Crimson vows

e barely registered it. His storm-dark eyes were fixed on the man kneeling before him, bound at the wrists and gasping for brea

a coiled spring. He circled Dante's captive, each footstep

jacket where Marco's men had roughed him up. "I swear on my mo

ghtly that the veins popped

een Marco's glacial stare and the ornate chandelier

strode to the settee where Dante and Enzo stood, a

ransom note said 'Midnight-or bleed.' But I

d-faced a death sentence. Fury at Dante's hesitation flared, only to be smothered by a deeper, more pr

walk me through every step," he said,

he glittering city skyline. The captive slumped in a metal chair, bound and bruised. Enzo hovered in the

tailored jacket, revealing the tailored plain black shirt beneath-no insigni

lurted about 'the boss's heirs,' but we couldn't confirm details until tonight. I had him fol

. "Your caution almo

n a brief shrug. "And almo

able, rattling papers. "Do

arco's side, even when he'd failed. Marco inhaled, forcing himself to calm. He

s are set. We'll have snipers in

drifted to the boun

ion checks out. He's just a pa

ed, and his lieutenants' divided counsel. But beneath the chaos lay one immuta

itting Isabella Moretti. She moved with the same purposeful grace he remembered, but something in her posture had shifted-strength te

strode to her, rage and relief warr

click. "He's in their hands," she said, voice quiet but unyieldi

night-or bleed." He looked up at Isabella. The woman he'd loved, the woman who ha

said, voice rough. "I

h unshed tears. "I had to. If you

I would have torn them apart

twitched, betraying both her terror and h

He folded the card and tucked it into his coat pocket. "You did right."

hand. "Not yet." He faced Isabella, voic

convoy of black SUVs, and finally, the courier's card dropped like a gauntlet at her feet. Wit

at every entrance. But the Serpents have reinforcemen

h. He looked at Isabell

rmination quelling her fe

g to Dante. "Get

ics of Warehouse 3. Marco studied the layout-loading docks

est flank. Dante, lead the breach team through the nor

widened

no plan B. I'm not

ude and fear. But Marco's unwavering

ater." Marco signaled his men, and they hauled the man away. The door closed

nightscape, the docks shining like a web of light and steel. He regained

more to himself than to an

nd in that contact, something shifted-a reconnection forged b

murmured, "we b

e with fierce h

ions for war had begun-and at the center of it all stood a father willing to