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"Listen to me, Cain," Ezekiel’s voice turns to pure iron, authoritative and steady. "Do not make a move alone. It's an ambush."

"He gave me twenty minutes, Ezekiel," I snap, my chest heaving. "If I wait⁠—"

"You won't wait long. We’re moving," Ezekiel cuts in sharply. "Pull over and park. Hold your position until we hit the grid. We bring total force, or none of us walk out of there with her alive."

"Two minutes," I ground out, my jaw locked tight. "You have two minutes, Zeke. Then I'm going in."

I cut the feed, pulling the car off the main road and killing the engine under the dense overhang of the trees a short distance from the estate gates.

Every single second that ticks by on the dashboard clock feels like a razor blade dragged across my throat. My blood burns, hyper-vigilance turning into a roaring fire in my veins. The thought of Nolan standing over her, touching her, or making her bleed makes me want to burn the whole damn forest to the ground.

He won't kill her yet, I force myself to remember, breathing heavily through my nose as I check the clip on my pistol. He wants me there to watch. He needs an audience.

A sharp crunch of gravel breaks the quiet minutes later as another black car slides to a halt right behind my vehicle.

The doors swing open, and my brothers step out, fully armed and dressed in tactical gear, carrying automatic rifles across their chests. Ezekiel and Elijah move toward my window like twin shadows of death, their eyes cold, lethal, and ready for war.

Levi and Malachi step out right behind them, their faces masked in grim, silent resolve as they rack the slides of their weapons.

I slide out of the driver's seat, my hands itching to tear through the front gates. Ezekiel steps into my space, his hand coming down on my shoulder to hold me grounded.

"Listen to me," he commands. "We’ve studied the blueprints for this riverfront estate. We know every single angle, entry point, and blind spot on the perimeter. Nolan expects you to walk through that front door alone, desperate and cornered. We give him exactly what he expects."

He looks back at Elijah, Levi, and Malachi before turning back to me. "You go in through the main hall to draw all their attention. The moment you step inside, the four of us breach from the side glass doors and the rear terrace. He won't see it coming until the crossfire starts."

I give him one firm nod. "Keep her clear of the line of fire."

"Always," Ezekiel says. "Move."

I leave my brothers in the shadows and march straight up the long gravel driveway, stepping through the shattered front doors of the riverfront estate. The double doors slam shut behind me, and four Devlin soldiers immediately surround me, roughly patting me down, snatching my sidearm, and shoving me forward into the wide marble hall.

My dark eyes instantly zero in on the far side of the room.

Alexis is tied securely to a wooden chair near the central pillar, iron chains wrapped around her torso and wrists.

A quiet, agonizing knot in my chest uncoils just a fraction when I see her breath hitching, her skin pale but unbroken. She’s unharmed. I force my breathing to stay steady, locking down every drop of rage into a cold focus.

"Look at you," Nolan’s voice echoes through the cavernous room as he steps out from the shadows, flanked by Brendan and Lachlan. A cruel, victorious smirk stretches across his face. "The great Cain Kavanagh, brought to his knees."

I stand my ground, my hands resting loosely at my sides, keeping his eyes entirely on me. "Let her go, Nolan. This is between us."

"Between us?" Nolan laughs, the sound shrill and unhinged. "It was always between us! First Malachi humiliated my family by taking Jade, and now you do the exact same thing with Alexis! You think you can just step into my city, take what belongs to the Devlins, and walk away clean?"

"I was never yours, Nolan!" Alexis shouts from the chair, her voice ringing out fierce and defiant across the marble floor. "I never belonged to you, and I never will!"

Nolan’s smirk instantly vanishes. His face contorts with pure, unbridled rage as he completely loses control. He turns on his heel, unholstering his pistol, and points the barrel directly at Alexis's forehead.

My vision turns completely red. "Alexis!" I roar, exploding forward before he can even pull the trigger.

The two Devlin guards flanking me don't even have time to raise their weapons. I slam my elbow directly into the first guard's jaw, shattering bone, snatch the gun from his hands, and put a bullet through his chest before he hits the floor.

I spin, using his falling body as a shield as the second guard fires, the round tearing harmlessly into dead weight. I drive my knife upward under the second man's chin, dropping him instantly.

Before the rest of Nolan's men can even process what's happening, the massive glass side doors shatter inward with a deafening crash.

Ezekiel, Elijah, Levi, and Malachi burst into the hall like a tidal wave, heavy automatic fire ripping through the gloom. The sudden breach plunges the entire room into absolute pandemonium. Muzzle flashes illuminate the room as Devlin soldiers scream, scrambling for cover that doesn't exist.

With the element of surprise entirely on our side, the Kavanagh crossfire cuts through their ranks like a scythe. In a matter of seconds, three more of Nolan's elite go down, their bodies thudding heavily against the marble floor.