact, didn’t need chaos to bring a house down. All he needed was access.And now, nestled back inside the Saturn estate..this time not as a lost son, but as an embedded ghost..Noel had all the access he needed.On the surface, nothing had changed.He played the part flawlessly. He let Isadora kiss his cheek every morning. He took Mei to the private garden under the guise of "reconnecting with family." He gave polite nods to the estate guards, made small talk with the house staff, never overstepped, never asked questions directly.But he was listening.Always.And it didn’t take long.The second night back, he passed the east corridor on his way to the library when he heard his mother’s voice through the cracked study door."...if the port doesn’t clear the containers by Friday, we’re going to have a backlog of powder that’ll trace back to Hydra. I don’t care what inspector needs paying off…handle it."