Chapter 3
The bright, luminous atmosphere of the lounge felt suddenly oppressive as Caspian laughed at the boss. The fifty guests, previously engrossed in their champagne and networking, had now entirely ceased their conversations. All eyes were locked on the confrontation near the grand piano. The natural, cinematic lighting offered no shadows to hide the escalating violence.
Evander stood tall, his broad shoulders squared, towering over his older cousin despite the momentary fall. He didn't brush the dust from his tailored trousers. He simply watched Caspian with an icy, terrifying intensity.
"Do you believe you have the authority to act like a petulant child in my establishment, Caspian?" Evander asked, his deep, measured voice vibrating with a terrifying, contained fury.
Caspian did not answer the question. Blinded by his ambition and enraged by Evander's calm demeanor in the face of public humiliation, Caspian abandoned all pretense of business decorum. He looked down at the floor, his eyes landing on the scattered, meticulously handwritten sheet music that represented hours of Evander's private, artistic labor.
With a contemptuous sneer, Caspian stepped forward and violently kicked the scattered music farther across the floor. The pages slid over the thick carpet, some tearing against the sharp edges of the broken wooden stand.
"Stay down," Caspian spat, his American accent dripping with pure venom and arrogant entitlement. "That’s where you belong, Evander. You're soft. You play the piano while the rest of us run the streets!"
At his aggressive movement, the two massive bodyguards flanked Caspian instantly, creating a wall of muscle between the nightclub manager and the mafia boss.
Caspian, emboldened by the presence of his guards and completely misreading the lethal stillness of his cousin, lunged forward. He bypassed Evander’s defensive posture and aggressively grabbed the lapel of Evander’s tailored dark suit, intending to shove him backward again.
Evander’s dark eyes narrowed into cold, unforgiving slits. His jaw tightened dangerously. He was fully capable of breaking Caspian's wrist in a fraction of a second, but before he could unleash the violent retaliation he was holding back, someone else moved faster.
Romilly, who had stood up the moment Evander rose, saw Caspian lunge. The sheer audacity of the attack on the man she loved sent a lethal surge of adrenaline through her slender frame. The man who protected the entire city was being physically assaulted in his own lounge, and she would not stand by and let it happen.
May you like
Without a single word, Romilly stepped directly beside Caspian’s reaching arm. She abandoned her gentle demeanor entirely, her expressive features hardening into a mask of pure, protective fury. She planted her flat shoes firmly on the carpet, entirely ignoring the two armed bodyguards standing just feet away. She didn't think about the consequences. She didn't think about the syndicate rules. She only thought about stopping the disrespect being inflicted on the man she served.
She positioned herself flawlessly, anticipating his weight and his momentum, preparing to execute a defensive maneuver that no one in the room, especially the arrogant nightclub manager, would ever see coming from a delicate housemaid in a white lace headband.
