Chapter 20
Two days after Dom took a bullet for me, I’m sitting in Marcus’s secure facility watching him sleep when my phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number.
Kieran. My pulse quickens with a mixture of anticipation and wariness. The rival heir who should be my enemy has been radio silent since the shooting, and part of me wondered if his family was behind it. Not him, of course, but his family is poison.
I glance at Dom, whose color has improved significantly since yesterday.
The doctor said he’ll make a full recovery, but he needs rest. Axel is crashed in the chair beside me, exhausted after two days of refusing to leave Dom’s side.
Marcus is somewhere in the building, coordinating our response to the attack.
I should tell one of them where I’m going. I should bring backup.
Instead, I grab my jacket and slip out into the night.
Pier 47 is abandoned at this hour, fog rolling in from the harbor to create shifting shadows between the old shipping containers. I arrive ten minutes early and position myself where I can see all approaches, my hand resting on my Glock tucked into my waistband.
Yes, I brought a gun. You can never be too careful, not when your name is Raven Blackwood.
Kieran emerges from the mist like something out of a noir film, his usually immaculate appearance slightly disheveled. There’s a tension in his shoulders I haven’t seen before, and when he gets close enough, I notice the split lip and darkening bruise along his jaw.
“You look like hell,” I observe, not moving from my position.
“You should see the other guy,” he replies. He stops about ten feet away, his hands visible but ready. “Thank you for coming.”
“You said you had information about the attack.”
“I do.” His ice-blue eyes meet mine directly. “The burner contact Elias used? My uncle paid for it. That middleman Marcus flagged in his logs? One of Uncle Richard’s people. He’s been recruiting your people under our radar for months. Tommy and Elias were just the ones you caught.”
Everything snaps into focus like a puzzle piece sliding into place. Marcus suspected a pattern, but he didn’t know who was orchestrating it. Now we do.
Richard Sterling wasn’t just behind one hit. He’s been planting rot at the roots of everything we’ve built.
“How do you know? Marcus hadn’t found that link.”
“Being attacked twice… I can’t handle this.
I had to go back over the first one, and I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours tearing apart every communication, every financial record, every contact my family has.
” His voice is clipped and professional, but I can hear the underlying fury.
“When I confronted him about it, he didn’t deny it.
He said it was necessary to maintain family honor. ”
“And that’s when he gave you the matching facial accessories?”
“Among other things.” Kieran’s hand touches his split lip briefly. “He’s planning another attempt, Raven. Bigger, more coordinated. He’s reached out to the Kozlov family and two other syndicates.”
My blood runs cold. The Kozlovs are notoriously brutal, even by our standards. If they’re getting involved, this isn’t just about territory anymore.
“Kieran…”
“I know you doubt me at times.”
“I don’t,” I protest.
“You doubt my family, and you should. Clearly. What happened to Dom should have happened to me. I should have been the one taking that bullet.”
“Kieran—”
“No, let me finish.” He takes a step closer, and I can see the raw pain in his expression.
“I’ve been lying to myself, thinking I could play both sides.
I told you I would walk away, and I did, but then I went back to use their money…
I never should’ve. I never should’ve tried to keep my family happy while…
while pursuing this thing between us. Watching him get shot protecting you made me realize I can’t have it both ways. ”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I choose you.” The words come out fierce, definitive. “I choose all of you. Dom, Axel, Marcus, and especially you. My family can go to hell. We can light them up for all I care.”
The sincerity in his voice makes something tight in my chest loosen. I’ve been waiting for this moment—for him to prove where his loyalties truly lie—but now that it’s happening, I’m almost afraid to believe it.
“That’s a big decision to make in forty-eight hours,” I say softly.
“I made it the moment I saw Dom bleeding.” Kieran’s hands frame my face. “I made it when I realized that losing you would destroy me more than losing my inheritance ever could.” His thumb traces my cheekbone.
I lean into the touch. “Your family will never forgive this.”
“I know.” His smile is positively wicked. “I’m counting on it. Makes it easier to do what comes next.”
“Which is?”
“Help you destroy them systematically.” His eyes glitter with cold promise. “I know every weakness, every secret, every dirty deal they’ve made. Richard wants to play with the big boys? Let’s show him what that really means.”
The kiss comes suddenly, fierce and desperate and full of everything we haven’t been able to say. I taste blood from his split lip.
“I need to know you’re serious about this,” I whisper against his lips.
“There was never any going back,” he replies. “Not from the moment I first saw you again.” He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a flash drive. “Every communication, every financial record, every contact list I could access. Consider it a down payment on my loyalty.”
I take the drive, our fingers brushing. “And your uncle?”
“He’s expecting me to report back about this meeting. Tell him whether I could confirm you were behind the attack on our shipments.” Kieran’s smile turns predatory. “I’m going to tell him exactly what he wants to hear.”
“There was an attack on your shipments?”
“All kinds of people are crawling out of the woodwork since you’ve returned, and some are trying to muddle the waters and turn everyone against each other.”
“It’s a trap,” I say slowly.
“The best kind. He’ll think he’s walking into an ambush, but instead he’ll find himself isolated and vulnerable.” Kieran’s hand slides down to rest on my hip. “Marcus will appreciate the elegance of it.”
“What about the rest of your family?”
“My father’s been wanting to retire anyway. James, one of my cousins, would rather run the legitimate businesses. It’s really just Richard and a few of his old-school supporters who need to be… removed.”
I shiver. This is the Kieran I always suspected existed beneath the polished exterior, as ruthless as any of us when the stakes are high enough.
“Your uncle won’t go down easily.”
“No,” he agrees, “but he doesn’t know what’s coming. And he definitely doesn’t know I’m willing to burn down everything I inherited to keep you safe.”
We’re standing close now, the fog swirling around us as if we’re the only two people in the world.
“When this is over,” I say quietly, “when your family is handled and Dom is fully healed—”
“When it’s over,” he interrupts, “I want what Dom has. What Axel has. What Marcus has.”
“Which is?”
“You.” His hand tightens on my hip. “All of you without reservation. No more divided loyalties, no more conflicted interests. Just us.”
The promise in his voice makes my pulse race. “That’s a lot to ask for.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m willing to give everything in return.”
This kiss is a promise, a seal on the bargain we’re making.
I rest my forehead against his. “Dom’s going to want to be involved in planning your uncle’s takedown,” I murmur.
“I wouldn’t dream of excluding him. It’s his blood Richard spilled.” Kieran’s thumb strokes along my jaw. “Besides, I suspect he’ll want to return the favor personally.”
“And Axel will want to make it creative.”
“Naturally.”
“Marcus will want to make it clean.”
“Also naturally.” Kieran chuckles low in his throat. “And you? What will you want?”
“I want it to send a message. I want everyone in this city to understand that we’re not just individuals anymore. We’re a unit. Anyone who threatens one of us had better be prepared to face all of us.”
“Consider the message sent.” Kieran’s smile is sharp with anticipation. “Richard is about to become a very public example of what happens when you fuck with the wrong people.”
We arrange the details quickly—when and where to spring the trap, what story Kieran will feed his uncle, how to coordinate our response. We need a few days to ready the trap, but our plan is efficient, professional, and completely at odds with the electricity still crackling between us.
“I should get back,” I say reluctantly. “Dom will be wondering where I went.”
“Tell him I said thank you.”
“For what?”
“For taking that bullet. If he hadn’t…” Kieran’s jaw tightens. “If something had happened to you because I wasn’t there, I wasn’t fast enough, I would never have forgiven myself.”
“He didn’t do it for you,” I point out gently.
“No, but the result was the same.” Kieran’s eyes meet mine. “He saved the woman I love.”
“Kieran—”
“I know it’s complicated,” he says quickly. “I know it’s messy and unconventional and probably insane, but I needed you to know. Before we go to war together, before everything changes again, I needed you to know that whatever happens, I love you.”
I stare at him, this dangerous, beautiful man who just threw away his birthright for me, who’s planning to destroy his own family to keep me safe. The smart thing would be to tell him it’s too soon, too complicated, too dangerous to put labels on what’s happening between us.
Instead, I rise up on my toes and kiss him again, pouring everything I can’t quite say yet into the contact.
“Get some sleep,” I whisper against his lips. “Tomorrow, we start planning your uncle’s destruction.”
“Sweet dreams to you too,” he murmurs back, but his eyes are already hardening with deadly purpose.
I’m halfway back to the facility when my phone buzzes with a text from Dom.
Where are you?
On my way back. How are you feeling?
Better. Awake. Want to see you.
My heart does something complicated in my chest. Dom, who took a bullet for me without hesitation. Kieran, who just betrayed his family for me. Axel, who hasn’t left the facility since the attack. Marcus, who’s been coordinating our response with deadly efficiency.
Four men, each offering me something different but essential. Four pieces of a puzzle that somehow fit together to make me whole.
When I slip back into Dom’s room, he’s sitting up in bed, looking significantly stronger than when I left. Axel is awake too, perched on the edge of his chair like he’s ready to spring into action at any moment.
“Where did you go?” Dom asks, his dark eyes searching my face.
“To get some answers.” I hold up the flash drive Kieran gave me and sit on the edge of Dom’s bed, careful not to jostle his injured shoulder. “Kieran betrayed his family for us. His uncle Richard hired the mercenaries, and Kieran’s ready to help us destroy him for it.”
Dom studies my face for a long moment. “You believe him?”
“I do.” I touch the flash drive. “Marcus can verify everything on here.”
“Where is Marcus?” Dom asks.
“Coordinating security rotations and monitoring communications,” Axel answers. “He’s been running on about three hours of sleep and pure determination.”
“Get him,” Dom says. “We need to plan this properly. And, Axel, call the doctor. I want to know how mobile I’m going to be in the next forty-eight hours.”
“Dom, you can’t possibly be thinking of—”
“The man who shot me is Richard Sterling’s hired gun,” Dom interrupts, his voice carrying that dangerous edge I know so well. “I’m not missing his takedown because of a flesh wound.”
I look at this stubborn, protective man who nearly died for me, and fierce possessiveness surges through my chest. “Okay. But we do this smart, we do this careful, and we do it together.”
“Agreed,” Dom agrees, his hand finding mine.
“Together,” Axel echoes, his wild energy focused into deadly purpose.
When Marcus arrives and we start going through Kieran’s intelligence, when we begin planning Richard Sterling’s destruction with methodical precision, I can’t help but think about what Kieran said at the pier.
I love you.
The words echo in my mind as we work, as dangerous and intoxicating as everything else about this life we’ve built together. Love in our world isn’t soft or safe—it’s sharp-edged and blood-bought and willing to kill for what it protects.
Looking around at these three men—and thinking about the fourth who just chose us over everything he was born to—I realize that despite all the violence and chaos, despite all the ways this could destroy us, I wouldn’t trade this for anything.
We’re building an empire on loyalty and blood and love. And anyone who threatens that is about to discover exactly how far we’re willing to go to protect it.
Richard Sterling has no idea what’s coming for him.
But he’s about to find out.
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