The attic room was cold, the chill seeping through the cracked floorboards as if winter itself lived in the foundations of the mansion.

What followed was a storm of absolute, devastating retribution.

Gabriel didn't wait for his men to breach the front gates. He had taken his private helicopter straight to the roof of the estate, blowing through the glass skylight to enter the top floor directly.

Dressed in his black tactical gear, his eyes burning with a demonic, apocalyptic fury, Gabriel moved like an immortal force of nature.

The mercenary who had been chasing me staggered out into the hallway, raising a second knife. Gabriel didn't hesitate. Before the man could react, Gabriel stepped in, caught his wrist, snapped his arm with a horrific crack, and threw him over the wooden balustrade. The man plummeted three stories down, landing with a heavy thud on the marble floor below.

"Emma!" Gabriel shouted, his voice echoing through the chaos as gunshot flashes illuminated the dark hallway. His tactical team was sweeping through the lower floors, clearing the remaining intruders with lethal precision.

I ran toward him. Gabriel caught me in his arms, pulling me tightly against his body, shielding my head with his hand as glass fell around us like rain.

"Are you hurt? Did he touch you?" Gabriel asked frantically, his hands scanning my arms, my face, his dark eyes checking every inch of me for blood.

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" I gasped, clinging to his tactical vest, tears finally spilling over my eyes. "You came."

"I will always come for you," he swore, his voice raw with emotion as he kissed my forehead violently.

Within ten minutes, the estate was silent once more. The breach had been eliminated. All six of Moretti’s mercenaries were dead or captured.

Downstairs in the grand foyer, Gabriel stood surrounded by his top lieutenants. The room smelled of gunpowder and copper.

Julian was brought into the room by two of Gabriel’s guards. Julian was pale, his hands trembling as he looked at the bodies being dragged out of the side entrance.

"Gabriel, I swear to God I had nothing to do with this!" Julian panicked, his voice high-pitched. "I didn't know Moretti would breach the estate! I only talked to his associate about business terms!"

Gabriel slowly walked over to his brother. The cold, unyielding aura around Gabriel was far scarier than any weapon he carried.

"You talked to Moretti's associate," Gabriel said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. "You gave them information about our security shifts, didn't you? You wanted them to take Emma so she would no longer be a 'distraction' to me."

"I was trying to save our business!" Julian screamed. "She’s changing you! You’re soft, Gabriel! You’re risking everything for a servant girl!"

SLAP.

Gabriel didn't shoot him. Instead, he delivered a crushing strike across Julian’s face that sent his older brother crashing to his knees on the marble floor, blood spurting from Julian’s nose.

"She is worth ten of you," Gabriel snarled, looking down at his brother with pure disgust. "You are stripped of your name, your shares, and your position in this family. You have one hour to grab your passport and leave the country. If I ever see your face in this city again, I will put a bullet through your head myself. Guards, get him out of my sight."

The guards dragged a weeping Julian out of the grand foyer.

Gabriel stood alone in the center of the room, his shoulders rising and falling as he tried to regain his composure. He turned his head and saw me standing at the top of the stairs, wearing an oversized sweater he had given me, clutching the railing.

He walked up the stairs, taking them two at a time, until he reached me.

He reached out, gently lifting my face toward his. His hands were stained with soot and blood, but his touch against my cheek was softer than silk.

"It's over, Emma," Gabriel whispered, his eyes filled with a deep, consuming devotion. "Donathan Moretti made his last mistake tonight. By morning, the Moretti family will no longer exist in this city."