“Isaac,” I say again, firmer this time, and push him a little harder.
His body topples sideways with a dull thud, and my stomach drops. His eyes stare blankly toward the ceiling, glassy and lifeless. A dark red bloom stains the side of his T-shirt, spreading outward from the knife buried deep in his chest—right where his heartbeat used to be.
“Fuck,” I whisper, taking an instinctive step back and lowering Leoni into my arms. Her head falls against my chest, her eyes firmly closed as light snores fill the silence.
The metallic scent of blood hits me then, sharp and real. I clutch Leoni a little tighter, her oblivious breathing a cruel reminder of what she’s about to wake up to.
Backing out of the apartment, I hit the wall beside the door, my pulse hammering. For the first time in a long time, I have no idea what the hell to do.
I step back into the elevator and press for my floor. It opens straight into my apartment, and my father is waiting, a dark shape by the window against the city lights. He’s turned away, but I know he can see me in the reflection.“About time,” he mutters.
“Was it your doing?” I hiss.
He turns, eyes flicking over Leoni’s sleeping form in my arms. “Is she dead?”
“No, she isn’t fucking dead. Why would I bring a dead girl into my apartment?”
I head for my room and set her down on the super-king bed, tucking the duvet over her, before closing the door.
When I come back out, he’s still there, patient, smug.
“I’ve just been in her apartment,” I whisper-hiss. “Guess who was lying there cold as your heart?”
His mouth quirks. “Enlighten me.”
“Isaac Dove.” My voice is flat.
He smiles like he’s hearing a joke. “So, you broughtyourlittle dove back here to ‘protect’ her?”
“I could hardly leave her in there with her dead fucking brother,” I hiss. “What did he do to deserve that?”
“Why do you care?” Erik’s voice comes from the doorway. He’s clean-shaven, freshly showered and annoyingly composed. “We finished what you started.”
I narrow my eyes, dragging them back to my father. “This is personal for you,” I guess. Personal wars are the ones we handle ourselves; that’s been drilled into us since day one. “I dealt with him the way we always deal with men like him that get too big for their boots. But you… you’ve got something more on him.”
My father’s expression grows colder. “You need to win the girl over, use your charm… fuck her into submission, whatever it takes,” he says, like he’s naming a to-do list. Bored. Casual. I laugh once, because he must be joking—he isn’t.
“If you’re not up to it, Erik will step in.” His tone is almost conversational.
Erik grins. I scowl at him, the laugh dying in my throat. “Tell me what’s really going on,” I demand.
“All in good time,” my father drawls. “We should go. Before this place is crawling with cops.” He turns as if that settles it.
They leave together, the two of them comfortable in their assumption that I’ll bend, that I’ll fall in line.
When the door clicks shut, I feel the hot, familiar spike of rage and something colder underneath — calculation. Anthony needs to dig deeper on Leoni. I need answers. Who she really is, how her brother is linked to our world, and how much my father already knows.
If I’m going to keep one step ahead of him, I can’t go in blind.
Chapter Five
LEONI
Soft lips brush against mine, and my whole body arches instinctively toward the warmth. His fingers slide into my hair, gripping just enough to make me groan, desperate for him to move lower—to touch, to quiet the ache building between my legs.
My eyes flutter open. The room is dark, unfamiliar. I sit up fast, heart racing, realising I’ve been dreaming of him.Of Warren. Heat floods my cheeks.
“It sounded like an interesting dream,” a gravelly voice mutters from beside me.
