The air in the stone cellar tasted of damp earth and old iron.

My boots crunched on the gravel floor.

I held the flashlight high, its beam cutting through the heavy darkness beneath my Hudson Valley estate.

The storm outside battered the stone foundation, a low, relentless rumble.

Nora was slumped against the far wall, her wrists bound tightly with thick plastic zip-ties.

A dark purple bruise swelled along her temple, her graying hair matted with blood.

Marcus stepped up beside me, his hand resting on his holster.

Daniel kept watch at the foot of the wooden stairs, his rifle raised.

I knelt beside Nora and cut the plastic ties with my pocketknife.

She blinked against the flashlight’s glare, her lips dry and cracked.

“Adrian,” she whispered, her voice barely a rasp.

I pulled a water flask from my belt and held it to her mouth.

She drank greedily, her hands shaking as she clutched my wrist.

“Who did this to you, Nora?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, her eyes darting past my shoulder toward the shadows.

A floorboard creaked at the top of the cellar stairs.

I stood up slowly and turned around.

Caleb Bennett stood in the doorway of the wine cellar, a heavy black revolver in his right hand.

He had been my trusted lieutenant for seventeen years.

I had built my entire empire with him standing at my side.

Now, his face was blank, cold, and entirely unfamiliar.

“You shouldn’t have come down here, Adrian,” Caleb said.

“Why, Caleb?” I asked, keeping my voice perfectly level.

“You’ve been digging into things that don’t concern you anymore,” he said.

“Nora is my head of household,” I said. “Everything on this estate concerns me.”

Caleb raised the gun slightly, aiming it directly at my chest.

Marcus shifted his weight beside me, preparing to spring.

I raised a hand to keep Marcus back.

“Where is Elena?” I asked, my voice echoing off the stone. “She disappeared three days ago.”

Caleb smiled, a thin, bitter line that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Elena knew too much,” Caleb said. “Just like Nora.”

Nora gripped my trouser leg from the floor, her fingers trembling.