Audra Graves carefully placed the dessert plate before Gideon Ashcroft

The last of the guests filed out of the dining room, the heavy mahogany doors clicking shut behind them. The sprawling space, previously filled with warmth and conversation, now felt like a beautifully decorated tomb. Audra stood frozen beside the table, her hands still clutching her white apron. She was terrified to move, terrified to breathe, caught in the crossfire of two of the most powerful people in the city.

Serena paced near the ornate marble fireplace, her diamond earrings shaking. "You humiliated me, Gideon! You threw my family out of your house over a servant's lie!"

"Do you believe a grieving woman possesses the energy to construct a lie of this magnitude?" Gideon asked. He stepped slowly toward the fireplace, his polished leather shoes making a soft, rhythmic sound against the hardwood.

"She is manipulating you!" Serena cried, pointing a manicured finger at Audra. "She knew about the money, and she spent it! She came to me begging for work, saying she had debts! I took pity on her!"

Audra gasped, the sheer audacity of the accusation breaking through her paralysis. "That is not true! You told me that Mason died owing the syndicate money! You told me the only way to keep his name clean was to work off his debt in your kitchens!"

Gideon stopped walking. He looked at Audra, his observant eyes narrowing slightly as he processed the depth of the cruelty inflicted upon her. He then slowly turned his head back to his fiancée.

"What debt could a man who took a bullet for my heart possibly owe?" Gideon asked, his voice dropping to a terrifying, quiet rumble.

"It's just business, Gideon," Serena pleaded, her voice cracking as she realized the narrative was completely slipping from her control. "We have an image to maintain. We cannot just hand out hundreds of thousands of dollars to every widow in the organization. It sets a weak precedent!"

"Is stealing the funds I personally allocated your definition of maintaining strength?" Gideon inquired.

"I put the money into the Blackwell accounts!" Serena shouted, her chest heaving beneath her satin gown. "It's all in the family anyway! We are getting married in a month! What is yours is mine!"

"Do you think there will be a wedding after tonight?" Gideon asked.

Serena froze, her face draining of color. "You... you can't be serious. Our fathers built this alliance for five years. You cannot break it over a dead bodyguard's wife!"

"Have you considered what my men will think when they learn I allowed a thief to sleep in my bed?" Gideon asked, stepping closer to her. "Will they throw themselves in front of a bullet for me, knowing their wives will be enslaved in my kitchens?"

Serena backed away, her spine hitting the cool marble of the fireplace. "My father will burn this city to the ground if you break this engagement, Gideon."

"Shall we see if your father's fire burns hotter than mine?" Gideon asked. He turned his head slightly toward the shadows near the entrance. "Marcus, are you there?"