He doesn’t know who she is. Doesn’t know her name or that she’s standing fifty feet away, watching us. He’s just throwing out threats to see what sticks. But the fact that he’s threatening her at all means he’s crossed a line he can’t come back from.
“You’ve been watching me,” I say.
“Someone has to. You’re too busy playing businessman to notice when wolves are circling.”
The tension ratchets up, people on the street starting to notice that something’s happening, crossing to the other side to avoid us. I catch sight of Catherine in my peripheral vision—she’s frozen, watching the confrontation.
“You need to step back,” I say quietly, “before this becomes a problem neither of us wants.”
His smile widens. “I don’t think so. I think it’s time someone reminded you that power in this city isn’t bought with business deals. It’s taken. And I’m taking yours.”
He reaches for something inside his jacket, and I see the movement before my brain fully processes what it means.
The gunshot is deafening.
5
AURELIA
There’sblood on the pavement, and Cassian Rourke is still holding the gun.
I saw him first—standing across the street about fifty feet away, dressed casually in dark jeans and a button-down, looking more relaxed than he did in his suit this morning. My stomach did that stupid flip it’s been doing since I met him, and I was about to cross the street when three men appeared out of nowhere and blocked his path.
The confrontation happened fast. Words I couldn’t hear from this distance, tension building in the way they stood, people on the street starting to back away like they sensed violence coming.
Then one of the men reached inside his jacket.
Cassian moved faster.
The gunshot made me flinch so hard I dropped my phone, and now there’s a man on the ground with half his head missing, and Cassian is standing over him with the gun still raised.
People are screaming, and I’m frozen on the sidewalk, unable to move, unable to process what I just watched happen.
Cassian killed him. Just pulled the trigger and ended a man’s life on a public street like it was nothing.
Someone grabs my arm from behind. “Easy, miss, you need to get out of here?—”
I shove them off and run.
Pure instinct takes over, adrenaline flooding my system and wiping out every coherent thought exceptmove. I push through the gathering crowd, ignoring the shouts behind me, focused entirely on putting distance between myself and the body on the pavement.
Between myself and Cassian.
My feet hit the sidewalk hard, sneakers slapping concrete as I sprint down the block. I don’t know where I’m going. Don’t have a plan beyondaway. The restaurant we were supposed to meet at is behind me now, along with everything else from the last twenty-four hours that felt like freedom.
I make it two blocks before a hand clamps around my arm and yanks me sideways into an alley.
I fight immediately. Elbow back, trying to connect with ribs. Foot stomping down toward an instep. Nails clawing at whatever I can reach. But there are multiple hands now, strong, and they pin my arms before I can do any real damage.
“Let me go!” I’m screaming, thrashing, trying to break free. “Get the fuck off me!”
“Miss Vance, stop fighting.”
The name hits me like cold water.
I twist my head and see him—Luca, one of my family’s senior security.
“Your brother and uncle have been worried sick,” he says, and his voice is almost gentle. “Two months is a long time to be missing.”
