Ethan's POV
The alarm chimed again
one soft, unmistakable note that meant movement at the gate.
Mike didn't have to say a word.
I already saw them appear on the monitor:
Three men.
Black masks.
Heavy boots.
Standing still, not hiding.
They wanted to be seen.
They wanted her to know.
But she wouldn't.
Not today.
"Move her," I said sharply.
Raina looked up, breathing ragged.
"What do you mean, move me..?"
But Mike already motioned to Lana.
"Mrs. Hale," Lana said softly, just the title made Raina's heart stop
"please come with me." Lana grabbed her
"No..wait..Ethan...what's happening..?!"
Her voice cracked. Fear, confusion, betrayal tangled inside it.
She was trembling, visibly.
I walked to her quickly.
She stepped back instinctively..
not because she feared me,
but because everything was coming at her too fast.
I lowered my voice.
"Rai… you need to trust me now. Just now. Not forever. Not blindly. Just now."
Her lips parted. Her breath shook.
"Where are you sending me?"
"To the only room they'll never get into."
Her brows knotted.
"What room..?"
I hit a small panel embedded in the bookshelf.
The shelf slid open silently, revealing a narrow steel corridor.
A bunker.
Camouflaged.
Bulletproof.
Air-filtered.
Sound-sealed.
The panic room I had constructed the year everything went wrong.
Raina froze, shock washing through her face.
"That's real?" she whispered. "You… you built that for me?"
"Yes," I said simply. "For moments like this."
Her eyes glistened.
Fear and grief and something softer mixed behind them.
"No matter what you hear," I said, lowering my forehead to hers..my stoned heart is only melted here and only here..
not touching, but close
"I will walk back into this room."
She swallowed hard.
"Ethan.."
"Go," I whispered.
Lana took her arm gently.
Raina didn't resist.
Her feet moved, reluctant, trembling.
Just before she stepped inside, she turned back toward me...
Our eyes met..at time we both know that I have something more for her...the day I saw here...and what I see in her today,
one last look.
Her eyes said everything:
Come back.
Then the steel door sealed shut.
A click.
A lock.
Silence.
Raina was safe.
Now I could be dangerous.
Mike handed me an earpiece.
"They aren't foot soldiers," he said. "Their stance..trained. Their walk..disciplined. They know you'll negotiate first."
I nodded.
"I know who sent them."
The New York underboss.
The same network tied to Raina's ex-husband.
The same network Nina accidentally introduced her to.
They wanted Raina broken.
They wanted leverage.
They wanted Vikram Singhania on his knees.
And they wanted me out of the picture.
I stepped outside.
Cold morning air bit at my bruises.
My ribs screamed.
My shoulder ached.
Blood dried at my jaw.
I didn't care.
The three masked men stood still
but behind them, leaning against a black SUV with tinted windows,
was the man I expected.
Tall.
Italian-American.
Long coat.
No mask.
Face clean, jaw sharp, eyes as dead as winter.
The Underboss.
Luciano Maretti.
Heir to a mafia dynasty built on blood and debt.
He smiled.
"Ethan Hale," he drawled.
"You look worse than my morning espresso."
I wiped my lip with my thumb.
"Courtesy of New York Mafia"
Blood smeared.
I smiled back.
"Luciano," I said. "I see you brought fan club members." I smirked
He glanced at his masked men.
"They get starstruck. Don't mind them."
I didn't blink.
"State your reason," I said. "You didn't drive across states for small talk."
Luciano tilted his head.
"I came for the girl."
I stepped forward.
"You'll leave empty-handed."
He smiled wider...too calm, too practiced.
"No," he said softly. "I won't."
A chill sliced through the morning air.
Luciano stepped closer.
"You've been interfering in our business for two years," he said.
"You hid her. Lied for her. Buried evidence. Redirected our men."
I remained silent.
"And now," he continued, "you're trying to rewrite the narrative in the press. Miss 'married-for-four-years' Dr. Raina Hale."
His smirk deepened.
"Cute story."
"It'll work."
"Oh, it will," he agreed. "Your PR stunts always do. But here's the problem.."
He leaned in.
"We don't care about the story."
I clenched my jaw.
"So what do you care about?"
His eyes darkened.
"Fear," he whispered. "We want her afraid. We want her exposed. We want her to remember what she saw the night her husband died."
My fists clenched involuntarily.
"You want revenge."
"No," he corrected.
"We want payment. Her husband died before settling a debt. And your lovely psychiatrist was present. That makes her valuable. And vulnerable."
He leaned even closer.
"And breaking her also breaks you and Singhania. Two birds, one beautiful girl."
Anger ignited low in my chest...
cold, dangerous, controlled.
"You'll never touch her."
Luciano's smile vanished.
"Oh, Ethan."
His voice softened into a whisper.
"We already did."
My pulse froze.
"She saw the video this morning, didn't she?"
His grin returned.
"That was us touching her mind. Her heart. Her past."
I lunged before I realized it..
Mike grabbed my shoulder from behind.
"Sir—NO!"
Luciano didn't flinch.
"Relax," he said smoothly. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be underground."
I stepped back two inches...just enough control to think.
"What do you want?" I asked.
Luciano's smile sharpened.
"Simple.
You come with us.
Alone."
My pulse hammered once.
"No deal."
He laughed.
"Then we pull the next leak. The full one."
My heart stopped.
"You don't have it," I said.
His grin widened.
"Don't I?"
A message pinged my phone.
"One preview," Luciano said. "Just one."
I opened it.
My blood ran ice.
A single still-frame.
Clearer than the blurry clip.
Raina's silhouette.
A man's shadow.
A gun.
Luciano stepped close enough that I felt his breath.
"You come with us," he murmured,
"or the world sees the whole night."
I didn't breathe.
Inside the bunker, Raina was safe.
But the truth wasn't.
Luciano spread his arms.
"Dawn has arrived, Hale.
What's your move?"