Queen of the Black Coast

The silence in the warehouse was so heavy you could hear the distant lapping of the harbor waves against the wooden pylons.

Dominic lowered the barrel of his gun just an inch, his face twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred. He had spent a decade building an untouchable myth, only to realize he was nothing more than a puppet whose strings had always been held by the woman he thought he could discard.

"You bitch," Dominic whispered, his voice shaking with fury. "You planned this. From the moment Vanessa walked into our house, you knew."

"I gave you seven years to be a husband and a father, Dominic," Seraphina replied, her voice dropping into a cold, lethal register. "You chose a gold-digging parasite and humiliated my daughter. That was your first mistake."

She took two steps closer to him, towering over him in spirit if not in height.

"Here are your new terms, Dominic," Seraphina said clearly. "First: You sign over fifty percent of Moretti Global’s maritime assets directly into an irrevocable trust for Aurora. Second: You publicly announce your immediate divorce from me, citing irreconcilable differences, and you leave the Black Coast forever."

Dominic let out a harsh, barking laugh. "And if I refuse? If I take my men and tear this warehouse apart until I find those servers?"

Seraphina raised her hand and snapped her fingers twice.

From the shadows above the gantry crane, red laser dots suddenly appeared—dozens of them, dancing across the chests and foreheads of Dominic’s enforcers.

Marcus clicked off the safety of his shotgun. "Federal maritime tactical units outside the perimeter, boss. You're surrounded. You have thirty seconds to decide whether you want to walk out of here alive or spend the rest of your natural life in a supermax federal prison."

Dominic looked around the warehouse. His men were professionals; they knew when a trap had been sprung too tightly to escape.