Cole moved swiftly toward the figure.“If you take two more steps, your wife will go—”A gunshot ripped through the air instead of the man finishing his sentence.Outside, Amanda jolted at the sound, her entire body trembling.The intruder didn’t turn.“You know, Matteo doesn’t appreciate men who think they can play him,” he said calmly, still facing the window.“Did you really think he didn’t know that woman was your wife when you walked in the other day?”He chuckled. “What a joke.”“Joke’s on me,” Cole muttered, voice flat, steady.“I have a bad habit of not showing the world what belongs to me.”“Well, that’s your mistake,” the man replied.“I was instructed to bring her to him. Dead or alive.”Cole swallowed once.“Let’s do just that.”The man finally shifted.“Go outside,” he ordered.“Stand beside her. Five seconds.”Another shot into the air.Cole turned and w

After a few minutes of telling him stories he never asked for—mostly random, pointless things that somehow connected only in her head—Amanda finally drifted off with her head on his chest.It was… a distraction. A warm, heavy distraction. But Cole knew he could survive it.Gently, he shifted her head off him and slipped out of the bed.He stepped outside the room and dialed Scarface.“Sir… I’m sorry about what happened,” Scarface said immediately. “Matteo is really mad right now. He normally wouldn’t have done that. And he definitely wouldn’t have sent his second-in-command. He’s… really furious right now, sir.”“I’m meeting him with Amanda tomorrow.”Scarface went silent for a moment. “Sir…”“She wants to see him,” Cole said quietly. “And I should do Matteo the honor of showing him my wife myself. So in the future, he won’t think of coming near her again.”“Oh… okay, sir,” scarface said, a little surprised and worried at the same time. Talk about having a cold bold boss. “I’ll send y

And because Amanda needed—desperately—to prove to herself and to Cole that whatever she felt for him wasn’t what he thought it was, she made a reckless choice. She slipped into his room while he was in the shower and grabbed his phone from the table. Predictable man—he used the date of their fake anniversary as his passcode. The same as hers. She shut the thought out before it settled too deep. Her fingers flew as she typed a message to Scarface—the number he’d given her the day she treated him to a meal. “I will see Matteo today. By all means. Send his location again.” The shower was still running. Good. If Cole was really the boss, then Scarface would reply fast—before Cole stepped out and saw her holding his phone. She watched the “typing…” indicator flash. Her stomach twisted. She bit her lip. The message finally came in: “I thought we already agreed. Not going.” A typo? Or something worse? Amanda couldn’t tell. This wasn’t the reply she needed. “It is an order. Send m

Amanda froze.Slowly—very slowly—she looked up. A section of the ceiling above had shattered open.Then she looked down.The scream stuck somewhere in her chest.A man—an entire human being—lay crumpled on the floor. His skull had burst open, blood spreading like a dark, growing lake.She snapped her gaze to the five men.They did not look surprised.They did not even flinch.As if a whole human being hadn’t just died horribly right in front of them.Bad.This was a horrifically bad idea.She took a trembling step back, trying not to step in the blood.Then—another deafening crash behind her.She whipped around. Another body had fallen. Another life gone in an instant.Amanda shot backward so fast she didn’t even remember her feet moving.She ended up right back in front of the five men.“Those men—” she pointed shakily toward the dead bodies. “SOMEONE is killing them!”Matteo looked at her for a long moment, as if deciding whether she even deserved an explanation.“For every attempt

Cole walked to the cashier and settled the balance without even glancing at the amount. He just slid his card, collected the receipt, and walked away. Years ago, hearing a bill like that would’ve sent him outside to cry behind a building. Now he barely blinked.He got into his car and pulled out of the hospital, the weight of everything pressing against his chest. He needed to get home. He needed to see Bella.His phone rang.Scarface.Cole answered. “Yeah?”“How was it, sir?” Scarface sounded… uneasy.Cole frowned. “How was what?”“Your meeting with Matteo, sir.”Cole’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “Did I say anything about meeting Matteo?”“You… you sent me a message this morning,” Scarface said. “Asked me to get you Matteo’s address.”Cole’s stomach turned. Scarface wasn’t the joking type. “I didn’t send you anything.”“Sir, you did,” Scarface insisted. “Check your phone.”Cole pulled over immediately and opened his messages. Nothing. Not a single text to Scarface.