Gunshots shattered the penthouse windows before we could even get into position.
“Down!” I roared, tackling Bianca to the floor as bullets ripped through the glass, showering us with shards.
Rook was already returning fire from behind the kitchen island. “Three teams! They’re coming up the elevator and the emergency stairs!”
Bianca cursed viciously, crawling to grab her revolver. “My building. My fucking rules.” She popped up and fired twice through the broken window, dropping one man on the street below.
I ignored the burning pain in my side and grabbed the shotgun. “Rook, hold the stairs! Bianca, with me on the elevator!”
We moved fast. The elevator dinged. The doors started opening and I unloaded three shotgun rounds straight into the car. Screams and blood sprayed. Two men went down instantly. The third tried to shoot back but Bianca put a bullet through his eye.
“Nice shot,” I grunted.
“Don’t get cocky yet,” she shot back, reloading. “There’s more.”
The emergency stairwell door burst open. Rook’s gunfire echoed up the stairs, followed by shouts and return fire. I rushed over, Bianca right behind me. Two more Rossi enforcers came charging up. I took the first one with a point-blank shotgun blast to the chest. The second tackled Rook. They crashed into the wall, fists flying.
I grabbed the guy by the hair and slammed his face into my knee. Bone crunched. Rook finished him with a knife to the throat.
“Clear for now!” Rook panted, wiping blood from his split lip. “But they’ll send more. Isabella isn’t fucking around.”
Bianca stood in the middle of the destroyed living room, breathing hard, dress torn and hair wild. She looked feral. Beautiful. Dangerous.
She walked straight up to me, grabbed my face with both hands, and kissed me hard — all teeth and fury. When she pulled back, her eyes were blazing.
“You protected me,” she said, almost surprised.
“I told you,” I growled. “You’re mine now.”
She smirked, but there was heat in it. “Then prove it again. Right here.”
Rook cleared his throat. “I’ll go check the perimeter and call Tech for eyes on the street.”
The moment he stepped out, Bianca was on me. She shoved me back onto the bullet-riddled couch and straddled my lap, grinding down hard.
“You’re still bleeding,” she whispered, but her hands were already working my belt.
“Good,” I replied, ripping what was left of her dress off her shoulders. “Pain makes everything sharper.”
I freed my cock and she sank down on me in one smooth, wet motion. We both groaned. She was soaked. I gripped her ass hard and thrust up into her, setting a brutal pace.
“Fuck, Damien—” she moaned, riding me fiercely, nails raking down my chest, dangerously close to my wounds. “Harder. I want to feel how angry you are.”
I flipped her onto her back on the couch and drove into her deep, pounding her with everything I had. The couch creaked violently beneath us. Her moans echoed through the ruined penthouse as I fucked her like I was claiming territory.
“Yes— right there!” she cried out, legs wrapped tight around my waist. “Don’t stop— fuck me like you own me!”
“I do own you,” I snarled, slamming into her harder. One hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing just enough to make her eyes roll back in pleasure. “Say it.”
“I’m yours— shit, I’m yours, Damien!”
She came hard, body shaking violently beneath me, pussy clenching around my cock. I kept thrusting through her orgasm until I buried myself deep and came inside her with a guttural groan.
We stayed locked together, panting. She looked up at me, lips swollen, eyes softer than before.
“You’re really doing this,” she whispered. “You’re really going to war.”
“I am.” I brushed hair from her face. “And you’re with me all the way.”
She nodded slowly. “All the way.”
Rook came back a few minutes later, tactfully ignoring the scene. “Street’s clear for now, but Tech says more Rossi guys are mobilizing. We can’t stay here long.”
I helped Bianca up and we got dressed quickly. She looked at the destruction around us and smiled darkly.
“Good. Let them see what happens when they come for us.”
We moved to a secondary safe room in the building — a reinforced panic room with supplies. While Rook stood guard outside, Bianca and I sat at a small table going over plans.
“Tomorrow night,” I said. “We hit one of their smaller shipments. Weapons or cash. Something to hurt them and fund us.”
Bianca nodded. “Marco will deliver the guns by then. Tommy can jam their communications.”
We spent the next hour making concrete plans. For the first time since waking up on that dock, I felt like I had real momentum.
But as midnight approached, Rook knocked urgently on the door.
“We’ve got a problem. Tech just intercepted a call. Isabella’s sending Enzo himself with twenty men to personally finish the job. They’ll be here before sunrise.”
Bianca’s face hardened. “Enzo… that arrogant prick.”
I stood up, fresh rage mixing with the pain in my body.
“Let him come.”
I looked at Bianca and Rook.
“This ends tonight. We’re not running anymore. We’re going to welcome that son of a bitch properly.”
Bianca loaded a fresh magazine into her revolver, eyes cold and determined.
“Then let’s show the Rossis what real hell looks like.”