161 "She Thought the Waitress Was an Easy Target to Mock Live on Camera—Until the Humbled Girl Called Her Billionaire Husband, Unleashing a Ruthless Empire That Crushed Entire Dynasties Before Sunrise."

The silence in the hallway was so absolute you could hear the distant tick of the grandfather clock in the study.

Grace didn't flinch. She stepped forward, her amber eyes locking onto Julian’s scarred face with a cold, terrifying clarity that mirrored Dominic’s own expression.

"Faked my own death?" Grace asked, her voice steady and controlled. "Julian, you and your brother burned my mother’s medical clinic to the ground and threatened to frame me for your dockside contraband unless I signed over our family's shipping terminal. I didn't fake my death—I ran because Dominic offered me a way out before your men finished the job."

Julian sneered, shaking his head. "Details, details. The federal prosecutor doesn't care about family drama, Grace. They care about an active witness tampering case that never technically closed." He tossed the manila envelope onto the entryway console table. "I’m giving you twelve hours to convince your husband to sign over his entire North Atlantic shipping division to my offshore holding company. If he doesn't sign, I drop the rest of the audio files to the Department of Justice at sunrise."

Dominic didn't look at the envelope. He looked at Julian with a quiet, lethal calm.

"You think a federal threat scares me, Julian?" Dominic asked softly. "I built this empire out of the wreckage left behind by men like you. If the feds come, they’ll find every ledger, every manifest, and every offshore account clean. But what they’ll also find is an attempted extortion charge against an unregistered fugitive currently trespassing on private property."

Julian’s smile flickered for a fraction of a second. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Dominic tilted his head toward the front window.

Outside, the red and blue lights of three unmarked black SUVs suddenly flashed silently against the brick exterior, blocking both ends of the residential street. No sirens. Just doors opening in synchronization.

Julian’s head whipped around toward the door. Panic finally broke through his arrogant facade.

"You called them?" Julian hissed.