Third king

The factory felt colder than before.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody moved.

The news of Don DeLuca's death hung over the room like a dark cloud.

Sophia stared at her phone.

Her expression remained unreadable.

But Adrian could see the truth behind her eyes.

Pain.

The same pain he had felt when Vincenzo died.

The same emptiness.

The same disbelief.

One day, your world exists.

The next, it's gone.

Luca shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry."

Sophia didn't answer.

She simply slipped the phone into her pocket and turned toward the broken window.

For several minutes, only the sound of rain filled the silence.

Finally, Antonio spoke.

"This confirms it."

Adrian looked up.

"Confirms what?"

"The killings."

Antonio pointed toward the ledger.

"They aren't random."

Nobody argued.

Two kings had fallen in less than twenty-four hours.

That wasn't coincidence.

That was strategy.

Someone was eliminating the old generation.

One target at a time.

Adrian looked down at the leather-bound ledger.

His father's final gift.

The book suddenly felt heavier.

More dangerous.

More important.

"If there were five kings," he said quietly, "and two are dead..."

Sophia finished the sentence.

"Then three remain."

The words settled heavily over everyone.

Three targets.

Three potential murders waiting to happen.

Three people who might hold answers.

Adrian stood.

"We need to find them."

Antonio frowned.

"It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"Because if we can find them, the enemy can find them too."

The veteran bodyguard wasn't wrong.

Every move carried risk.

Every mistake could be fatal.

The enemy seemed to be everywhere.

Watching.

Waiting.

Planning.

Yet doing nothing wasn't an option.

Not anymore.

Adrian looked at the ledger.

"There must be something in here."

He opened the book again.

Page after page contained records.

Transactions.

Names.

Dates.

Locations.

Some entries were decades old.

Others were recent.

The amount of information was staggering.

Vincenzo hadn't just kept records.

He had documented an empire.

Then Adrian noticed something.

Several names appeared repeatedly.

The same five names.

Over and over.

One belonged to Vincenzo.

Another belonged to Don DeLuca.

The remaining three caught his attention immediately.

Alessandro Russo.

Gregory Kane.

Richard Valenti.

Antonio's face darkened.

"I know those names."

Adrian looked up.

"You do?"

The bodyguard nodded.

"They were the remaining kings."

Sophia turned.

"You've met them?"

"A few times."

Antonio folded his arms.

"Russo controls the western territories."

"Valenti controls the financial network."

"And Kane..."

He hesitated.

Adrian noticed immediately.

"What about Kane?"

Antonio's expression became troubled.

"Kane disappeared years ago."

The room fell silent.

"Disappeared?" Luca asked.

"No one knows where he is."

Adrian frowned.

"How does a mafia king simply disappear?"

"No one knows."

Antonio sounded frustrated.

"There were rumors."

"What kind of rumors?"

The bodyguard sighed.

"Some claimed he retired."

"Others said he was murdered."

Sophia shook her head.

"Mafia kings don't retire."

Nobody disagreed.

Men like Gregory Kane didn't walk away from power.

Not voluntarily.

Something about the story felt wrong.

Very wrong.

Adrian glanced at the ledger again.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

He quickly flipped through several pages.

Searching.

Reading.

Scanning.

Then he found it.

A section marked:

The Founders

Below it were photographs.

Old photographs.

Five men standing together.

Younger.

Smiling.

Friends.

Before betrayal destroyed everything.

Adrian immediately recognized Vincenzo.

And Don DeLuca.

The others stood beside them.

One man was tall and broad-shouldered.

Alessandro Russo.

Another wore expensive glasses.

Richard Valenti.

The fifth man stood slightly apart from the group.

Watching the camera with unusually intense eyes.

Gregory Kane.

Something about him felt familiar.

Adrian couldn't explain it.

But the face bothered him.

Like he had seen it before.

Somewhere.

Recently.

Then his blood ran cold.

The stranger.

The man who murdered his father.

The resemblance wasn't exact.

But there was something similar.

The eyes.

The jawline.

The expression.

Adrian stared harder.

His heartbeat accelerated.

No.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

"Antonio."

The bodyguard looked up.

"How old was Gregory Kane when he disappeared?"

Antonio frowned.

"Maybe forty."

Adrian looked back at the photograph.

Then at the age listed beneath it.

Thirty years old.

Twenty-three years ago.

His pulse quickened.

The timeline fit.

Too well.

"What are you thinking?" Sophia asked.

Adrian hesitated.

Then he spoke.

"What if Gregory Kane didn't disappear?"

The room fell silent.

"What?"

"What if he changed his identity?"

Nobody answered.

Because nobody wanted to consider the possibility.

But Adrian couldn't ignore it.

The resemblance.

The timing.

The mystery.

Everything pointed in the same direction.

Antonio shook his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because Gregory Kane would be over fifty."

Adrian remembered the stranger's face.

Strong.

Healthy.

Dangerous.

Not impossible.

Certainly not impossible.

Before anyone could respond, a loud ringing sound shattered the silence.

Everyone jumped.

It wasn't a phone.

It came from the ledger itself.

Adrian frowned.

"What the hell?"

Antonio moved closer.

The sound continued.

A faint electronic beep.

Hidden somewhere inside the book.

Sophia's eyes widened.

"That's impossible."

Adrian carefully examined the cover.

Then the spine.

Then the back.

Nothing.

Finally, Antonio took out a knife.

"Move."

He carefully cut into the inside lining of the cover.

A small object dropped onto the table.

A tracking device.

The room froze.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody breathed.

The realization hit them all at once.

The ledger had been transmitting their location.

The entire time.

Luca turned pale.

"You mean..."

Antonio's expression darkened.

"We've been broadcasting our position."

Adrian felt sick.

The enemy knew exactly where they were.

Maybe for hours.

Maybe longer.

Sophia immediately moved toward the window.

Her face lost all color.

"They're here."

The words struck like lightning.

Everyone rushed toward the broken glass.

Outside, headlights appeared through the rain.

Not one vehicle.

Not two.

At least ten.

Black SUVs.

Moving slowly.

Surrounding the factory.

Closing every exit.

Every escape route.

Every chance of survival.

Antonio cursed.

"We have to move now."

But deep down, everyone knew the truth.

They were already trapped.

The convoy stopped.

Doors opened.

Dozens of armed men emerged.

More than Adrian had ever seen.

Professional.

Organized.

Disciplined.

An army.

Then one final vehicle arrived.

A black luxury sedan.

The rear door opened.

A familiar figure stepped out.

The stranger.

The man who murdered Vincenzo.

The man from the mansion.

The man from the alley.

Rain fell around him.

Yet he looked completely calm.

Completely in control.

As if victory was already guaranteed.

He slowly looked up toward the factory windows.

Directly at Adrian.

And smiled.

The same cold smile.

The same terrifying confidence.

Then he raised one hand.

And pointed.

Not at the building.

Not at Sophia.

Not at Antonio.

At Adrian.

A message without words.

I found you.

A second later, explosions ripped through the lower level of the factory.

The entire building shook violently.

Concrete cracked.

Metal screamed.

Dust filled the air.

Another explosion followed.

Then another.

The factory was collapsing.

And somewhere below, an army was coming for them.

Adrian stared at the approaching enemy.

His pulse thundered.

His father's killer stood outside.

Closer than ever before.

Waiting.

Watching.

Smiling.

And for the first time since the nightmare began, Adrian realized something horrifying.

The stranger wasn't hunting him because he feared him.

He was hunting him because he wanted something.

Something connected to the ledger.

Something connected to the five kings.

Something worth starting a war over.

The question was—

What?

And why was Adrian at the center of it?

As the floor beneath them began to crack, the answer remained hidden.

For now.

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