Broken Glass

Chapter Four: Broken Glass

The sound of shattering glass still rang in my ears when the first gunshot cracked through the penthouse.

I dropped to the floor on instinct, hands over my head. 

Cold air rushed in through the ruined windows. Alarms screamed from every direction. 

Jayden’s body stayed in front of mine like a wall. I could feel the heat coming off him, stronger than any human should produce.

One of the masked men shouted something I could not understand. Another raised his gun toward us.

Kingsley moved first.

He was no longer the calm restaurant manager I had known for months. A low, rough sound tore from his throat—something between a growl and a roar—and he launched himself at the nearest attacker. 

The speed was wrong. Too fast. His shoulder slammed into the man’s chest and sent him flying backward into a glass table. 

The table exploded under the impact.

Jayden did not wait.

He grabbed my arm, pulled me hard against his side, and barked, “Stay behind me. Do not run unless I tell you.”

Then he stepped forward.

The second attacker fired. 

The bullet should have hit Jayden in the chest. Instead it seemed to slow in the air for a fraction of a second, as if the space around Jayden had thickened. 

Jayden twisted, the bullet tore through the sleeve of his coat, and then he was on the man. 

One heavy punch. The attacker’s head snapped back. He dropped like a puppet with cut strings.

The third man—the one who had spoken—kept his gun trained on me.

“Amanda,” he called, almost polite. “Come quietly and no one else has to bleed. Your father’s debt is due. The contract is clear. 

You belong to us now.”

My stomach turned to ice. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

He tilted his head. “You will.”

Jayden stepped fully in front of me again. 

His voice dropped into something deep and dangerous. 

“She is under my claim. Touch her and I will end every one of you.”

The masked man laughed once.

“A claim that is not registered yet means nothing. 

She is still free property until the papers are signed and sealed. We checked.”

Kingsley was already fighting the first man again. 

The two of them crashed into a bookshelf. Books and broken wood flew. I heard something crack—bone or furniture, I could not tell.

I hated how useless I felt. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. My hands shook. 

All I could do was stay low and try not to get in the way.

The talking man took a step closer, gun still aimed in my direction. 

“Last chance, girl. Walk to me or we take you the hard way. Your little brother and mother are still easy to reach.”

Fear sharper than anything I had felt all night cut through me. “Leave them alone.”

Jayden’s head turned just enough for me to see the side of his face. His eyes were no longer fully human. 

The gray had gone brighter, almost silver, and something wild lived behind them.

“You threatened her family,” he said quietly. “That was a mistake.”

He moved.

I had never seen a person move like that. One second he was three steps away. 

The next he had crossed the distance and ripped the gun from the man’s hands so hard I heard fingers break. 

The attacker screamed. Jayden drove him backward into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster.

Kingsley finished his opponent with a brutal hit that left the man unmoving on the floor. He turned, chest heaving, and for a moment his eyes met mine.

There was blood on his lip. His expression was full of guilt and fury and something that still looked like longing.

I looked away first.

Jayden had the last attacker pinned by the throat against the wall. The man’s mask had slipped. He was younger than I expected, eyes wide with pain and fear.

“Who sent you?” Jayden asked.

The man choked. “You know who. The debt collectors. The ones who own the paper her father signed. They want the girl before you lock her down with a real marriage.”

“Names,” Jayden growled.

“I don’t have names. We only get orders. 

Grab the plus-size waitress from the Pearl. Deliver her tonight. Alive.”

The words hit me like another slap. Even the criminals described me by my body first.

Jayden’s grip tightened. The man made a strangled sound.

“Jayden,” Kingsley said sharply. “We need him able to talk later. And we need to move. More will come.”

Jayden held the man for another second, then slammed his head against the wall once. The attacker went limp. Jayden let him fall.

Silence rushed in, broken only by the alarms and the wind through the broken windows.

I was still on the floor. My legs would not work. Glass glittered all around me like ice. Jayden turned and came to me immediately. He crouched, eyes scanning my body for injuries.

“Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. My voice came out thin. 

“No. Just… scared.”

He reached out, hesitated only a second, then brushed a piece of glass from my hair with surprising care. 

The simple touch sent that strange pull through me again—hot and tight and confusing.

Kingsley stood a few feet away, watching us. His hands were clenched. Blood dripped from a cut on his knuckles onto the expensive floor.

“We can’t stay here,” Kingsley said. “This place is burned. They knew exactly where to hit.”

Jayden stood and helped me to my feet. 

His hand stayed under my elbow, steadying me. 

“Safe house on the east side. We leave in two minutes. Kingsley, clean what you can. I’ll call for a sweep team.”

I found my voice again. “What about my mother and Silas? He threatened them.”

Jayden’s expression hardened. “I’ll have people on them within the hour. They’ll be moved to a secure location whether they like it or not.”

“They’ll be terrified.”

“Better terrified and alive,” he said.

Kingsley took a step closer. “Amanda… about last night—”

“Not now,” I cut him off. My throat felt tight. “I can’t. Not after this.”

He stopped. Pain flashed across his face, 

but he nodded once and turned away to deal with the unconscious men.

Jayden guided me toward a different elevator hidden behind a wall panel I had not noticed. His coat was torn. 

There was a thin line of blood on his arm where the bullet had grazed him, but he acted like it was nothing.

As the private elevator doors closed, leaving Kingsley behind in the ruined penthouse, Jayden looked down at me.

“You understand now?” he asked quietly. 

“This is what is coming for you. This is why the marriage has to happen tonight. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Tonight. Before they send someone stronger.”

I swallowed hard. My whole body was still shaking. “And after we sign the papers? 

What am I to you then? A responsibility? A prize? A way to start a war?”

Jayden’s eyes held mine. The silver in them had not fully faded.

“You are my mate,” he said simply. 

“Everything else is just details.”

The elevator began to drop.

My phone— the one he had taken earlier— suddenly vibrated inside his coat pocket. 

Jayden pulled it out, frowned at the screen, and then turned it so I could see.

A new message had arrived from an unknown number.

It was a photo.

My mother and Silas sat on the couch in our small living room.

A man in a dark mask stood behind them, one hand resting on Silas’s shoulder. My little brother’s eyes were wide with fear. 

My mother looked frozen.

Under the photo was a single line of text.

Sign the marriage papers if you want. We already have better leverage. See you soon, Amanda.