LOGINLorenzo’s POV“Where,” I said into the phone, already moving, Jovan’s hand locked in mine as we headed for the door.“Motel off route 9. She flagged down a trucker, of all things, told him to call it in to a specific number — mine. Smart girl. Scared out of her mind, but smart.” Dante’s voice was clipped, all business, the way it got when he was holding something back to say in person instead. “Lorenzo, she’s asking for you specifically. Not me. Not a doctor. You.”“Is she hurt?”“Cut on her arm, needs stitches, refusing to let anyone touch her till she talks to you.” A pause. “She keeps saying ‘he needs to know before it’s too late.’ I don’t love the sound of that.”“Neither do I. Send the address.”Jovan was already grabbing his jacket, jaw set in a way that told me before he said a word that arguing would waste time we didn’t have.“I’m coming.”“Jovan—”“Don’t.” He looked up at me, eyes still red-rimmed but steady now, steadier than I had any right to expect after the last two hou
Lorenzo’s POVThe drive back to the safehouse took eleven minutes. It felt like eleven years.I ran every light between the warehouse and that road with no streetlights, phone clenched in my hand, willing it to buzz again, willing it to stay silent, not knowing anymore which one I wanted more. Dante was behind me in the second car, and somewhere further back two men I didn’t have names for were following blood that might not even be Lena’s, and all of it — all of it — had gone quiet in my head except for one text glowing behind my eyes.They’re inside. I’m in the closet. Please hurry.I called him. It rang twice and went to voicemail. I called again. Same thing.“Pick up,” I said out loud to no one, gripping the wheel hard enough that my knuckles ached. “Pick up, pick up—”The gate to the safehouse was open when I got there. Not broken. Open, like someone had known the code, or hadn’t needed one.I was out of the car before it fully stopped, gun up, moving fast and low across the grav
Lorenzo’s POVDarkness dropped over the warehouse like a hand closing around my throat.I hit the ground on instinct, rolling behind a shelving unit as more shots cracked somewhere to my left — not aimed at me, I didn’t think, but close enough that concrete dust rained down on my shoulders. Somewhere in the black, Lena screamed.“Lena!”“Here—” Her voice, cut off hard, like a hand had found her mouth again.I couldn’t see anything. Not the chair, not the man, not the work light that had been swinging on its chain a second ago. My phone was still lit in my hand, Jovan’s text glowing up at me like an accusation, and I forced myself to shove it in my pocket because the light would get me killed.“Dante!” I called out, low, sharp.“Here!” His voice, from the direction of the dock, breathless. “We’ve got two down, they had a shooter in the rafters, we didn’t see him—”“Lena?”“I don’t have eyes on her.”My heart was slamming so hard I could feel it in my teeth. I moved along the shelving i
Lorenzo’s POVI didn’t turn around. If I turned around, he’d know exactly where to aim.“Stand down,” I said instead, loud enough to carry into the dark behind me. “Everybody stand down.”A beat of silence. Then, faint, Dante’s voice from somewhere in the shadows near the dock: “Copy.”I didn’t believe him for a second. Dante had never followed an order he thought would get me killed, not once in twelve years, and I was betting everything right now on the fact that he was smarter than to charge in blind — and reckless enough to still be moving anyway, just slower, just quieter.The man behind Lena’s chair watched me with something like amusement. “Good boy.”“Don’t,” I said. “Whatever you think this is, don’t talk to me like I’m one of your errand runners.”“No.” He tilted his head, studying me the way you’d study a painting you weren’t sure you liked yet. “You’re not an errand runner. You’re the reason half the ledgers in this city are worth burning down a family for. So. The locatio
Lorenzo’s POV“A trip where,” I said, keeping my voice level even though every part of me wanted to put a bullet through the dark where his face should be. “You’ve been to my house twice tonight. Don’t tell me you were saving gas.”He laughed, low, almost fond, like I’d made a joke between old friends. “You’re sharper than they said.”“Who’s they?”“Ah.” He stepped further into the light, and the yellow glow caught him just enough — mid-thirties maybe, clean-cut, nothing about him that screamed street. That was the part that scared me. He looked like someone who belonged at a real estate closing, not holding a woman hostage in a gutted warehouse. “That’s the part where I’m supposed to keep you talking so your friends outside get a better shot. I’ve seen this movie too, Lorenzo.”My stomach dropped. He knew about Dante.“There’s no one outside,” I said anyway.“There’s always someone outside with men like you.” He crouched slightly behind Lena’s chair, one hand still pressed over her mo
Lorenzo’s POV“You’re not going alone.” Dante said it like it wasn’t up for discussion. “That’s not a plan, that’s a suicide note.”“They did said alone.”“They said a lot of things. People who cut off heads and mail them don’t exactly negotiate in good faith.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice like Jovan wasn’t standing right there hearing every word anyway. “You walk in there solo, best case they kill you slower than they kill her. There is no version where alone works.”“I know that.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “I know. But if they see backup, they panic, and a panicking man with a knife to Lena’s throat is worse than anything I can plan for.”“So don’t let them see it.”I looked at him. He held my gaze, steady, already three steps ahead the way he always was when it counted.“Talk,” I said.“East side warehouses only have two ways in that aren’t the front door — loading dock on the south wall, and a fire exit that opens onto an alley nobody’s bothered fixing the light ove
Jovani's POVI opened the door slowly because I thought she was still asleep. But I caught the smell of vanilla ice cream and…….I sniffed the air, catching a whiff of chocolate donuts.When I turned, Donatella was on my couch in what appeared to be my university hoodie which I hadn't seen in three
DONATELLA'S POVAll through the night, all I did was toss and turn in bed, giggling like a fool while I thought about what had happened.“Calm down Tella,” I exhaled. “Calm down before you bring the whole house down.”I flopped back onto the bed, pressing the pillow over my face. When I thought tha
LEILANI'S POVI was a terrible person and I'd known it for months since the moment Jovani Hart slid an envelope across the table and said: "A million dollars. A million dollars when I have what I need. All you have to do is be her friend."I'd taken the money of course not that I didn't have it but
JOVAN'S POVThe cabin was supposed to be safenthat's what Lorenzo kept saying. "No one knows about this place. It's just us and Marcus. We can breathe here."It was 2 AM when I heard movement from outside the cabin. Footsteps? Maybe or my imagination. Or—I sat up in bed, heart pounding hard agains







