The panic room door burst open as Rook rushed back in, shotgun in hand.
“They’re here! Fifteen, maybe twenty men. Enzo’s leading them personally. They just breached the garage.”
Adrenaline surged through my battered body. I grabbed my pistol and the fresh magazine Bianca tossed me. “No more running. We end this tonight.”
Bianca checked her revolver, eyes blazing with the same fire I felt. “That arrogant bastard thinks he can walk into my building? Let’s teach him otherwise.”
We moved out fast. The hallway lights flickered from earlier gunfire. Rook took point toward the emergency stairs while Bianca and I flanked him. My side burned like hell with every step, but the pain only fueled me.
Shouts echoed from below. Heavy boots on stairs.
“Come out, Vale!” Enzo’s voice boomed up the stairwell, smug and dripping with superiority. “Isabella sends her regards. She wants your head on her bedroom wall.”
I signaled Rook. We positioned ourselves on the landing above the next flight.
The first wave came up fast, four enforcers in tactical gear. I opened fire, dropping two immediately. Rook took another. Bianca’s shot caught the last one in the throat.
“Nice,” I muttered.
Enzo’s laugh echoed up. “Still got some bite, huh? Too bad you’re already bleeding out.”
More men poured up. We fell back strategically, using the narrow stairs to our advantage. Gunfire filled the air. A bullet grazed my arm, but I kept shooting, rage keeping me sharp.
“Push them back to the garage!” I shouted.
We fought our way down level by level. Rook took a hit to the shoulder but kept going. Bianca moved like a demon, precise and deadly. Every time she dropped a man, she glanced at me with that wild, turned-on look.
By the time we reached the underground garage, half their force was down. Cars were shredded with bullets. Enzo stood behind two SUVs, flanked by his remaining men. He was tall, slick-haired, wearing an expensive suit like this was a business meeting instead of a slaughter.
“Well, well,” Enzo called out, smirking when he saw me. “Look at you. Still standing after two bullets from your girlfriend. Pathetic.”
I stepped forward, pistol raised. “You talk too much for a dead man.”
Enzo laughed. “Isabella fucked you for years and you never saw it coming. She’s in my bed now, screaming my name every night. Says you could never satisfy her like I do.”
Rage exploded in my chest. I fired. His men returned fire, forcing us to dive behind cover, a concrete pillar and one of the SUVs.
“You okay?” Bianca asked, breathing hard beside me, her body pressed close.
“Never better,” I growled.
Rook popped up and took out another guard. The fight turned chaotic. Bullets ricocheted everywhere. I spotted an opening, rushed forward, and tackled one of Enzo’s men. We crashed to the ground. I smashed his face with the butt of my gun until he stopped moving.
Enzo tried to run for the exit. I chased him down and slammed him against a car hood, pressing my pistol under his chin.
“You tell Isabella,” I snarled, face inches from his, “that I’m taking back everything she stole. Starting with you.”
Enzo spat blood, still smirking. “She’ll kill you herself. Slowly. After she fucks me on your grave.”
I drove my knee into his gut. He doubled over. Bianca appeared beside me and pressed her revolver against his temple.
“Should we kill him now?” she asked coldly.
Part of me wanted to pull the trigger. But killing him here would bring the full weight of the Rossi family down on us before we were ready.
“Not yet,” I said. I punched Enzo hard across the jaw, knocking him out cold. “We send him back as a message.”
Rook zip-tied Enzo while Bianca’s remaining security cleared the garage. Bodies littered the concrete. The smell of gunpowder and blood was thick.
We dragged Enzo to one of the intact SUVs. I carved a quick message into his chest with a knife — shallow but clear: “Coming for all of you.”
“Drive him to the Rossi mansion gates,” I told Rook. “Dump him there. Make sure they know it was me.”
Rook nodded and sped off with two of Bianca’s trusted men.
Back in the elevator going up, the adrenaline crash hit me. Pain flared everywhere. Bianca pressed the button for the penthouse and turned to me.
The second the doors closed, she was on me again.
“You were fucking incredible down there,” she breathed, kissing me hard, hands already pulling at my clothes. “The way you handled Enzo… I’m soaked just thinking about it.”
I pushed her against the elevator wall, wincing but not stopping. My hand slid under her torn dress, finding her dripping wet. I pushed two fingers inside her roughly.
“Fuck, Damien…” she moaned, grinding against my hand. “I need you. Now.”
The elevator dinged at the penthouse. We barely made it inside before I bent her over the nearest table and thrust into her from behind in one hard stroke. She cried out, pushing back against me desperately.
“Yes— just like that!” she moaned. “Fuck me like you own this city already.”
I pounded into her, one hand fisted in her hair, the other gripping her hip. The sound of our bodies slapping together mixed with her loud moans. I reached around and rubbed her clit fast and rough.
She came hard within minutes, screaming my name as her pussy clenched around me. I kept fucking her through it until I buried myself deep and released inside her with a groan.
We slid to the floor afterward, breathing heavily.
Bianca looked at me, eyes serious now. “That was just the beginning. They’ll come harder next time.”
“I know.” I pulled her closer. “But now they know I’m not hiding anymore.”
My phone buzzed. A new message from Isabella.
“You touched what’s mine. Big mistake. Enjoy your little victory while it lasts.”
Attached was a photo, her and Don Rossi at a table with several other powerful bosses. They were planning something big.
Bianca read it over my shoulder. “She’s rallying allies.”
I stared at the photo, jaw tight.
“Good. Let them all come.”
But as I set the phone down, Rook called from downstairs.
“Tech just cracked something. Don Rossi put a hit out on Bianca’s entire family unless she hands you over by tomorrow night.”
Bianca’s face went pale with fury.
“They want war?” she whispered. “Then we’ll give them one they’ll never forget.”