“I am not going back to serving drinks behind the bar, Lucian.”

“My mother gave her life for this family’s secrets.”

“I want what is mine.”

Lucian stared at me for a long moment.

The silence between us stretched, tense and heavy.

Then, a small, rare smile touched the corner of his lips.

“The men in the syndicate will not easily follow a woman who used to carry their plates,” he said.

“They will follow the woman who broke their security chief,” I replied.

“And they will follow the dog that Elena left behind.”

Bishop gave a single, firm thump of his tail against the floor.

Lucian let go of the notebook, allowing me to keep it.

“The first step is cleaning out the docks,” Lucian said.

“The manager there, Marcus, was Victor’s closest ally.”

“If we lose the docks, we lose the shipping lanes.”

“Then we go to the docks tonight,” I said.

He nodded once.

“We go together.”

We walked up the concrete stairs, Bishop following closely at my heels.

The main dining room of the Black Orchid was dark and empty.