I hit Lars’s name.
He answers on the first ring, I can hear the rumble of his car engine in the background. “I’m already on my way. What the fuck happened?”
“Falco just lit up my fucking penthouse,” I bite out, pacing through what used to be my living room. “Helicopter. The balcony door’s annihilated. Zara was standing feet away from it.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Mobilize now. I want two SUVs at the front entrance in under five minutes. We’re heading to the estate. I want a full sweep—stairwells, garage, rooftop, windows. Every possible entry point covered. Tell the men we don’t hesitate if anyone so much as looks our way.”
“You got it,” Lars snaps. “We’ll sweep the route and lock the estate down before you get there. The perimeter will be sealed.”
“And Lars?”
“Yeah?”
“Falco came in from the sky. I want every helicopter in this city accounted for. Start with private charters. If a single pilot flew without a manifest tonight, I want them on their knees and begging for a deal.”
“Already on it.”
“Tell Rowan to pull every second of footage from a ten-block radius. I want eyes in the air, on the streets, and in the shadows. If that chopper cast a reflection in a goddamn puddle, I want it.”
“You’ll have it,” he promises. I end the call and lower the phone, fingers tightening around it as I turn toward the kitchen.
Zara’s still curled behind the island, her arms wound tight around her knees like she’s bracing to survive the next blow. Her lips are drained of color, her eyes too wide. The cracks in her armor are there, and I see every one of them—because I know her. Right now, she’s running on instinct. Fight or flight. And still, when I move to her, she chooses me.
I crouch down, sweep her into my arms, and she doesn’t resist. No protest. No sharp tongue. She just tucks her face into my neck and fists the front of my shirt like I’m the only thing holding her together.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, tightening my hold as I carry her through the wreckage. “You’re safe.”
Her voice is barely a ghost against my skin. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere no one can touch you.” I press my mouth to her temple, breathe her in as fury claws down my spine. “The family estate. Reinforced gates. Armed men on every inch of the perimeter. If Falco wants another chance, he’ll be stepping over corpses to get it.”
She says nothing more. Just curls tighter against me, trembling in a way that guts me. She doesn’t want me to see her like this—shaken, undone. But fuck, I feel it. Every shiver. Every ounce of fear she won’t admit to.
And here’s the truth I’ll never say out loud, part of me hates this. Hates that she’s terrified, hates that the world forced her to cling to me because it tried to break her. But another part, the darker, hungrier part, feeds on it. Because it means she’s mine. She turns to me when the bullets fly. She buries herself in me when everything shatters. Even in fear, she doesn’t let go.
My jaw aches from the pressure of holding it all back. I don’t deserve her trust—not after forcing that ring on her finger, not after dragging her into my world. But she’s here, in my arms, and I will burn cities before I let another man so much as breathe her name again.
I step over the glittering wreckage of what used to be myhome and understand something I never have before. This isn’t about territory or control. Not anymore.
I’ve found my weak point. And tonight, they aimed right at it.
Her. And they missed by inches.
If she’d moved a second slower, if I hadn’t pulled her down fast enough?—
My grip tightens reflexively.
Zara shifts slightly, her cheek brushing my neck, her whisper so small it nearly breaks me. “I didn’t see it coming.”
“I know, Angel,” I breathe. “That’s on me. It’s my job to see the threat before it lands, and I failed.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head faintly. “You pulled me down. You covered me, protected me. You didn’t fail.”
She’s defending me. Even now. Even like this.
I inhale deep through my nose again, trying to tamp down the rage boiling under the surface. But it’s useless. The only thing I want right now is blood. Retribution. I want to bury Anthony Falco so deep his own father won’t be able to dig him out.
