Chapter 7 - The Race Against Time
The ride through the city streets was a terrifying masterclass in high-speed driving. Declan navigated the ice-covered avenues with reckless, calculated precision, weaving between civilian traffic and running red lights as the sirenless sedan cut through the winter storm like a bullet.
Sienna gripped the dashboard so hard her fingernails dug into the leather. Her chest heaved, silent sobs catching in her throat.
Maya. Please God, let her be safe. Please don't let them hurt my baby.
“Who are they?” Sienna cried out over the roar of the engine and the howling wind outside. “I thought you said the syndicate was destroyed! I thought you said we were safe!”
“They aren't syndicate,” Declan said, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, his knuckles white against the steering wheel. “When we dismantled my uncle’s network, a rogue cell of enforcers broke off. They knew about my bloodline. They knew that if I had an heir—if I had a child—that child would become the ultimate leverage to reclaim the throne.”
Sienna turned her head, staring at him in sheer horror. “They’re coming for Maya because of you?”
“Yes,” Declan answered, his voice tight, laced with a self-loathing so intense it burned. “Because of me. Because I didn't stay hidden deep enough. But I swear to you, Sienna—before God and everything else—they will have to go through my corpse before they ever lay a finger on our daughter.”
The car fishtailed slightly as Declan took a sharp ninety-degree turn onto Elm Street, tires smoking against the slick ice.
Up ahead, their apartment building came into view.
And parked right outside the curb were two unmarked black vans with their headlights off, idling in the falling snow.
“Hold on,” Declan ordered.
Before the car had even come to a complete stop in front of the building, Declan flung his door open and leaped out. From the second black SUV trailing behind them—the vehicle carrying his personal security detail that had materialized out of nowhere—four men in tactical gear poured onto the pavement, carbines raised, moving with military precision toward the apartment entrance.
May you like
Sienna didn't wait in the car. Ignoring Declan’s shouted warning, she flung her door open and sprinted across the icy pavement toward the front steps.
“Maya!” she screamed into the freezing air.
