The house changed the moment Papa and Mama arrived.It wasn't loud.
There were no announcements.No raised voices.Just a shift.
The kind that pressed into the walls, settled into bones, made even seasoned men straighten their spines without realizing why.
Lucas adjusted his cufflinks in silence, eyes flicking once to the mirror. Neo stood a few steps behind him, already dressed, already tense. The suit fit like it had been made for him which only made it worse. He didn't feel like he belonged in something this expensive, this deliberate.
Lucas turned.
"Stay close to me," he said calmly. "No matter what."Neo nodded. His throat felt tight.
Across the hall, doors opened almost in sync.Aiden stepped out beside Kellan, posture straighter than usual, nerves wrapped tight beneath forced composure. Kellan's hand brushed his lower back briefly grounding, possessive, gone before anyone could notice.
From the opposite corridor, Cealen emerged with Ethan.
Cealen looked… dangerous.Not in the loud way.Not in the reckless way.
But in the way predators look when they're calm.Ethan didn't meet his eyes. Not because he didn't want to, but because he very much did.
Lucas took one look at the lineup and nodded once.
"Let's go."
The staircase descended into light.
Warm, golden chandeliers illuminated the main hall, and Neo's breath caught despite himself.
People.So many people.
Men and women in tailored suits, expensive dresses, insignias pinned subtly to lapels. Faces he'd seen on news segments. On magazine covers. In whispered conversations his mother thought he couldn't hear.They stood in clusters, voices low, eyes sharp.
And the moment Lucas stepped into view
Everything stopped.Conversations died mid-sentence, glasses paused halfway to lips.Heads turned and Neo felt it like a wave.
This was what Lucas meant.
This was the weight of the name.
Lucas walked forward without breaking stride, Neo at his side, Cealen a step behind, Aiden and Kellan following. Ethan moved with practiced ease, expression unreadable but Neo noticed the way several older men studied him closely.
Elena stood near the center of the hall, immaculate as ever. Kayla beside her. Matteo leaned against a column, arms crossed, watching everything with sharp amusement. Elijah looked bored. Dangerous combination.
Then...
The doors opened.Not slammed.Not announced.Just opened.
And Papa stepped in.The room shifted into place immediately.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, silver threading his dark hair, presence commanding without effort. Beside him walked Mama, elegant and composed, eyes taking in every detail in a single sweep.
Her gaze landed on Lucas and softened.
Just slightly.
Lucas stopped and So did everyone else.
"Papa," Lucas greeted, voice steady.
"Lucas," his father replied, studying him closely. Then his eyes flicked to Neo. To Cealen. And then to Aiden.
Interest sparked.
Mama stepped forward next, her gaze lingering on Neo a heartbeat longer than polite.
"So," she said calmly, "these must be the ones everyone's whispering about."
Neo swallowed.
Lucas placed a hand lightly at the small of Neo's back.
"My people," he said. "And our guest."
Cealen inclined his head politely, a faint smile playing on his lips. Papa's eyes sharpened.
"Cealen Vortigern," Papa said. Not a question.
Cealen smiled wider. "In the flesh."
A ripple moved through the room.
Mama's gaze flicked between them. "You'll all sit," she said smoothly. "This meeting begins now."
Chairs were already being pulled out.
No one questioned it.
As Neo lowered himself into a seat beside Lucas, his heart pounded not with fear alone, but with something sharper. Awareness.
This wasn't just a family gathering. This was more like reckoning and whatever came next
There would be no hiding from it.
Papa didn't sit immediately.
He remained standing at the head of the table, hands resting lightly on the back of a chair, gaze sweeping the room once slow, thorough before settling on Lucas.
"Introductions," he said simply.
Then his eyes shifted."To the new ones joining us."
Neo's stomach dropped Lucas didn't tell him to prepare for this.
Lucas's knee brushed his under the table. Then deliberate, grounding Lucas's fingers pressed lightly against Neo's knee, a silent command: stand.
Neo rose.
For half a second, his vision blurred. His heart was pounding so hard he was convinced everyone could hear it. He felt sweat gather at his spine, his palms threatening to betray him.
Don't shake. Don't shake. Don't—
"My name is Neo," he began, voice steady despite the internal chaos. "I'm… the personal assistant to Lucas. I oversee his personal logistics and external coordination."
Papa's eyes didn't leave his face.
Neo swallowed and continued. "I've been trained to observe before acting, listen before speaking, and protect what belongs to the Familia as if it were my own." That last part surprised even him.
Lucas's hand tightened slightly on his knee.
Papa nodded once.
"Sit."
Neo sat, pulse roaring in his ears then beside him, Aiden stood.
If Neo was barely holding it together, Aiden was sheer willpower in human form. His shoulders squared, jaw set but under the table, Kellan's fingers were laced firmly with his, thumb brushing reassurance into his skin without ever breaking eye contact with the room.
"I'm Aiden," he said. "I work directly under Kellan. Strategic operations, coordination, and internal security."
A pause. "I'm here to learn. And to serve."
Papa studied him longer than he had Neo.
Then "Good."
Kellan's grip tightened once. Pride. Possession. Promise.
Papa's eyes shifted back to Lucas "alright then everyone should drop their reports"
Lucas stood first.
The room shifted again everyone ready to say their parts, attention snapping into place."Our growth this quarter exceeded projections by sixteen percent," Lucas said calmly. "We stabilized three volatile regions, eliminated internal leakage, and rerouted supply chains without alerting competitors."
He spoke like this was routine.
Like lives, cities, power didn't hang in the balance.
"Discipline is tighter. Loyalty is cleaner. Anyone who couldn't adapt is no longer a concern."
Papa's mouth twitched. Approval.
Ethan followed, sliding into the numbers with surgical precision. "Our analytics show a sustained upward trend despite recent losses in the eastern ports. Revenue streams remain strong. Losses were anticipated. Absorbed. Neutralized."
Matteo leaned forward next, grin sharp. "Stock investments paid off. Big time. We pulled out before the dip and reinvested offshore. No waste. No exposure."
One by one, voices filled the room. Elijah said he's own part followed by Kayla though she lived a normal life as a doctor she had her own part to play.
Regional heads reported weapons movement.
Vault managers spoke of money laundering routes.
Others discussed losses then immediately explained how they'd been compensated for tenfold.
Numbers flew.Millions.Billions.
Percentages that made Neo's head spin.
Neo and Aiden exchanged brief glances, just a flicker before schooling their expressions back into something neutral. Interested. Calm. Like this wasn't absolutely insane.
They listened.They absorbed.They tried to belong.
Papa finally sat and silence fell again. "That's music to my ears to hear that my familia is growing in places unimaginable is truly music to my ears" he said and paused
"So," he said, fingers steepled, eyes drifting back to Neo… then Aiden.
"You've heard how we move."
Mama smiled faintly beside him. Dangerous, yet elegant.
"Now," Papa continued, "we'll see how you think."
Neo's stomach twisted.This wasn't the introduction.But definitely this was a test.
Papa leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled, eyes unreadable.
"Neo. Aiden."
Both of them straightened instinctively.
"You're assigned to a port city," Papa said calmly. "High revenue. Clean operations. Then one night, shipments start going missing. No noise. No bodies. No mistakes."
He paused.
"You discover the thief is not an outsider. It's family. Someone connected by blood. Someone powerful." The room went still.
Papa's gaze sharpened.
"You act without permission… and you stop the losses permanently."
Aiden's throat tightened.Neo's mind raced.
Papa continued, voice almost gentle now. "Three days later, the elders discover what you did. The thief was being protected for reasons you weren't told."
Silence.
"What do you do," Papa asked, "when loyalty to the Familia conflicts with obedience to its leaders?"
Aiden's fingers twitched in Kellan's grasp.
Neo didn't look at Lucas this time.
He stood.
"I take responsibility," Neo said.
Several heads turned.
"I don't justify it. I don't shift blame. I don't beg." His voice steadied as he went on. "If my action protected the Familia, then I accept whatever punishment comes with it. Because hesitation would've cost us more."
A murmur rippled across the table.
Papa's eyes narrowed.....interested.
Aiden stood next, he's eyes down then..
"If I knew then what I knew later," he said carefully, "I would still act but differently. I'd neutralize the operation without killing the person. Freeze the assets. Expose the trail. Force the elders to confront the truth instead of burying it."
That… surprised people.
Papa stared at him.
"You'd challenge us?" Papa asked.
Aiden didn't flinch. "I'd protect the Familia from itself."
The table shifted. Not anger but recognition.
Lucas exhaled slowly.
Kellan's jaw tightened in something dangerously close to pride.
Papa was quiet for a long moment.
Then
A soft chuckle.
"Interesting," he said.
And then, casually, as if changing the subject to someone else
"Cealan."
Cealan, who had been lounging back like the meeting was background noise, didn't move at first.
Papa smiled.
"Stand."
Cealan who hated to be commanded by someone other than his boss wanted to refuse but because he wanted to get on good terms with his future inlaws obeyed.
Papa leaned forward.
"One question," he said. "Answer it honestly."
The room leaned in with him.
"You're sent to eliminate a target," Papa continued. "But when you arrive, you realize the target has already prepared for death. No escape routes. No guards. No weapons."
Papa's voice dropped.
"They sit down. Pour you a drink. And tell you they deserve it."
Papa's eyes locked onto Cealan's.
"What do you look for," Papa asked softly,
"to decide whether you kill them immediately… or walk away?"
The air went cold.
Cealan didn't answer right away.
He tilted his head, thoughtful as though he knew where this was going.
Then
"I look for relief," he said.
A sharp intake of breath circled the table.
"If they're relieved," Cealan continued calmly, "then they're guilty of exactly what they think they are. I kill them quickly. Clean."
He paused.
"But if there's fear, real fear then they're hiding something. And killing them would be a waste."
Papa's smile vanished.
The silence after that answer was violent.
Cealan shrugged lightly. "Dead men don't confess."
Papa leaned back slowly.The room felt different now.
Dangerous.Satisfied.
Mama finally spoke, voice soft. "He's right."
Papa nodded once.
"Sit," he told Cealan.
As Cealan sat, Neo realized something chilling
This wasn't a meeting.This was an initiation.
And they had just crossed the line.
"Carry on" mama spoke softly
The meeting loosened after that.
Voices overlapped. Glasses clinked. Deals were murmured in low tones, alliances quietly tested. Men and women shifted between clusters, speaking in codes that sounded like business but tasted like threat.
Neo and Aiden stayed exactly where they were supposed to.
They listened. They nodded when spoken to. They didn't volunteer opinions. Didn't react when numbers were thrown around like spare change, losses in millions, gains in tens of millions, routes opened, routes burned, blood spilled and money recovered.
They belonged without claiming to.
Lucas watched everything.
He always did.
Then the room subtly changed.
It started with a chair scraping back.
A man stood.
Tall. Lean. Sharp in a way that suggested restraint rather than kindness. His suit was immaculate, his smile thin and knowing like someone who enjoyed watching people bleed slowly.
"Rafael Blackmoor," someone muttered under their breath. "What does he want now" another whispered.
Dangerous name. Dangerous man.
Rafael didn't look at Papa. Didn't look at Mama.
His eyes locked straight onto Lucas.
"Since we're discussing growth," Rafael said smoothly, "perhaps we should also discuss… recklessness."
The murmurs quieted.
Lucas didn't blink because he had been waiting for him to speak, he was the reason why Cealan was here afterall.
Rafael continued, pacing just a step forward. "The Darian case. Unauthorized execution. Poor containment. Civilian casualties." He tilted his head. "A wife. A child."
The words landed like bullets.
Neo's stomach dropped, he understood what this was all about there was always a croked person in an empire.
Aiden's jaw tightened too
Lucas inhaled once, slow and measured.
"I didn't act foolishly," Lucas said calmly. "And I didn't act alone."
Rafael smiled wider as if he'd been waiting for that exact sentence.
"Oh?" he said. "Then let's clarify."
He turned sharply toward Kellan.
"Did you assist Lucas in the Darian operation?"
Kellan didn't hesitate and answered slowly. "No."
Rafael turned to Ethan. "You?"
"No."
"Matteo?"
"No."
"Elijah?"
Elijah's voice was cool. "No."
The room erupted into murmurs.
Rafael spread his hands, mock concern dripping from his tone.
"So," he said, turning back to Lucas, "you now carry out executions without involving your people?"
He stepped closer. "What if you'd been compromised? What if you'd died?" Rafael asked softly. "Would that still be called leadership?"
Lucas met his gaze without flinching.
"I assessed the risk," Lucas said evenly. "And accepted it."
Rafael scoffed. "Alone."
Lucas's lips curved not in amusement, but in something colder.
"I wasn't alone."
That snapped the room back into silence.
Rafael's eyes gleamed. "Then enlighten us," he said. "Who exactly did you trust with a mission that delicate?"
Lucas didn't look around.
Didn't hesitate.Didn't soften his tone.
"I worked with Cealan."
The name hit the table like a gunshot.
The silence after Lucas spoke Cealan's name was heavy thick enough to choke on.
Rafael didn't look surprised. If anything, he looked pleased.
He turned slowly, eyes locking onto Cealan like a blade finding flesh.
"So," he drawled, "the Vortigern lapdog shows his face in a Luther meeting."
A few heads snapped in Cealan's direction.
Cealan leaned back in his chair, utterly relaxed, one arm draped over the backrest like he owned the room. His expression didn't change no irritation, no defensiveness. Just calm. Dangerous calm.
"I don't deny where I come from," Cealan said lightly. "Never have."
Rafael's smile sharpened. "Then explain to us why a man from a rival empire would assist Lucas Luther. History says your kind prefers bloodshed over cooperation."
Cealan tilted his head, studying Rafael like a puzzle that bored him, he'd seen people like Rafael and he was excited to deal with him.
"Because I had unfinished business with Darian," he said. "Simple."
Rafael scoffed. "Or," he countered smoothly, "you saw an opportunity. A way to crawl into favor with the Luther family."
Cealan laughed.
Not loud. Not friendly.
It was the kind of laugh that made spines straighten and instincts scream.
"Oh, hell no," Cealan said, leaning forward now, forearms resting on the table. "Let me make something very clear before you get bold enough to confuse ambition with desperation."
His eyes hardened, stripping all humor from his face.
"I'm only here today to clear Darian off the board. That's it. I have no interest in your familia, your titles, or your power plays." His voice dropped, precise and lethal. "I already have a family. One I am loyal to in ways money can't touch. So whatever numbers you're thinking of?" He shook his head slowly. "They won't buy me."
The room went quiet again.
Rafael's jaw tightened but he pressed on.
"And how are we meant to believe you didn't have another motive?" he asked. "Perhaps this was a Vortigern setup all along."
Cealan smiled.It was horrifying.
"If that were the case," he said softly, "you'd already be dead."
A chill swept the table.
"And you'd never see it coming," Cealan added, eyes never leaving Rafael's. "In fact..." his smile widened just a fraction, "...you might've just volunteered to be my first target."
Ethan's lips twitched despite himself.
Without looking, he slipped his hand into Cealan's under the table, fingers threading together. Cealan squeezed once subtle, possessive never breaking eye contact with Rafael.
Then Cealan leaned back again, casual as ever. "Look," he continued, voice smoothing out, "Lucas and I worked together because we had the same objective. We've crossed paths in business before productive ones. Instead of clashing in the field and making a mess, we chose efficiency which was smart."
A pause.
"A clean job," Cealan said. "And mutual respect."
Rafael opened his mouth to speak
"And the wife?" he shot. "The child?"
Lucas moved before the tension could spike further.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and dialed without ceremony.
The call connected almost immediately.
A woman's voice filled the room, warm and confused. A child laughed faintly in the background.
"Hello, Lucas," she said. "Is everything okay? Do you need something?"
Lucas's voice was steady.
"I'm in a family meeting," he said. "They mentioned the Darian case. They said I killed you and your child."
There was a pause.Then a soft laugh.
"Well," the woman replied, amused, "you're speaking to me, aren't you? I'm very much alive. So is my child."
A few people shifted uncomfortably.
"Thank you," Lucas said quietly.
"You're welcome," she replied. "Take care."
The call ended.
Silence detonated across the table.
Rafael didn't speak anymore, at least that was enough to silence him,neither did his supporters speak too.
Lucas set the phone down gently.
"Are we clear now?" he asked, voice calm but edged with steel. "You will not question my judgment, my brothers, or my people again."
His gaze swept the room.
"That goes for everyone here."
Papa leaned back in his chair, a proud, knowing smile curving his lips, he also knew this was going to happen I mean it always did and he never stopped it not because he couldn't buy but because he wanted Lucas to show his authority.
Mama's eyes shone sharp, and satisfied.
Cealan reclined comfortably, thumb brushing over Ethan's knuckles under the table.
Untouchable.
And the meeting was far from over.
"I do have a question though" a female spoke up .