Kade's POV
I moved faster than the gunman expected.
My fist connected with his jaw before he could pull the trigger. The gun clattered to the elevator floor. I grabbed it and pointed it at him as Aria screamed behind me.
"How many of you are in the building?" I demanded, my finger on the trigger.
The man spat blood. "Enough. You can't fight all of us, Thornfield."
"Watch me." I hit the emergency stop button on the elevator, trapping us between floors. Then I pressed the gun against his temple. "I'm going to ask you one more time. How many men did Damien bring?"
"Four," the man gasped. "Two in the lobby, one on the roof, and me."
"Where's Damien planning to take her?"
"Warehouse. Red Hook. That's all I know, I swear!"
I believed him. Low-level muscle never knew the full plan. I knocked him unconscious with the gun and turned to Aria, who was pressed against the elevator wall, shaking.
"Are you hurt?" I asked.
She shook her head, but tears streamed down her face. "Our parents—"
"Are safe. For now. Damien won't hurt them as long as he thinks we're cooperating." I pulled out my phone and called Marcus. "We've got a situation. Four hostiles in the building. I've got one down in the elevator between floors twenty-nine and thirty. Two in the lobby, one on the roof."
"On it," Marcus said. "I'm three minutes out with the team."
"Make it two." I hung up and looked at Aria. "We need to move. Now."
"Move where? There are armed men everywhere!"
"The service stairs. They won't expect us to go down." I overrode the elevator emergency stop and pressed the button for the twenty-eighth floor—one floor below us. When the doors opened, I checked the hallway. Empty.
I grabbed Aria's hand. "Stay close to me. Don't make a sound."
We ran down the hallway to the service stairwell. My mind raced through options. Marcus was coming with backup, but two minutes felt like forever when your family was sitting at a table with a murderer.
"What about Damien?" Aria whispered as we descended the stairs. "He's still up there with my mom and your dad."
"Damien won't make a move until he knows his men have us. As long as we're loose, we have leverage." I checked my phone. One minute until Marcus arrived.
We reached the twenty-fifth floor when my phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.
Stop running, Kade. I have a gun pointed at your father's head. You have sixty seconds to return to the penthouse, or I paint the walls with his brain.
A photo followed. Damien standing behind Victor, a pistol pressed to the back of his skull. Dad's face was pale but calm. Serena was crying.
"Oh God," Aria gasped, looking over my shoulder. "He's going to kill them."
My blood ran cold. Damien was calling my bluff. He'd figured out we weren't coming quietly.
"Kade, we have to go back," Aria pleaded. "We can't let him hurt them."
Every instinct screamed at me to protect Aria. To get her out of this building and somewhere safe. But I couldn't let my father die.
"Okay," I said quietly. "We go back. But on my terms."
I called Damien directly. He answered on the first ring.
"Smart boy," Damien purred. "I was hoping you wouldn't make me kill dear old Dad."
"Let them go," I said. "This is between you, me, and Aria. They have nothing to do with it."
"Oh, but they have everything to do with it. You see, Kade, I've known about your little double agent act for weeks now. Did you really think I wouldn't notice you recording our meetings? Feeding information to the feds?"
My stomach dropped. He knew. He'd known all along.
"So here's how this works," Damien continued. "You and Isabella come back upstairs. You give me the recordings and any copies you've made. And then we all have a nice chat about loyalty. If you cooperate, your parents get to live. If you don't..." He pressed the gun harder against Dad's head. "Well, I'm sure you can imagine."
"We're coming up," I said through clenched teeth. "Don't hurt them."
"Of course not. I'm a reasonable man." He hung up.
Aria grabbed my arm. "We can't just walk into a trap! He'll kill all of us!"
"I know." I was thinking fast, running through every scenario. Marcus was close, but not close enough. The feds had my evidence already—I'd uploaded it to a secure server weeks ago as insurance. Damien didn't know that.
Which meant I could lie. Stall. Buy time.
"Listen to me carefully," I told Aria. "When we get back up there, I need you to do exactly what I say. No matter what happens, no matter what Damien does—you follow my lead. Can you do that?"
She nodded, but I saw the terror in her eyes. She didn't trust that we'd survive this.
Honestly, neither did I.
We took the elevator back up to the penthouse. The ride felt eternal. Aria's hand found mine, squeezing tight. I squeezed back, wishing I could tell her everything would be okay.
But I'd never lied to her before. I wasn't starting now.
The elevator doors opened. Damien stood in the foyer, gun casually pointed at us. Behind him, two of his men held Victor and Serena at gunpoint.
"Welcome back," Damien said with a smile. "I'm so glad you decided to be reasonable. Now, Kade, why don't you hand over your phone? Can't have you calling for help."
I tossed him my phone. He crushed it under his heel.
"And yours, Isabella." He turned to Aria. "Oh, wait. I suppose you prefer Aria now. Hard to keep track of all your identities."
Aria handed over her phone with shaking hands. Damien destroyed it too.
"Good. Now that we're all here, let's discuss the terms of your survival." He walked closer, the gun swinging between Aria and me. "Kade, you're going to tell me where you've hidden the recordings. Every single copy. And Isabella, you're going to tell me exactly what you told the federal prosecutor three years ago."
"And if we don't?" I asked, knowing the answer.
Damien pressed his gun against Serena's temple. She whimpered. "Then Mom dies first. Your choice."
Aria's face crumpled. "Please don't hurt her. I'll tell you everything."
"No!" I grabbed her arm. If she confessed, she was dead anyway. We needed to stall longer.
"Kade, let her speak," Damien said softly. "Unless you want to watch your stepmother bleed out on this lovely marble floor."
The window behind Damien suddenly exploded inward. Glass shattered everywhere as three men in tactical gear crashed through, rappelling from the roof.
Marcus.
Everything happened at once. Damien's men opened fire. Victor and Serena dropped to the ground. Aria screamed. I shoved her behind me as bullets flew past my head.
Marcus's team took out Damien's men in seconds. Professional. Clean. Beautiful.
But Damien was fast. He grabbed Aria before I could stop him, pressing the gun to her head.
"Nobody moves!" he shouted. "Or she dies!"
Marcus and his team froze. Everyone's guns were pointed at Damien, but none of them could shoot without risking Aria.
"Let her go," I said, keeping my voice steady even though my heart was exploding. "Take me instead."
"No deal." Damien backed toward the broken window, dragging Aria with him. "She's my insurance policy. Drop your weapons, or I drop her out this window."
We were thirty floors up. The fall would kill her instantly.
"Do what he says," I ordered Marcus.
"Kade—"
"Do it!"
Marcus and his team lowered their weapons.
Damien smiled. "Smart boy. Now, Isabella and I are going to take a little trip. Don't follow us, don't call the cops, don't do anything stupid. If I so much as see a police car, she's dead. Understand?"
He was at the window now, glass crunching under his feet.
"Wait," I said desperately. "Take me. Let her go and take me. I'll give you everything—the recordings, my contacts, my entire network. Just let her go."
For a second, I saw Damien consider it.
Then he smiled. "No. I think I'll keep her. After all, she's the one who really matters, isn't she? The one you'd burn the world down for."
He jumped backward out of the window, pulling Aria with him.