Chapter 13

Aria

The basement of the rundown safehouse on the edge of the industrial district smelled of damp concrete, old iron, and dust. It was perfect. No cameras, no biometric grids, and completely off the Thorne and Vance maps. I had spent the last forty-eight hours setting it up, anchoring a heavy steel chair to the floorboards and checking the strength of the reinforced leather restraints.

Tomorrow was Malakai’s wedding day.

Every billboard in the upper city was flashing the news of the rushed Thorne-Vance corporate marriage. Victoria Vance thought she had finally cornered the devil. She thought she was going to walk down the aisle, sign the asset merger, and bleed Malakai’s empire dry.

She didn't know the bridegroom was never going to make it to the altar.

My burner phone buzzed on the concrete ledge. I swiped it open. A secure, heavily encrypted channel connected automatically.

"The security perimeter around the Vance wedding venue is tight, Vesper," a familiar, quiet voice rasped through the speaker.

Zero.

I stood still, staring at the empty steel chair in the center of the dim basement. The last time we spoke, I had drawn a gun on him at the canal bank, furious that he had hidden his initial contract with Victoria. But over the last few days, as the pieces of the Vance conspiracy fully aligned, I realized the truth. Zero had been handed a death sentence contract to extract me—and instead, he had risked his own life to train me, protect me, and turn me into someone who could fight back. He had lied about how we met, but he hadn't lied about wanting me free.

"Can you bypass the secondary server at the venue, Zero?" I asked, my voice softer than it had been in months.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "I can disable the surveillance loop for exactly three minutes during the groom's final prep. It’s a tight window, Aria. If Malakai catches a glimpse of you before the sedative hits his bloodstream..."

"He won't," I cut in gently. "And Zero?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For everything. For keeping me alive when I was too weak to do it myself."

A heavy, emotional breath escaped the speaker. "Just come back in one piece, Vesper. I'm routing the server layout to your terminal now."

The line clicked dead. Forgiveness wasn't a weakness; it was a strategy. Now, I had my shadow broker back, and Victoria Vance had absolutely nothing.

I picked up the syringe from the silver tray, checking the clear, fast-acting neuro-sedative inside the chamber. It was enough to drop a grown man in less than four seconds.

"You wanted to see my face, Kai," I whispered into the dim, freezing room, a dangerous smile touching my lips as I tucked the syringe into my formal coat. "Tomorrow, you get your wish."

******

Malakai

The silk tie felt like a noose around my neck as I stood in the private dressing room of the Grand Cathedral. The white rose pinned to my lapel was a sickening joke. Outside these soundproofed doors, the high-society vultures were already gathering, waiting to watch Victoria Vance claim her prize.

"Sir," Marcus said, standing by the double doors, his hand resting on his earpiece. "The Vance security detail has taken over the outer perimeter. We are completely boxed in."

"Let them think they control the room, Marcus," I growled, looking at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a man preparing for a funeral, not a wedding. But beneath the calm exterior, my blood was boiling.

I knew Vesper was going to make a move today. She had ruined the Vance reputation at the auction; she wouldn't let this marriage happen. She couldn't.

Suddenly, the lights in the dressing room flickered once, twice, and then went completely dark. The hum of the backup generators didn't kick in.

"Marcus, report," I commanded, my hand instantly moving to the hidden holster beneath my wedding suit.

Silence answered me.

Thud.

The sound of a heavy body hitting the carpet echoed in the pitch black. Marcus was down.

Before I could turn, a soft, freezing breath brushed against the back of my neck. A scent of rain-slicked skin and familiar, heartbreaking perfume filled my senses, shattering my defenses in a fraction of a second.

Aria.

A sharp, icy prick slammed into the side of my neck.

My vision violently blurred as the heavy neuro-sedative flooded my veins. My knees buckled instantly, the floor rushing up to meet me as my muscles refused to obey my commands. As the darkness completely swallowed my consciousness, the last thing I felt was a pair of small, strong arms catching my falling weight, holding me tightly against a chest that beat with a frantic, lethal rhythm.

Got you, a soft, unmodulated voice whispered in the dark.