"Dante—"
"Say yes," he demands. "Tell me you'll be mine. Forever."
"Yes," I whisper, and then louder, "Yes. I'll marry you."
We barely get two minutes to enjoy the moment when there is a hard knock on the door.
"Boss. They're here."
Dante goes still against me, every muscle suddenly tense. Then he's moving, pulling on the clothes I just stripped from him.
Before he leaves the room, he turns back to me one more time.
"Get Mila to the panic room until I come for you," he says. "Promise me you’ll stay in there unless me or my men come for you.”
"I promise."
He crosses the room in three strides and kisses me hard, desperate, like he's trying to pour every unspoken word into this one contact.
"I love you," he says against my lips.
"I love you too. Come back to me."
"Always."
Then he's gone, and I'm alone in our bedroom, listening to the sound of footsteps running and orders being shouted.
The battle for our future has begun.
29
DANTE
The first breach comes at the east wall, exactly where I predicted.
Bogdan's men use charges to blow a hole in the perimeter. The explosion rocks the estate hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling. But we're ready. My men are in position, firing before the smoke clears, cutting down the first wave of attackers before they make it ten feet inside.
I don’t know how the fucker got so many men on his side, but I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised. He’s been siphoning money to do exactly this. Paid mercenaries. I push down the anger from the betrayal. I’ll have to deal with that later. Right now, my focus is on staying alive.
"East wall breach contained," Mikhail reports over the radio. "Three hostiles down, two retreating."
"West wall is under assault," Sergei calls out. "They're using the vehicles for cover."
I'm moving through the courtyard with Andre and six others, using the planned routes that give us maximum coverage while minimizing exposure. The rose garden where Hannah and Mila played yesterday is torn apart by gunfire. Oddly, my first thought is how sad Mila will be to see all her pretty flowers destroyed.
"Hannah's status?" I demand into my radio.
"Moving to the panic room with Mila," Alexei responds. "We're—fuck, rear breach! They're coming through the service entrance!"
My blood runs cold. The panic room is near the service entrance. If they've breached there, Hannah and Mila are trapped between the attackers and their only safe haven.
"Fall back!" I order Alexei. "Get them out of there. Use the secondary route to the garage."
"Copy. Moving now."
I redirect half my team toward the house while continuing to engage the attackers at the perimeter.
Bogdan's strategy is clear—create chaos everywhere, stretch our defenses thin, then strike at the center where Hannah and Mila are vulnerable. Bogdan knows where the panic room is. He knows I’d be moving them in that direction.
