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I shook my head. “Caspian, what are you about to do?”

He touched my cheek. “Something I should’ve been able to do six years ago.”

I swallowed.

Caspian addressed Willow. “Take care of my woman.”

She nodded. “I got her.”

I didn’t want to move away from him.

After six years without being able to touch him, every part of me rebelled against taking my hands off him again. But there was something in Caspian’s expression that told me this wasn’t the moment to argue.

He kissed me one more time before gently guiding me toward Willow. “Stand back, baby.”

I finally nodded and moved away.

Willow wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into her while keeping Caspian within my sight.

He turned toward Chalis.

The man who had just held me as though I were the most precious thing in the world disappeared… not physically. The softness simply drained from him. His jaw hardened, his eyes turned cold, and when he shifted his attention toward the two men standing behind Chalis, a chill moved down my spine.

Caspian reached beneath his suit jacket, then he pulled out a gun.

My breath caught. “Caspian?”

He didn’t turn around.

Chalis’s eyes widened. “Man, hold on—”

Caspian raised the weapon.

The first gunshot tore through the foyer.

I screamed and flinched against Willow as one of Chalis’s friends fell.

A second shot followed, then a third.

The remaining man dropped before he could make it to the front door.

I grabbed Willow’s arm and buried my face against her shoulder. “Oh, my God!”

She held me tightly. “Sis, don’t look.”

But after a few seconds, I couldn’t stop myself.

I lifted my head.

The two men were motionless on the floor while the rest of the guests remained trapped beneath whatever strange spell had placed over them.

And Caspian?

He stood in the center of the foyer with the gun resting calmly at his side, completely unbothered.

Then he turned toward Chalis and smiled.

Chapter twenty-seven