Dominion: Rise of the Siblings

Power isn't always taken with a gunshot.Sometimes, it's whispered into a signature.Sometimes, it walks into a room dressed in silk… and leaves with blood on its heels.

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Lancaster Finance Tower – 11:45 AM

At the top of a skyscraper lined with obsidian glass and marble walls, the Evermore Investment Committee had gathered in their private hall—an unlisted boardroom known as The Black Room. Inside sat twelve of the wealthiest powerbrokers in Lancaster. Eleven men. One woman.

Soon, they'd have a fourteenth guest.

The door opened.

Lia Virell stepped inside.

She was dressed in a sharp gray blazer over a blood-red blouse. Her hair was pinned into a high twist. No jewelry. No perfume. Nothing to distract.

Because today, she wasn't performing.She was conquering.

"Miss Vale," one of the board members—an aging industrialist—greeted her. "This session is closed. Guests—"

Lia dropped a folder on the table.

Inside:

The real estate laundering schemes of Victor Harrow.

Off-shore accounts linked to three seated board members.

Surveillance footage from a private military contracting deal gone very wrong.

She waited.

The silence thickened.

Celeste Thorne, seated at the head, watched her with narrowed eyes—no smile.

"Sit," Celeste said finally.

Lia did.

"You've brought leverage," Celeste said. "That's not the same as value."

"I've brought control," Lia replied. "And an offer."

Celeste raised a brow.

"I want seat 13. The one you're preparing to give to Mayor Lenton's son," Lia continued. "He's incompetent. Soft. You need someone who can move quietly, swiftly, and without public noise."

One of the men scoffed. "You're not even using your real name."

"I don't need to," Lia said. "Because by next week, this city will be shaped by the pen I control and the media I own."

She slid another document forward.

A media conglomerate acquisition contract—fully legal, fully signed. Lia had just bought out two major news platforms… using shell companies traced to Celeste's enemies.

Celeste's lips curled, just slightly.

"You used my enemies to silence your opponents," she said.

Lia's eyes burned with quiet fire.

"Silk is just steel that learned how to lie."

Celeste smiled now—like a wolf recognizing another.

"Welcome to the table."

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Underground – 2:07 PM

Alex Virell sat in a backroom of the docks, lit only by hanging bulbs and filtered sunlight through cracked windows. The Raven's Feather sat on the table beside him. His stitched wound throbbed—but it was his memory that burned.

The name on the feather had confirmed one thing: the order had not come from a Syndicate, or a government, or a rival.

It had come from a family member.

One still alive. One powerful enough to reactivate the Raven's Claw. One who had betrayed the Virell bloodline during the estate massacre.

Alex unrolled a second map.

It wasn't of Lancaster.

It was of Virell Manor.

The original one. Now in ruins. Abandoned. Still off-limits by government claim.

But maybe… not untouched.

He sent a message to Lia:

"I need to go back. I think the proof of who betrayed us is still at the Manor."

Her reply came quickly:

"I just got my seat at the table. If you're going back… don't go alone."

Alex stared at the map.

Then tapped one name scrawled beside the crest.

"Aurelius Virell."

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That Night – 10:00 PM

In a locked room inside the Thorne Estate, Celeste stared at a red-lit screen.

A single line blinked:

"13th seat compromised. Lia Vale is Virell."

She closed the laptop and whispered:

"…They're not hiding anymore."

Power had been played in the light.But the war was always waiting in the dark.