LOGINCHAPTER FORTY FOURJulian’s POVThe penthouse was in controlled chaos when I returned. Security personnel moved with clipped efficiency, voices low and urgent. Marcus stood near the central console, phone pressed to his ear, issuing quiet commands.I didn’t raise my voice. “Find her,” I said, the words calm, almost conversational, as I loosened my tie with deliberate slowness. “Every camera feed in the city. Traffic, private security, street surveillance—pull it all. I want my wife located within the hour. Fail, and I’ll ensure none of you work in this hemisphere again.”Marcus met my gaze and gave a sharp nod. “We’re already on it, boss. Silas is reviewing the garage footage as we speak.”I paused, studying him for a beat. “Tell Silas that if he misses even one frame, I will personally see to it that his career ends in a way he’ll never recover from. Quietly. Efficiently.” My tone remained even, but the implication hung heavy in the air. “Get it done.”The front door clicked open be
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE JULIAN’S POV The scream cut through the penthouse like a blade. I was in the study, one hand on the desk, the other on the computer I was working on. Serena. My body moved before my mind did. I grabbed the gun from the drawer and stormed out. “Serena!” No answer. The hallway was already full of chaos. One of my guards was on the floor, bleeding from his temple. Another was against the wall, barely conscious. Silas came running from the opposite side, his gun was already drawn. “What happened?” he snapped. I ignored him and grabbed the nearest guard by the collar. “Where the fuck is my wife?” The man coughed. “Service… elevator…” My blood went cold. Then it burned. I slammed him back against the wall. “Who took her?” “I don’t know—” I hit him hard with the gun in my hand and he went crashing on the floor. Silas grabbed my arm. “Julian.” I turned on him, giving him a dangerous glate. “Touch me again and I’ll break your fucking hand
CHAPTER FORTY-TWOLAUREN’S POVThe flight back to Seattle felt like sitting inside a loaded gun.Julian said almost nothing.He sat across from me in the private jet, one hand braced on the armrest, the other wrapped around a glass he had not touched in twenty minutes. His chest was bandaged under a black shirt. His face was pale. And his eyes were cold.He looked like he wanted to kill me and kiss me and had not decided which one would annoy him less.I looked away first.“Stop staring,” he said.“I wasn’t.”“You were.”I crossed my arms. “You look like shit. Hard not to notice.”The phone in his hand buzzed. He answered without looking away from me.“Talk.”A pause.His jaw tightened.“Who saw us?”Another pause.“Change the route.”He hung up and leaned back.I swallowed. “What now?”“Seattle is warm.”I frowned. “Warm?”“Dante’s men.” He said it like he was commenting on the weather. “Two of them were seen near the private hangar before takeoff.”My stomach dropped. “So they know
CHAPTER FORTY-ONELAUREN’S POVI woke up angry.The room was too quiet. The bed beside mine had not been slept in. My dress from yesterday was still hanging off the chair like proof that my life had become one long bad decision.I dragged myself up, washed my face, and tied my hair back. My throat still hurt when I swallowed.The moment I stepped out of the bedroom, I heard voices in the dining area.“…memory gap is recent,” Marcus was saying. “Not his whole life. Just the stretch before coming over here, to Melbourne started getting blurry. The hit to his chest, whatever drug Rossi used before, the stress—”They think it's some drug Dante used and not Serena.“I said I’m fine.”Julian. He was cold.I stopped walking.“You tried to throw her out the fucking window,” Marcus shot back.“And yet she’s alive.”Silence.Then Silas spoke, quiet as ever. “That is not the point.”I walked in before they could say another word.All three men looked at me.Julian’s gaze hit first. Full of fresh
CHAPTER FORTYLAUREN’S POVMy throat burned like I’d swallowed fire. I woke on the cold marble floor of the bathroom, gasping, one hand flying to my neck where Julian’s fingers had left dark, blooming bruises. The penthouse was quiet now—too quiet. Silas must have dragged Julian off me before he finished the job. My vision still swam, but I forced myself up, gripping the edge of the vanity.The mirror didn’t lie. Purple fingerprints circled my throat like a twisted collar. I tilted my head, tracing the marks with shaking fingers. They hurt, but the real pain was deeper—humiliation, rage, and that sick, unwanted spark of heat low in my belly. He’d almost killed me. Again. And some broken part of me still remembered the way his body had felt against mine.I was still staring when the door opened behind me.Julian stepped in, phone pressed to his ear, voice low and lethal. He hadn’t even changed: the bandage on his chest stark against the fabric. His eyes met mine in the mirror—dark, unr
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINELAUREN’S POVThe gun attack went for another twenty minutes while I covered unconscious Julian. I pressed my body over his, shielding the wound in his chest as bullets punched through what was left of the glass and buried themselves in the walls behind us. His blood soaked my sundress, warm and sticky, and every ragged breath I took tasted like copper. He was out cold, too much blood lost already, his face pale under the gold glow of the Melbourne skyline.When the last shot finally cracked and the night fell silent, I stayed frozen for a long second, ear pressed to his chest. The faint thump was still there. I scrambled for his phone on the floor, fingers slippery with blood, and dialed the only number I knew by heart from the contacts he’d forced me to memorize.One of Julian’s men answered on the first ring.“Penthouse. Now. He’s been shot.”The bald, tall man—Marcus—burst through the shattered door fifteen minutes later, eyes wide. “Mrs. Cross—fuck, I’m sorry.
CHAPTER TWENTYLAUREN’S POVI spent half the day with Serena’s phone in my hand and dread in my throat.Nothing.Nothing useful. Nothing clear. Just gaps. Deleted chats. Deleted files. Empty spaces where answers should have been. She most definitely formatted the phone before deleting the rest of t
CHAPTER SEVENTEENLAUREN’S POVBy the time Julian brought me to a lunch meeting, I already knew one thing.Being his wife was not just exhausting.It was dangerous.The building was all glass, steel, and expensive silence. Men in suits moved too carefully. Women in polished smiles watched too much.
CHAPTER FIFTEENLAUREN’S POVI stopped breathing.Julian stood at the entrance of Dante Rossi’s private dining room like he had walked in just to make the whole ship remember who mattered more.His eyes found mine first.And just like that, every stupid choice that had brought me here climbed up my
CHAPTER THIRTEEN LAUREN’S POV Helooked like he belonged in places like this. No, worse. He looked like he owned them. My mother went pale. My father actually pushed his chair back a little. Julian’s gaze moved lazily over both of them before resting on me for half a second. Something dark fl







