1.The Drunk Mafia Boss Paid a Poor Janitor for One Night, but the Babies He Denied Led Him Back to the Family He Thought the Fire Had Taken

The war with Wendell Dracott ended three days later, not with a grand battle, but in total, quiet darkness.

Using the GPS tracker from the tactical radio Bella had stolen from the attacker, Lucas’s security forces located Wendell’s safehouse in an industrial dockyard near Gary, Indiana.

This time, Lucas did not go alone. He brought the full weight of his empire, backed by federal authorities whom Viktor had quietly provided with twenty-five years of Wendell’s financial crimes.

When the heavy steel doors of the safehouse were cut open with industrial torches, Wendell stood alone in the center of a concrete room, surrounded by suitcases of cash he could no longer use.

Lucas walked in alone, his dark coat dry, his expression calm and unreadable.

"It's over, Uncle," Lucas said, stopping ten feet away.

Wendell looked around at the armed federal agents framing the doorway, his scarred face twisting in bitter defeat.

"You think you won, Lucas?" Wendell spat, raising his hands slowly. "You think taking my money makes you a king? You are still the janitor's boy. You still carry the filth of that night."

Lucas looked at the man who had ordered his parents' death. He felt no rage. He felt no urge to kill.

"I carry a family, Wendell," Lucas said softly. "Something you spent sixty years trying to destroy, and never managed to understand."