Bonus Chapter
UNKNOWN
“I’ve Been Watching Everything”
I’ve been inside this family longer than they realize.
Long enough to learn their rhythms.
Long enough to earn their trust.
Long enough to sit in rooms where decisions get made… and blood gets approved.
They never questioned me.
That was their first mistake.
The Delacroix name carries power.
From the outside, it looks refined.
Untouchable.
But from where I stand…
It’s a crime scene that’s been breathing for decades.
Ares Delacroix-Jackson.
You were always going to be the hardest one to study.
You move like a man who understands consequences… and chooses them anyway.
That makes you dangerous.
That makes you valuable.
That makes you a problem.
I watched the hit attempt.
Read the report before it ever hit the streets.
Sloppy.
Rushed.
Not my operation.
But useful.
Because it told me something important.
Someone close to you is already panicking.
Then came the church.
Sir Delacroix.
I had eyes on that building for years.
Rumors.
Files that never made it past internal review.
Too much money protecting too much evil.
And then you walked in… and ended it in one night.
I should’ve been satisfied.
Instead…
I added your name to the list.
Zacian Laveau is spiraling exactly how I expected.
Violence born from trauma.
Control taken through force.
That situation will burn itself out.
Men like him don’t hide their war.
They become it.
But you…
You’re different.
You build while you destroy.
That’s what makes you the priority.
The Delacroix proposal to Yuna confirmed it.
All that power gathered in one place.
And you standing in the middle of it like you already own what hasn’t even been handed to you yet.
I saw the cameras.
I saw the way they protected her face.
Yuna Laveau.
Interesting choice.
Very interesting.
Marcel died.
I wasn’t there…
But I didn’t need to be.
Men like him don’t go quietly unless someone in the room wanted it that way.
And if I had to guess…
That wasn’t your move.
Not yet.
I stood in the dark, looking out over Los Angeles.
Different from France.
Louder.
Messier.
But just as corrupt.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
Secure line.
Encrypted.
I answered without speaking.
A voice came through low.
“You ready to move in?”
My eyes stayed on the city.
On everything I’ve been watching.
On everything they think is theirs.
“Not yet,” I said calmly.
“Let him build it.”
I smiled slightly.
Because they never understand this part.
“Because it’s easier to take a kingdom…”
“…when it’s finally worth something.”
I ended the call and reached for my jacket.
Just like the life I’ve been pretending to live.
Badge tucked away where nobody would ever think to look.
Identity buried under years of loyalty they thought was real.
Ares Delacroix-Jackson…
You’re not under investigation.
You’re not a target being watched from a distance.
You’re something much worse.
You’re a case I’ve been building from the inside.
And when I finally decide to move…
There won’t be a war.
There won’t be a warning.
Just an ending.
And this time…
You won’t see it coming.