Chapter 2: The Five-Minute Promise
The last echo of Grayson Langford's words had barely faded when the impossible happened.
The front doors of Ravenshore exploded inward.
The impact thundered through the mansion, rattling crystal chandeliers and sending startled gasps across the grand ballroom below.
The string quartet stopped playing mid-note.
Three hundred guests turned toward the entrance.
A blast of icy winter air swept through the marble foyer.
Then they saw him.
Dominic Kane stepped inside without raising his voice.
A charcoal overcoat rested perfectly across his shoulders. Black leather gloves covered his hands. Behind him came nearly thirty men in tailored black suits, moving with disciplined precision rather than reckless aggression.
No one shouted.
No one needed to.
Everyone in the room recognized the man whose fortune funded children's hospitals while whose name was whispered in fear inside boardrooms and back alleys alike.
One senator quietly lowered his champagne glass.
A federal judge suddenly looked interested in the floor.
Even Grayson's private security hesitated.
Dominic removed one glove.
"Seal the house."
His men dispersed instantly.
Within seconds every entrance, hallway, staircase, and exit belonged to them.
Grayson's chief of security reached for the pistol beneath his jacket.
He never drew it.
A single black-suited guard calmly removed the weapon and handed it to another man before the chief even realized his hand was empty.
Downstairs, panic spread through the guests.
Upstairs...
Harper collapsed to one knee inside the library.
Grayson looked toward the shattered doorway.
May you like
For the first time in decades...
Fear crossed his face.
