She hadn’t warned him. She hadn’t asked for protection. She had simplygone.
Magnus grabbed his leather jacket from the chair beside the wall. “Security, weapons,” he said, his voice lethal. “Now.”
The room erupted into disciplined violence. Drawers opened. Slides were checked. Magazines were slammed home with hard metallic clicks that echoed through the study.
Leif moved to Magnus’s side, already armed. “If the Donatis touched her—”
“They didn’t,” Magnus said, cutting him off with absolute certainty. “She went there on purpose.”
That realization burned through him with equal parts pride and dread.
Alaric turned back toward them from the doorway. “Cars are coming around.”
Magnus headed for thehall.
“Move.”
Within minutes the Severins and their security were in their vehicles. The drive to theDonati estate passed in a blur of headlights and tightening fury. Magnus’s mind replayed the possibilities with ruthless precision. If Vittorio touched her again...
The thought ended there.
By the time the estate gates appeared ahead of them, Magnus was already planning the destruction of everyone inside. The guards barely had time to react before Severin vehicles flooded the driveway. Magnus stepped out of the car and crossed the stone courtyard, moving swiftly while his men surrounded the Donati guards.
If Elia wasn’t inside that house alive and unharmed, there wouldn’t be a Donati estate left standing by nightfall.
Chapter 18
INSIDE THE HOUSEvoices echoed through the main salon. Magnus pushed the doorsopen.
Elia stood in the center of the room and for half a heartbeat the world narrowed to the sight ofher.
Alive.
Unharmed.
The crushing pressure that had gripped his chest since discovering she was gone loosened just enough for breath to return. Then the relief vanished beneath a surge of fury as his gaze moved past her to the Donatis facing her across theroom.
Vittorio Donati stood opposite her, anger radiating from every line of his posture. Bianca hovered beside him, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and venom. Neither of them had yet turned toward the door. Their attention remained fixed entirely onElia.
Which meant neither of them had realized Magnus had just walked into their house. He didn’t even think Elia realized he’d joined them. He went still. Didn’t speak.Just watched.
Elia stood calm in the center of the room, shoulders straight, one hand resting lightly against the table beside her. The posture wasn’t defensive. It wasn’t frightened. It was deliberate. She had planned this. The realization hit Magnus with a devastating clarity and he shook his head in admiration. Fuck, had she changed from the last time they’d been in this room together.
“You came back,” Vittorio said toElia.
She met his gaze without flinching. “Yes.”
“Severin finally realized what you were,” Bianca said with a bitter smile. “Disposable.”
Elia didn’t react to the insult.
Magnus watched her closely. The careful reserve he remembered from their first meeting had vanished. The woman standing in front of the Donatis now carried a certainty that hadn’t existed before. The difference was subtle but unmistakable. She’d made a decision and accepted the consequences ofit.
“Why are you here?” Vittorio demanded.
Elia reached into her bag and placed a folder on the table between them. “To finish something,” shesaid.
Bianca laughed harshly. “You think you have the authority to finish anything in this house?”
