Queens Take All

Every security guard hit their radio instantly. The eyes watching from the upper windows vanished. Vivienne Kane stood frozen under the portico, her silk suit dry, but her eyes showing total panic.

She was finally afraid.

Roman marched across the driveway, ignoring his mother completely. He ripped off his heavy tactical coat, threw it over my shoulders, and dropped to one knee in the pouring rain. His hands gripped my bare feet, checking for wounds on the rough gravel.

“Bianca,” he growled, his voice raw. “Look at me.”

“She... she targeted the baby,” I managed to whisper through my chattering teeth.

A dangerous, icy calm settled over his face.

He stood up slowly, turning around to face Vivienne. The husband was gone; only the boss of the Kane syndicate remained.

“Who held her down?” Roman asked.

Nobody moved.

Roman turned his head toward his security chief. “Make them talk, Marcus.”

A maid near the door cracked immediately, dropping to her knees. “Mrs. Kane ordered it! She said the baby was a curse!”

Vivienne drew herself up. “I did what had to be done for this family.”

Roman stepped directly into her space. “You put hands on my wife.”

“I protected our legacy.”

“You humiliated the mother of my child,” Roman said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper.

Vivienne tried to laugh it off, but her posture was shaking. “Your child? Roman, don’t be stupid. A girl from the streets of Queens was never going to inherit this empire.”

“Our empire?” Roman repeated softly.

A armored SUV rolled through the inner driveway. The family doctor and Roman's personal attorney stepped out, carrying a sealed titanium brief-case.

Vivienne's face completely drained of color.

“Open it,” Roman ordered.

The lawyer cracked the biometric seal with shaking fingers. “We pulled this from Mrs. Kane's private vault in Switzerland, boss.”

Roman read the first page. Then the second. The rain was hammering the stone like a war drum.

“What is it, Roman?” I asked, holding his coat tight.

He looked up at Vivienne, and there was no son left in his eyes—only an executioner looking at a target.

“You knew,” Roman said, his voice deadly quiet. “All these years, you kept the real papers hidden.”

Vivienne backed up against the heavy oak doors. “Roman, wait—”

He held up the legal document.

“My father’s true will says the Kane empire doesn't pass to me, and it certainly doesn't stay with you,” Roman stated, his voice booming over the storm. “It passes entirely to my firstborn daughter.”