Alisson scooped the sliced tomatoes into a ceramic bowl and set it on the dining table.

Before she could call the twins for dinner, the video intercom by the front door chimed.

Alisson walked over and tapped the screen. She saw the familiar face on the monitor and immediately pressed the unlock button. The heavy, armored steel door clicked open.

A man walked into the foyer. He wore a bespoke navy suit. His posture was elegant, but his eyes carried the sharp, dangerous edge of a predator. It was Hilary Strong, her adoptive brother and the most powerful weapon in her arsenal.

Hilary smiled as Janna ran up to him. He affectionately ruffled her hair, then walked over to Alisson. His expression turned serious as he handed her a heavy, encrypted black hard drive.

Alisson took the drive. They walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, putting distance between themselves and the twins, who were now watching cartoons on the sofa.

"The Lucas Corporation didn't go bankrupt five years ago," Hilary said, his voice low. "Iman Lucas used Bella's engagement to Jake Yates as collateral. He leveraged the Yates name to secure massive loans and aggressively acquired three of his competitors. Their market value has doubled."

Alisson let out a cold laugh. She plugged the encrypted drive into her secure terminal on the side table. Instantly, spreadsheets and financial records flooded the screen.

The data was damning. It showed illegal tax evasion, bribery, and fraudulent shell companies.

"If you move against the Lucas family now," Hilary warned, watching her face, "you are indirectly attacking the Yates family. Jake Yates does not tolerate anyone messing with his assets. It is a highly dangerous game in Aethelburg."

Alisson's eyes turned to ice. She stared at the city lights below.

"They burned me alive, Hilary," Alisson said, her voice a deadly whisper. "I don't care if Jake Yates thinks he is God. I am going to tear the Lucas family apart, piece by piece, and I will collect every single drop of blood they owe me."

Hilary sighed, knowing there was no stopping her. He changed the subject.

"The dark web is buzzing," Hilary noted, watching her reaction. "Ten million dollars for Dr. Cici. Are you sure you don't want to take the job? It would instantly drain a massive chunk of Yates' liquid cash."

"No," Alisson rejected the idea without a second of hesitation. "His money is dirty. I want nothing to do with any man who lets Bella Lucas into his bed."

Across the room, Jovany was walking toward the kitchen with his empty juice glass.

His sharp ears caught the names "Jake Yates" and "Bella."

Jovany did not break his stride. He put the glass in the sink, turned around, and walked quietly back to his bedroom. He shut the door and locked it with a soft click.

He walked over to his desk and woke up his multi-monitor hacker workstation.

His small fingers flew across the mechanical keyboard. He launched a custom web-crawler program he had written himself, directing it to scrape the deep web and public databases for everything related to Jake Yates.

Lines of green code cascaded down the black screens.

Two minutes later, a high-resolution image popped up on the center monitor. It was a digital cover of a top-tier financial magazine.

The man on the cover had a sharp, chiseled jawline, deep-set dark eyes, and an aura of absolute, terrifying authority. It was Jake Yates.

Jovany stared at the screen. His brows pulled together.

He opened his top drawer and pulled out a small hand mirror. He held it up next to his face, looking back and forth between his own reflection and the man on the monitor.

Except for the shape of his eyes, which he inherited from his mother, his jawline, the bridge of his nose, and the cold, unyielding expression were an exact, miniature replica of the man on the screen.

Jovany's heart began to beat faster against his ribs.

He quickly typed another command, hacking into the public relations schedule of the Yates Corporation.

A calendar event flashed on the screen. Tomorrow night. The Waldorf Hotel. A grand engagement banquet for Jake Yates and Bella Lucas.

Jovany unlocked his bedroom door and pulled Janna inside.

He pointed to the magazine cover on the screen.

"Janna," Jovany said, his voice dead serious. "I found him. This man is highly likely the 'scumbag daddy' we have been looking for."

Janna gasped. Her little hands balled into fists, her cheeks puffing out in anger.

"He is going to marry the bad woman?" Janna whispered fiercely. "No! We cannot let him. We have to go steal our daddy back!"

Out in the living room, Hilary was preparing to leave. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out an elegant, black envelope with gold lettering. He handed it to Alisson.

"An anonymous VIP invitation to tomorrow night's engagement banquet at the Waldorf," Hilary said. "Iman Lucas is planning to use the event to announce the hostile takeover of your old design firm. They are trying to keep it quiet until the ink is dry."

Alisson gripped the heavy cardstock of the invitation. A predatory thrill shot through her veins.

"Perfect," Alisson said, her lips curving into a dangerous smile. "I will go deliver my congratulations in person."

After Hilary left, Alisson walked into her master bedroom. She opened her massive walk-in closet and bypassed the conservative business suits.

She pulled out a striking, aggressive, fiery red evening gown with a plunging V-neckline.

She sat at her vanity mirror, staring at her reflection. She was no longer the naive, helpless girl from five years ago. Her face was sharper, her eyes harder. She clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms. Tomorrow, the war begins.

Down the hall, inside the locked bedroom, Jovany had already bypassed the Waldorf Hotel's external firewall.

He pulled up the digital blueprints of the hotel's security camera network. He began charting a blind-spot infiltration route from the underground parking garage to the grand ballroom. He synced a pair of micro-communication earpieces.

Night fell over Manhattan.

Inside the silent apartment, a mother and her two children sat in their respective rooms, each secretly preparing to unleash absolute chaos upon the exact same engagement banquet tomorrow night.

The next evening.

A sleek, black, bulletproof SUV idled quietly on the street outside the luxury apartment building.

Alisson Ford pushed through the revolving glass doors and stepped onto the pavement. She wore the fiery red gown, the silk fabric flowing around her legs like liquid blood. Her twelve-centimeter red-soled stilettos clicked sharply against the concrete.

She opened the heavy rear door of the SUV and slid into the leather seat.

The driver, a highly trained operative from Hilary's security team, reached back and handed her a small, sleek silver USB drive.

Alisson closed her hand around the cold metal. Inside this drive were the unredacted financial logs of the Lucas Corporation. It held enough evidence of tax fraud and corporate bribery to send Iman Lucas to a federal penitentiary for the rest of his life.

The SUV merged into the heavy Manhattan traffic. Twenty minutes later, it pulled up to the brilliantly lit grand entrance of the Waldorf Hotel.

Alisson pulled a delicate, black lace half-mask over her eyes. She stepped out of the vehicle.

Her presence was magnetic. Heads turned. The paparazzi stationed outside snapped photos, captivated by her stunning figure and cold aura, but the mask effectively concealed her true identity.

She handed the anonymous VIP invitation to the head of security at the door. He scanned it, nodded respectfully, and let her pass through the first metal detector.

At the exact same moment, deep in the hotel's underground parking garage.

A large, canvas laundry cart rolled slowly toward the service elevator.

Inside the cart, buried under a pile of pristine white hotel towels, Jovany and Janna lay perfectly still. They were both dressed in miniature, tailored hotel staff uniforms.

Jovany looked at his wrist. He wore a tactical smartwatch. The screen displayed the raw code of the hotel's elevator control system, which he had hacked an hour ago.

He tapped a sequence of commands onto the small screen.

The service elevator bypassed the keycard security protocols and shot straight up to the top floor, heading directly for the grand ballroom.

The doors slid open with a soft ding.

The two children slipped out of the laundry cart like shadows. They darted into the catering prep room located just behind the main stage, successfully avoiding the patrolling security guards.

Inside the grand ballroom, the atmosphere was suffocatingly opulent.

A classical orchestra played a sweeping waltz. The room was filled with the elite power players of Aethelburg.

Bella Lucas stood near the center of the room. She wore a custom, hand-beaded white gown that cost over a million dollars. She clung tightly to Iman Lucas's arm, her face glowing with triumphant, arrogant joy as she accepted the fake congratulations of the guests.

A few yards away stood Jake Yates.

He held a crystal glass of whiskey. His face was a mask of absolute, terrifying indifference. He radiated such a freezing, oppressive aura that a ten-foot perimeter of empty space naturally formed around him. No one dared to approach.

Alisson stood in the shadows beneath a massive crystal chandelier, holding a flute of champagne. Her cold eyes locked onto the Lucas family.

Her gaze dropped to Bella's neck.

Resting against Bella's collarbone was a heavy emerald necklace. It was the only heirloom Alisson's biological mother had left her.

The temperature in Alisson's eyes dropped to absolute zero.

Inside the prep room, Janna peeked through the crack in the double doors. She spotted Jake standing in the crowd. She gasped, excitedly tugging on Jovany's sleeve and pointing at the tall, imposing man.

Jovany nodded. He tapped his earpiece, signaling Janna to get ready. He pulled a small cable from his pocket and physically connected his smartwatch to the ballroom's central audio-visual control panel mounted on the wall.

Suddenly, the prep room door creaked open.

A small boy in a tailored suit walked in, his head down, clearly trying to escape the noise and the crowds. It was Geovanni.

The three children, bearing an impossible, striking resemblance to one another, froze. They stared at each other in the cramped, dimly lit room.

Geovanni's eyes widened in shock. He looked at the boy who was his exact mirror image, and the girl who was smiling brightly at him. His usual panic did not trigger.

Janna did not hesitate. She walked right up to Geovanni and grabbed his hand. She pulled a piece of chocolate from her pocket and pressed it into his palm.

"We are here to find our daddy," Janna whispered, pointing through the crack in the door at Jake. "Will you help us?"

Geovanni could not speak, but he looked at Janna's earnest eyes. He slowly nodded his head. He pointed a small finger at Jake, confirming the target.

Jovany immediately adjusted his tactical plan. He would use Geovanni's presence to distract the guards, giving Janna a clear path to the target.

Out in the ballroom, the master of ceremonies stepped up to the microphone on the main stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the MC announced, his voice echoing through the speakers. "The engagement ceremony will now begin. Please welcome the future Mr. and Mrs. Yates to the stage."

Bella's heart soared. She lifted the heavy skirt of her gown, preparing to walk into the spotlight and claim her ultimate victory.

In the shadows, Alisson set her champagne glass down. Her fingers traced the edge of the silver USB drive in her clutch. She began to walk toward the AV control room to swap the presentation video.

At that exact second, the double doors of the prep room burst open.

Geovanni ran out, holding Janna's hand tightly. They sprinted directly into the center aisle of the ballroom before any of the security guards could react.

The sudden intrusion of the children drew the eyes of every single person in the room. The elegant chatter died instantly. A heavy, shocked silence fell over the ballroom.

Janna let go of Geovanni's hand.

Like a tiny pink cannonball, she sprinted straight toward the stage, heading directly for the cold, untouchable billionaire, Jake Yates.

Janna's pink dress flared out as she ran across the polished marble floor. She did not hesitate. She crashed right through Jake Yates's terrifying aura and wrapped her small arms tightly around his tailored trouser leg.

She tilted her delicate, flushed face upward.

"Daddy!" Janna yelled. Her voice was crisp, loud, and echoed perfectly through the dead-silent ballroom.

The word hit the room like a physical shockwave.

The silence deepened into something suffocating. You could hear a pin drop.

Jake Yates, a man whose face was famous for never showing a single trace of emotion, froze. Genuine, raw shock cracked his cold facade. He looked down at the tiny girl clinging to his leg.

A few feet away, the triumphant smile on Bella's face completely shattered. Her hand began to tremble so violently that the champagne in her glass sloshed over the rim, spilling onto her million-dollar dress.

The media reporters stationed at the back of the room snapped out of their shock.

Camera flashes erupted like a violent lightning storm. The rapid-fire clicking of camera shutters filled the air. This was the scandal of the decade.

Jake's chief assistant, Alex, lunged forward. He signaled the security team to block the cameras and reached down to pull Janna away from his boss.

Jake's hand shot out. He grabbed Alex's wrist, stopping him instantly.

Jake didn't know why, but looking down at this little girl, he felt absolutely no disgust. He did not want her pushed away.

Janna's eyes filled with large, dramatic tears.

"You are a bad daddy!" Janna cried out, her voice trembling with perfectly executed childish grief. "You abandoned Mommy and us! And now you are going to marry an ugly old witch!"

The entire ballroom gasped collectively. Hundreds of eyes slowly turned to look at Bella, the "ugly old witch."

Bella's face turned a sickly, ashen gray. Her carefully crafted high-society persona disintegrated.

"Security!" Bella shrieked, her voice cracking with hysterical panic. "Throw this feral brat out of here immediately! Get her out!"

Two massive security guards stepped forward, reaching for Janna.

"Touch her, and I guarantee you will disappear from New York by tomorrow morning."

The voice was young, but it carried a chilling, absolute authority.

Jovany stepped out from behind Geovanni. He had his hands shoved casually into the pockets of his miniature suit. His eyes swept over the guards with cold, lethal warning.

As Jovany stepped into the bright light of the chandeliers, the crowd let out an even louder gasp.

Sitting at the primary VIP table, Doretta Yates-Jake's mother-slammed her hands onto the table and stood up. Her bone-china teacup tipped over, shattering onto the floor.

Doretta stared at Jovany's face. Her heart hammered against her ribs. The boy's jawline, his brow, the arrogant tilt of his chin-he was an exact carbon copy of Jake when he was five years old. There was no denying the Yates bloodline.

Bella saw Jovany's face.

The world spun around her. A sickening wave of confusion and terror slammed into her chest. How is there another one? she thought frantically. Did I steal the wrong baby? Did she survive and have another child later? Her wide, trembling eyes darted from Jovany to the little girl in the pink dress. The exact same nose, the exact same jawline. The terrifying, undeniable family resemblance clicked into place. The memory of the roaring flames in the Queens basement exploded in her brain. She realized the horrifying truth. Alisson had not given birth to just one child that night. She had given birth to three.

Pure, blinding terror erased Bella's sanity. She lunged off the stage, her hands reaching out like claws toward Jovany's throat.

"You are liars!" Bella screamed wildly.

Jake moved faster than lightning. His massive frame stepped in front of Jovany, shielding the boy completely. Jake's hand shot out and clamped around Bella's wrist. He squeezed.

Bella let out a whimper of pain. The bones in her wrist ground together under his crushing grip.

"Watch yourself," Jake warned, his voice a low, lethal growl. He threw her arm back. He turned his head and looked down at Jovany, his dark eyes swirling with intense, dangerous curiosity.

Standing in the shadows, Alisson saw Jake grab Bella. She knew the situation had spiraled completely out of control. If she stayed hidden, her children would be swallowed alive by these predators.

She reached up and ripped the black lace mask off her face. She tossed it onto a nearby dining table.

She stepped out of the darkness.

Her red stilettos clicked sharply against the marble. She walked with the slow, predatory grace of a queen stepping onto a battlefield. Her stunning, flawless face was a mask of pure ice.

The chaotic ballroom fell silent once again as the crowd parted to let her through.

Bella looked up. When she saw Alisson's face, all the blood drained from her body. She let out a choked, horrifying scream, her legs giving out completely. She collapsed onto the floor in a heap of white silk.

Iman Lucas and Delphie Lucas stood frozen in terror, their mouths hanging open. The daughter they had sacrificed and left to burn to death five years ago had returned from hell.

Alisson ignored the Lucas family entirely. She walked straight to the front of the stage.

She reached down and scooped Janna up into her arms, pressing the girl's face into her neck. She grabbed Jovany's hand, pulling him close to her side.

Jake stared at the woman in the red dress. His pupils contracted violently.

He recognized her immediately. It was the woman from the airport. The woman who had calmed Geovanni.

But it was more than that. A sudden, violent jolt of electricity shot through his nervous system. A deep, physiological familiarity hit him so hard it made his chest ache. His brain short-circuited for a fraction of a second.

Alisson did not flinch under his intense, burning stare. She tilted her chin up, a cold, mocking smile playing on her lips.

"My apologies, Mr. Yates," Alisson said, her voice dripping with arrogant disdain. "I clearly lack discipline in raising my children. I am sorry they interrupted your... 'wedding of the century'."