Mira's POV
Kieran fights like a demon.
I watch, frozen behind the counter, as he moves faster than should be possible. The first gunman is on the floor, groaning. Kieran disarmed him in three seconds flat. But the other two men are raising their weapons, pointing them at me, and everything slows down like a nightmare.
"Get down!" Kieran roars.
I drop behind the counter just as gunshots explode through my bookstore. Glass shatters. Wood splinters. My ears ring so loud I can't hear myself screaming.
Then suddenly, it stops.
Silence.
"Mira?" Kieran's voice cuts through the ringing. "Are you hurt?"
I peek over the counter. All three gunmen are on the floor, disarmed and groaning. Kieran stands in the middle of my destroyed bookstore, breathing hard, a cut bleeding on his cheek. He looks like a warrior from one of my books—dangerous and beautiful and terrifying.
"I'm okay," I whisper.
Sirens wail in the distance. Someone must have called the police.
Kieran pulls out his phone and speaks quickly to someone. "James, I need cleanup at Chapter and Verse. Three hostiles, non-lethal takedown. Get here before the local police complicate things." He hangs up and walks toward me, stepping over broken glass. "We have maybe two minutes before this place is swarming with cops. You need to decide right now, Mira. Do you trust me?"
"I don't even know you!"
"Yes, you do." His ice-blue eyes lock onto mine. "You've been reading my words for weeks. You know my heart better than anyone. So I'm asking again—do you trust me enough to let me keep you alive?"
The gunmen are starting to move, trying to get up. One of them spits blood and laughs. "Thorne can't protect you forever, girl. The boss wants you, and he always gets what he wants."
Kieran's boot comes down on the man's hand. Hard. "Speak again, and I break every finger."
The man whimpers and goes quiet.
I should be horrified. I should run to the police, tell them everything, let them handle this like a normal person would. But I keep thinking about those photos on Kieran's phone. Someone took a picture of me sleeping. Someone wants to kidnap me. And the police didn't protect my mother eight years ago.
"Okay," I hear myself say. "I trust you."
Relief flashes across Kieran's face, so quick I almost miss it. "Good. Then we leave. Now."
He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the front door. His grip is warm and strong, and I realize this is the first time we've touched. It feels like lightning.
Outside, a black SUV screeches to a stop. A man who looks like a younger, friendlier version of Kieran jumps out. "I've got three minutes before the cops arrive. We moving her?"
"Safe house. The one in the mountains." Kieran opens the back door and practically lifts me inside.
"Wait! My things! My apartment!"
"Already handled," the other man says cheerfully as he starts driving. "I'm James, by the way. Kieran's much more pleasant younger brother. Nice to finally meet you, Mira. Sorry about the whole 'armed men breaking into your bookstore' situation."
I stare at him. "You think this is funny?"
"I think if I don't laugh, I'll start breaking things like my brother does." James glances in the rearview mirror. "Relax. We're the good guys. Mostly."
Kieran sits beside me, still holding my hand like he's afraid I'll disappear. "James runs our investigations division. He's been helping me track the people watching you."
"And by 'helping,' he means I've been doing all the actual detective work while he broods dramatically in his penthouse," James adds.
Despite everything—the terror, the chaos, the fact that I'm being kidnapped by my stalker—I almost laugh. James is trying to make me feel safe. It's kind of working.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask.
"Somewhere Vincent Ashford can't find you," Kieran says quietly. "Somewhere I can keep you safe while we figure out his next move."
"Vincent Ashford." I test the name. "My biological father. The man who killed my mother."
"Yes."
"And he wants to kidnap me because...?"
Kieran's jaw tightens. "Because to him, you're property. A possession he's been searching for. And because your mother stole something from him when she ran—something worth more than money."
"What did she steal?"
"We don't know yet. But whatever it is, Vincent has spent eight years hunting for it." Kieran finally releases my hand, and I immediately miss the warmth. "Mira, I need you to think. Did your mother leave you anything? A safety deposit key? A storage unit? Anything unusual in her will?"
I think back to that horrible time after the accident. I was nineteen and broken, barely functioning. "Just the bookstore. That's all she left me. The building and the business and..." I stop.
"What?" Kieran leans forward. "What is it?"
"The attic. She made me promise never to go into the attic alone. She said it was dangerous, structurally unsound. But now that I think about it, that doesn't make sense. The rest of the building is perfect."
Kieran and James exchange looks.
"We need to search that attic," James says.
"After things calm down," Kieran counters. "Right now, we keep Mira somewhere Vincent can't reach her."
The SUV turns onto a highway heading out of town. I watch Riverside disappear in the side mirror—my bookstore, my life, everything familiar getting smaller and smaller. Three months ago, I lost everything at my engagement party. Now I'm losing it all over again, except this time, I might lose my life too.
"I need to tell you something," I say quietly. "About three months ago. About Marcus."
Kieran turns to face me, giving me his full attention in a way that makes my chest tight. "Tell me."
So I do. I tell him about the engagement party at the country club. How Marcus stood up during toasts and announced he was leaving me—for my own sister. How everyone stared while I stood there in my white dress, humiliated and shaking. How Claire looked at me with triumph in her eyes, like she'd won some game I didn't know we were playing.
"He drained our bank account the same day," I whisper. "Every penny we saved. He took it all and moved in with Claire. They're getting married next month." My voice breaks. "I trusted him. I thought he loved me."
"He's a fool," Kieran says flatly. "And a coward. Real men don't destroy the women they claim to love."
"You stalked me for eight years."
"To protect you. There's a difference." His hand finds mine again. "Mira, every note I wrote was true. I've watched you rebuild yourself after that bastard broke you. You're not invisible. You're not weak. You're a survivor."
Tears spill down my cheeks. I don't know why I'm crying—fear, exhaustion, relief that someone finally sees me. "I don't feel like a survivor. I feel like I'm drowning."
"Then let me be your anchor." Kieran wipes my tears with his thumb, gentle despite the violence I just watched him commit. "I won't let you drown. I won't let anyone hurt you. Not Vincent. Not Marcus. Not even me if I can help it."
The SUV pulls off the highway onto a narrow mountain road. Trees close in around us, blocking out the afternoon sun. We drive for another twenty minutes in silence before reaching a cabin hidden deep in the woods.
"Home sweet temporary home," James announces. "Fully stocked, completely off-grid, and boring as hell. You two have fun. I'll be back tomorrow with updates."
"You're leaving?" I ask, panic rising.
James grins. "You'll be safer with just Kieran. He's pathologically overprotective of you. Anyone tries to get through that door, they'll have to kill him first. And trust me—that's harder than it sounds."
Kieran helps me out of the SUV. The cabin is small but sturdy, surrounded by forest. It looks like the kind of place where people go to disappear.
"Come on," Kieran says. "Let's get you inside."
The cabin is warm and surprisingly cozy. There's a fireplace, a small kitchen, one bedroom, and a couch that pulls out into a bed. Kieran immediately starts checking windows and locks, his body tense and alert.
"You can take the bedroom," he says without looking at me. "I'll sleep out here."
"Kieran."
He stops moving and faces me.
"Thank you," I say. "For saving me. For the notes. For everything."
Something softens in his expression. "You don't need to thank me. Keeping you safe is the only thing that matters."
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and freeze.
Unknown number. New text message.
"What is it?" Kieran is beside me instantly.
I show him the screen with shaking hands:
"Did you really think running would save you? I know where you are. I've always known. Come home, daughter. Or everyone you love dies. Starting with the stalker who thinks he can keep you from me. -Dad"
Attached is a photo taken thirty seconds ago.
A photo of me and Kieran standing in this cabin.
Someone is watching us. Right now.
Kieran's face goes white, then hardens into something deadly. "Get away from the windows. NOW."
Before I can move, the cabin's lights go out.
And in the darkness, someone knocks on the door. Three slow, deliberate knocks.
"Mira?" a familiar voice calls from outside. "It's me. Open the door. We need to talk."
My blood turns to ice.
That voice. I know that voice.
It's Marcus. My ex-fiancé. The man who destroyed me three months ago.
And he's here. At our secret cabin. In the middle of nowhere.
"How?" I breathe. "How did he find us?"
Kieran pulls me behind him, reaching for something under his jacket. When his hand emerges, he's holding a gun.
"Mira!" Marcus calls again. "I know you're in there. I know everything. And I'm not leaving until you hear the truth about Kieran Thorne."
The doorknob starts to turn.