The pounding started before Aria could even take another breath.
It was not the kind of gentle knocking that asked for permission to enter. No. This was thunder. A crash so loud the walls shook, wood splintered, and the steel frame of the door bent under pressure. The whole safe-house trembled as Sebastian's men stormed the alley outside.
Boots scraped gravel. Shadows moved quickly past the tiny slits of the boarded windows. The sound of them surrounding the building was like a noose tightening.
Lorenzo didn't flinch. He stood tall, gun raised, eyes hard as stone. His voice was sharp and commanding.
"Positions!" he barked.
At once, his men moved. They didn't hesitate or question him. They scattered like shadows themselves, weapons sliding free with metallic clicks. The air in the room grew heavy, thick with tension, thick with the smell of gunpowder and the knowledge of what was about to come.
Aria's throat constricted. She had been to Sebastian's events before, lavish dinners, contracts signed with smiles, threats whispered like poison in the dark. But this… this wasn't careful chaos. This wasn't business. This was war.
The first gunshot ripped through the front door. Sparks flew as the bullet kissed metal.
Aria screamed before she could stop herself and threw herself to the ground. Instinct. Fear. Survival.
"Stay low!" Lorenzo's voice cut through the noise. He stepped in front of her like a wall, unshaken, unmoved. His arm lifted and he fired back. The recoil jolted through his body, but his shot was precise. A scream from outside followed. Then a thud. A body hit the gravel.
Aria's palms pressed against the cold concrete floor, trembling so hard her fingers ached. What am I doing here? she thought. She wasn't supposed to be in the middle of this. She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't a fighter.
Then another thought stabbed through the fear. What happens if Sebastian's men win?
She already knew the answer. He'd drag her back, not as a woman, not as a person, but as a prize. He would parade her like a trophy ripped from the enemy's hands. And she… she would never breathe free air again.
The windows shattered all at once. Shards of glass rained down like angry stars. Two men vaulted through, landing with guns raised.
Aria's body froze in terror. But Lorenzo's did not.
He moved with brutal precision. One hand caught the first man by the throat, slamming him hard against the wall. The impact made the plaster crack. With a savage twist, he tore the gun from the man's grip. In the same movement, his other hand fired at the second intruder.
The second man's chest exploded in a spray of red. He dropped like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The first man clawed at Lorenzo's iron grip, choking, gasping, but it didn't matter. Lorenzo twisted harder, and the fight left him. He fell lifeless to the floor.
"Clear!" one of Lorenzo's men shouted from the hallway.
But almost immediately, another voice cried out. "They're breaching the back!"
Gunfire erupted again. Bullets sang through the air, smashing into walls, tearing into furniture. The safe-house was becoming a cage of fire and blood.
Aria crawled on her knees, dragging herself behind an overturned table. Her heart hammered so loudly she could barely hear her own thoughts. The deafening cracks of bullets echoed in her skull.
Then, hands. Rough, strong. Yanking her up.
Not Lorenzo's.
"Got her!" a man snarled into her ear. His voice was muffled by a mask, but his grip was solid. Cold metal pressed into her ribs, a gun.
Aria gasped and struggled. "No! Let go of me!" She kicked, scratched, clawed, but he only cursed and tightened his hold.
Her scream carried across the room. Lorenzo turned instantly.
Their eyes locked. His- dark, dangerous, unyielding. Hers- wide, frantic, pleading.
The masked man dragged her backward, pistol digging deeper into her side.
"Drop it!" the man shouted. "Drop your gun or she dies!"
The room froze. Smoke curled lazily through the air, lit by the flickering light of gunfire. Even the battle seemed to pause. All eyes shifted to Lorenzo.
But Lorenzo did not lower his weapon.
Aria's chest heaved. Terror mixed with something else, rage. Something inside her snapped.
"Shoot him!" she screamed.
The man stiffened behind her. "You crazy?"
Aria didn't wait. Her nails raked his wrist, dragging blood. The gun in his hand jerked upward.
That sliver of hesitation was all Lorenzo needed.
One shot. Clean. Between the eyes.
The man collapsed instantly, his body pulling Aria down with him. She hit the floor hard, pain shooting up her arm. Her ears rang from the close gunfire, her chest rising and falling in rapid gasps.
Her hands were wet. Sticky. She looked down, blood. Not hers. His.
Then Lorenzo's grip was on her arm, yanking her back to her feet. His hold was strong, unshakable. His face was a mask of steel.
"You don't freeze," he growled. His voice was sharp, cutting through the fog of fear in her head. He shook her lightly, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Not in this world. You fight. Or you die."
Her lips trembled. Her body shook. But in the pit of her stomach, something flickered. Anger. Defiance. A spark of survival.
"I don't plan on dying," she whispered hoarsely.
The battle raged on. Gunfire roared. Men screamed. Bodies fell. Lorenzo's men fought with ruthless precision, cutting through Sebastian's soldiers one by one.
Minutes felt like hours.
And then, silence.
It fell suddenly, like a curtain dropping. The last bullet echoed, then faded.
The safe-house was a ruin. Walls scarred with holes. Windows shattered. Blood smeared across concrete and glass crunched under boots.
Aria stood in the middle of it all, trembling. Her chest rose and fell in sharp bursts. Her dress, once a shimmering silk fit for a ballroom, was torn and stained. She looked nothing like the woman who had smiled for cameras just hours ago.
She looked… alive.
Lorenzo's gaze lingered on her. On her trembling hands that still clenched like fists. On the fire in her wide, frightened eyes. There was something different about her now. Something unspoken but undeniable.
Then his phone buzzed.
He answered quickly, his tone curt. But as he listened, his jaw tightened, his expression darkened.
"They hit another one of our warehouses," he said at last, voice like steel. His eyes cut to Aria. "Sebastian isn't just chasing you anymore. He's declaring war."
Her stomach knotted. The words felt heavy, like chains around her chest.
"He'll burn this whole city to smoke if it means dragging me back," she whispered.
Lorenzo's hand brushed the gun at his hip. His voice was low, but deadly certain. "Then we make sure he chokes on the fire first."
Aria's gaze dropped to the bloodied floor. The bodies. The ruins. She lifted her head again, her eyes locking on his. Her voice was soft, almost broken, but steady enough to carry weight.
"Teach me," she said.
For the first time that night, Lorenzo's hard expression cracked. A faint smirk touched his lips, sharp and dangerous, but not unkind.
"Careful, princess," he murmured, his voice almost a whisper. "You might just like what you become."