Chapter 11: Fracture Beneath the Firelight

Location: Rome Ricci Syndicate Executive Courtroom

Time: 09:00 AM (Local Time)

A long obsidian table sat beneath a vaulted ceiling painted with scenes of conquest and betrayal.

Twelve men and women the Ricci Inner Circle, old blood and new power sat in silence as Lucien

Ricci strode through the double doors. No guards flanked him. No notes in hand. Only rage cloaked

in composure.

Gabriel Ricci, his cousin and current European head, spoke first. "We summoned you, not for

theatrics, Lucien. What happened in Incheon was a direct breach of protocol. You engaged Sable

without clearance."

Lucien's eyes flicked to him. "I don't answer to men who let our enemies' experiment on Syndicate

blood."

The room stilled.

An old woman at the far end leaned forward Madame Contessa Viola, Lucien's great aunt and

one of the oldest surviving Ricci dons. "You have proof?"

Lucien tossed a folder on the table. "Project Phoenix. Funded by black Ricci accounts, under

Gabriel's oversight."

Gasps. Murmurs.

Gabriel stood. "That's a fabrication."

Lucien turned his gaze to the rest. "You knew what Sable was building. You didn't stop it. You

didn't care—until it reached someone you couldn't manipulate."

Madame Viola tapped her cane. "And who might that be?"

Lucien's answer was simple. Cold. Absolute.

"Yuna Kim."

Flashback: Geneva Ricci Meeting (One Year Prior)

Gabriel sat with a representative from Sable.

"We need something to hold Lucien in check. The Korean asset Yuna her bloodline has latent

traits Project Phoenix needs."

"You're suggesting we make her… a trigger?"

"Exactly. One woman to control the king."

Location: Seoul Ricci Korea HQ

Yuna stood before the mirror in Lucien's penthouse, her arm still bandaged from the fight. The

city behind her was waking up, unaware of the war fought in its shadow.

Min-Jae entered, carrying a secure laptop.

"You have a message," he said. "Encrypted, from Geneva."

Yuna opened it.

"To: Asset K-001.

From: Unknown.

Subject: You Are Not Just A Target."

Attached was a photo.

Her mother. Younger. Standing beside a man Yuna didn't recognize but with Ricci eyes.

A bloodline no one had told her about.

"They lied to all of us," she whispered.

Meanwhile: Rome Power Shifts

Gabriel was escorted out of the room by Ricci guards. His betrayal marked. His power revoked.

Lucien remained silent as Madame Viola approached him alone after the vote.

"He was your cousin," she said.

"He was my shadow," Lucien replied. "And now he's gone."

She paused. "You're becoming the Syndicate's heart again. But hearts are vulnerable."

Lucien didn't answer.

He was already thinking of Yuna

Location: Ricci Jet in Route to Korea

Gabriel wasn't taken to prison.

He was taken to a black site beneath the Vatican ruins, where another Syndicate faction

operated: The Argent Circle.

And waiting there was Aleksei Drevin, the ghost boss of Sable, long thought dead.

Gabriel smiled.

"I may have lost the vote. But Lucien's already given me the only tool I need to break him."

He slid a chip across the table.

"Her genome. Her trigger. Her chain."

Seoul Lucien and Yuna's Confrontation

That night, Lucien returned.

Yuna didn't speak at first.

She held up the photo.

"My mother. You knew?"

Lucien's jaw tensed. "Suspected."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because if I confirmed it… you'd never trust what was real and what was calculated."

She walked toward him slowly.

"So, what am I to you, Lucien? A strategy? A liability? A shield?"

He stepped in close.

"You're the only thing I didn't plan for."

The space between them crackled with something unspoken. Not quite love. Not yet trust. But

something deeper than either: necessity.

Closing Scene: Incheon Bay Sable Shipyard

Inside a modified tanker, Aleksei Drevin stood before a screen of flickering data.

On it: Lucien Ricci's entire network.

And in the center: Yuna Kim's profile.

Drevin smiled. "So… this is the woman that holds the devil's heart."

He turned to Kazuo Shin, now bandaged and bruised but alive.

"Bring her to me. Alive. I want to see if Phoenix works on the battlefield."

Kazuo cracked his knuckles.

"Time to pull the trigger."