I shake my head—but it’s a lie. He cut open the one wound I’ve barely stitched together. Matteo knows where I live. Matteo knows about Lucien. Matteo isn’t done and I’m not safe anywhere. When we reach the elevator, my legs feel like water. And somewhere above me, Lucien Moretti has no idea that the clean life he built so carefully just cracked around the edges even more.
Anthony’s messagehits my phone with a violence I feel in my chest.
Need you in lobby. Now.
I’m already moving. I take the stairs two at a time. Elevators are too slow.
When I reach the lobby, Anthony is guiding Briar toward the elevators. She looks like she’s been hollowed out from the inside. Pale, trembling, eyes unfocused. What the hell happened. I’d barely left her but ten minutes. I’ll kill anyone who’s frightened her…
I clamp down on the thought. Hard. That is my father’s voice inside me. Leo Moretti would react without thinking, withoutrestraint. I’m not him. I built everything I have to prove I’m not him. But when I see Briar like this, the old instincts surge like blood memory.
“What happened?” I demand, ushering them into the elevator and putting myself between Briar and the world.
Anthony answers, jaw tight, “One of Romero’s lads approached her. Inside our building.”
My breath leaves in a slow, lethal exhale.
Inside.
My.
Building.
That isn’t a message. It’s a declaration of war. “Inform security,” I tell Anthony. “Lock down the footage. I want every angle. I want to know who it was.”
He nods and vanishes into the foyer as the doors finally close.
Briar tries to speak. “Lucien?—”
“No,” I snap, pushing the button to my office floor. “We’ll speak when we’re safe upstairs.”
She flinches and my chest cracks. Damn it. I never want her scared of me or not feel like she can tell me anything. I only want her safe. We reach the floor and I guide her to my office, closing and locking the door behind us. She stands in the middle of my office, and I can see she’s trying to gather herself. Her pulse flutters quick at her throat.
“What did he say?” I ask, forcing my voice into something human.
She hesitates. And the hesitation cuts deeper than any confession.
“Don’t lie to me,” I say quietly.
She closes her eyes. “I’m trying not to fall apart.”
Something inside me twists sharply. Because of him. Because of what he made her. Because I can’t protect her from the past that still owns her.
I step closer. “Briar. Tell me.”
Her voice trembles. “He called me Mrs. Romero and handed me this note.” She holds it out in her hand as if it were something foreign, her arm so unsteady that the paper wobbles on her palm.
“And he said Matteo wants me home.”
I taste blood. I’ve bitten the inside of my cheek hard enough to split skin. I reach for the note.
Four words.
I never let go.
My vision edges dark for a moment. Romero’s henchmen touched her. He got close enough to smell her hair. He will never do that again. I’ll bury him before that happens again.
I force air into my lungs.
