The message from Sebastian Vale still echoed in the strategy room of the Valentino estate near Lake Como.
"I'm coming for the one thing you can't afford to lose."
No one needed to ask what he meant.
Elara.
The room was silent, heavy with tension.
Luca broke it first.
"Well… that's comforting."
Ares didn't react.
He stood in front of the screen where Sebastian's video had ended, his expression completely unreadable.
Which made him more dangerous.
Elara crossed her arms.
"He's trying to scare you."
Ares finally looked at her.
"No."
His voice was calm.
"He's announcing the rules."
"And the rule is what?" Luca asked.
Ares' eyes darkened.
"This war is personal."
Elara stepped closer.
"If he thinks threatening me will make you weak—"
"He doesn't," Ares interrupted quietly.
"He knows it will make me ruthless."
Silence followed.
Luca suddenly turned toward the security monitors.
"Speaking of threats…"
A red alert blinked across the screen.
"Someone just accessed the external security grid."
Ares moved instantly.
"Where."
Luca zoomed into the system.
The alert came from the road leading to the estate.
A black car had stopped near the gate.
Elara frowned.
"That's not one of ours."
The guards outside approached the vehicle carefully.
The camera zoomed in.
The driver stepped out slowly.
Not aggressive.
Not threatening.
Just calm.
Luca leaned closer to the screen.
"…Is he serious?"
The man placed something on the ground near the gate.
Then he got back into the car and drove away.
Ares' voice turned cold.
"Zoom in."
The camera focused on the object left behind.
A small black box.
One of the guards approached carefully.
"Elara," Ares said quietly.
"Stay back."
She didn't argue.
The guard opened the box slowly.
Inside—
a single chess piece.
A white queen.
And beneath it, a folded note.
The guard unfolded the paper.
His expression shifted.
"A message," he said through the comms.
"Read it," Ares ordered.
The guard hesitated for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"It says…"
He swallowed slightly.
"A gift for Elara."
The room froze.
Ares' jaw tightened.
"Is that all?"
"No."
The guard continued reading.
"Queens are powerful pieces."
Another pause.
"But they fall the hardest when the king makes a mistake."
Elara felt a chill run down her spine.
Sebastian wasn't hiding anymore.
He was provoking them.
Inside his penthouse office overlooking Milan, Sebastian Vale watched the security footage from the estate.
The guard.
The box.
The reaction.
He smiled faintly.
"Check," he murmured.
Back in the strategy room, Ares stared at the monitor.
His expression had turned colder than Luca had ever seen.
Elara looked at him carefully.
"You're thinking."
"Yes."
"And?"
Ares' voice lowered to a dangerous whisper.
"He just made his first mistake."
Luca frowned.
"What mistake?"
Ares looked back at the screen.
The chess piece.
The message.
The threat.
Then he spoke calmly.
"He stepped out of the shadows."
Outside, the wind moved across the quiet waters of the lake.
But the calm around the Valentino estate had completely vanished.
Because the war between two powerful enemies had officially begun.
And now—
everyone was a target.