Chapter 3 - The Gathering Storm
The grand foyer of Blackwood House had turned into a standoff within five minutes.
Ten of Ethan’s heavily armed security officers stood on the marble staircase, rifles raised, while six men in tailored Italian suits occupied the lower entrance. At the center of the intruders stood Julian Rossi.
Julian was in his late fifties, with slicked-back silver hair, a sharp, aristocratic nose, and eyes as dark and cold as obsidian. He wore a heavy wool overcoat with a cashmere scarf wrapped around his neck, carrying an antique silver-headed cane that tapped rhythmically against the polished floor.
Ethan descended the staircase slowly, one hand tucked casually into his trouser pocket, looking completely unfazed by the machine guns pointed at his chest.
June stood on the landing above, hidden behind the stone balustrade, her heart pounding against her ribs as she watched the two most dangerous men in the state face each other.
"You're trespassing, Julian," Ethan said smoothly, stopping three steps from the bottom. "My men have orders to shoot anyone who steps past the fountain."
"Let them try," Julian sneered, his dark eyes sweeping over the grand entrance before landing on the upper balcony. "I didn't come here to start a war today, Ethan. I came because my intelligence network informed me that a young woman named June Harper was brought into this house last night."
June caught her breath behind the pillar.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "My staff is none of your concern."
"She is my concern when she carries the blood of my elder brother," Julian said, his voice ringing through the hollow foyer. "June Harper is the granddaughter of Mateo Rossi—my father's eldest son who was disowned and fled to America sixty years ago. She is a Rossi."
A heavy silence descended over the room.
Ethan didn't look up at the balcony, but June could feel the icy radiation of his suspicion from where she stood.
"She is an employee," Ethan said flatly. "And she stays under my roof."
"She belongs with her blood!" Julian snapped, his cane striking the marble with a sharp crack. "Her brother owes money in Brooklyn because my associates put pressure on him to bring her out into the open! She came to you because she had nowhere else to turn. Give her to me, Blackwood, and I will consider our blood debt regarding your wife... settled."
On the balcony, June felt sick to her stomach. Her brother’s debts, her mother’s medical bills, her eviction—it hadn't been bad luck. It had been a calculated trap designed by Julian Rossi to force her into a corner.
Ethan turned his head slowly, looking up at the stone balustrade where June was hiding.
"Is this true, June?" Ethan called out, his voice reverberating through the hall. "Did your grandmother have a brother named Mateo?"
June stepped out from behind the pillar. Every gun in the room shifted slightly toward her, but she ignored them, looking directly into Ethan’s cold silver eyes.
"She never spoke about her family in Italy," June said, her voice echoing clearly despite her fear. "She only told me that men who trade in power and blood always leave their daughters to starve."
A faint, cold smirk twitched at the corner of Ethan’s lips.
He turned back to Julian Rossi.
"You heard her," Ethan said softly. "She doesn't care for your blood. And as long as she is employed by Blackwood House, she is under my protection."
Julian’s face darkened with absolute fury. "You are keeping a Rossi in the same house where your wife died? You are letting her near your children?"
"I am keeping whoever I choose," Ethan replied, pulling a heavy silver pocket watch from his vest. "You have thirty seconds to clear your men off my drive before my sniper teams on the ridge take out your tires."
May you like
Julian stared at Ethan with murderous intent, then slowly raised a gloved hand. His guards lowered their weapons.
"This isn't over, Blackwood," Julian spat, turning toward the heavy oak doors. He looked up at June one last time, his dark eyes glinting with a sinister promise. "You can't hide behind him forever, little niece. The dark always catches up with a Rossi."
