LOGIN"Yes. I am absolutely sure," I answered without any hesitation.I kept my eyes locked directly on his face to show him I meant every single word. I did not want to remain defenseless in this violent world anymore. I wanted the ability to protect myself and to protect Amy if another traitor ever managed to bypass the security doors.Kade studied my expression for a long moment before he gave a single, tight nod of approval. He turned his attention back to the metal table and pointed toward the disassembled pieces of the handgun."This is a Glock 19," Kade explained, tapping the dark polymer frame. "It is highly reliable and relatively simple to maintain. It does not have an external safety switch for you to fumble with during an emergency. The safety mechanism is built directly into the trigger itself. The gun will only fire if you deliberately pull the trigger all the way back."I looked down at the cold metal parts resting on the table. The sharp smell of gun oil burned my nose sligh
"Where did you find the body?" Kade asked into the open line.The bedroom was completely silent except for the low hum of the air conditioning vent. Kade sat perfectly still on the edge of the mattress while Nick answered the question through the secure phone connection.Watching the tense line of his broad shoulders, my stomach twisted into a tight knot. He did not yell or issue a series of violent threats. He simply nodded his head once in the dark."Leave him in the alley," Kade ordered in a flat, tired voice. "Let the local police find him and process the paperwork. Pull your men back to the estate perimeter and double the gate watch until sunrise."He pressed a button on the screen and placed the dark cell phone back onto the wooden nightstand. He rubbed his bruised hands over his face and let out a long, heavy breath."What did Nick tell you?" I asked quietly, pulling the gray duvet up to my chin. "Is David dead?"Kade turned his head and looked at me. The soft glow of the digit
The harsh glare of the vanity lights reflected in the massive mirror, trapping us both in the glass. Kade stood just inches behind me. The heavy heat radiating from his chest sank right through the thin, damp fabric of my shirt. I stopped trying to aggressively scrub the toxic ash from my cheeks. The wet washcloth hung loosely in my trembling fingers, dripping gray water into the white porcelain sink. I couldn't look away from his reflection. The ruthless, calculated CEO was completely gone. The man staring back at me looked entirely stripped down, his dark eyes burning with a raw, frantic intensity that made my breath catch. He reached around my waist. His bruised right hand covered my trembling fingers. "Let go, Amelia," he murmured. His voice was a rough, gravelly rasp that scraped directly across my nerve endings. I opened my hand. The washcloth dropped into his palm. Kade didn't turn me around. He stepped closer, eliminating the final fraction of space between us. He ran the
"He faked his own pulse."The words hung in the dead air of the library, suffocating and impossibly heavy. My brain simply refused to process the syllables. David. The man with the warm, easy smile. The man who always sneaked an extra apple juice into Amy's lunchbox. The guard who tipped his hat to me every morning. He had stood outside that nursery door every single day, guarding a little girl he was actively planning to sell to a Russian hit squad.A violent, involuntary shudder ripped straight down my spine. I wrapped my arms tightly across my chest, digging my fingernails painfully into my own sleeves."I checked him myself, Kade," Nick said. His voice was completely hollow, stripped of its usual commanding, military bark. He stared at the blood-soaked jacket resting on the reading chair like it was a live explosive. "I put two fingers directly against his carotid artery. I felt nothing. He must have used a localized depressant. Or a beta-blocker to crash his heart rate to a flatl
The dark gray cloud rapidly expanded from the ceiling vent, completely devouring the bright glow of the security monitors. The acrid, chemical smell hit my nose instantly. It tasted like burning plastic and raw sulfur. My lungs violently rejected the tainted air, and I doubled over, hacking out a harsh, dry cough that scraped my throat raw."Amelia!" Amy screamed. She scrambled backward on the narrow cot, dropping her plastic dinosaur onto the floor. She rubbed her small hands frantically against her face. "It hurts! My eyes hurt!"Sheer, blinding panic threatened to completely paralyze my legs. We were trapped inside a sealed concrete box. Kade had locked the heavy steel door from the outside with a biometric scanner, meaning my fingerprints were entirely useless against the keypad. I did not know the emergency override code. If I ran to the door and pounded my fists against the thick metal, nobody in the massive house would ever hear me. And even if I miraculously managed to force t
The sudden sharp click echoed like a gunshot inside the tiny concrete room. I flinched violently, my eyes instantly darting from the glowing bank of security monitors to the square metal ventilation grate secured near the ceiling. A long, harsh hiss of static bled through the heavy silence. Then, a low, distorted voice began speaking fluent Russian.Panic spiked straight up my throat, choking off my air. My immediate instinct was to scream Kade’s name, to scramble up from the cot and pound my fists against the impenetrable steel door locking us inside. But the heavy metal would never budge. Kade had sealed the biometric lock. We were trapped.I looked down at Amy. She had stopped playing with her green plastic dinosaur. She was staring up at the ceiling, her small brow furrowing in deep confusion. The innocence in her wide eyes was a massive liability right now. If I panicked, she would panic. I could not let her feel the raw terror clawing at my chest.I slid off the edge of the cot
I stared at the three large black garment bags hanging on the wooden coat rack in the corner of the study, and my heart immediately began to race against my ribs. Kade had just declared that we were attending the annual Silvano Foundation charity gala tomorrow night, and he expected me to accompany
"Go back to bed, Amelia," Kade said, his voice carrying through the silent house. "You don't want to know what's downstairs."I stood there on the landing. My bare feet sank into the plush carpet. The air in the foyer was cold. Kade stood in the moonlight coming through the high window.
The heavy weight of Kade's body pressed down firmly against my legs, and his large hands gripped my wrists tightly against the thick black training mat. The air inside the large private gym felt incredibly thin because his face was hovering only a few inches above mine. He had just asked me what I
"A nanny, to be specific," he clarified, turning his attention back to his tablet as the car began to move smoothly down the highway.I let out a harsh, disbelief-filled laugh. I couldn't help it. The hysteria was bubbling up again. "A nanny? You expect me to believe that? No one pays that kind of







