Dominic Russo didn’t move. His winter-sky eyes remained fixed on Harper, cold and calculating. The heavy leather door of the Escalade sealed them off from the freezing Chicago rain, turning the vehicle into an impenetrable sanctuary—or a rolling cage.

The honeymoon period lasted less than twelve hours.

Deep in the night, the compound’s silent alarms flared red.

Carmine Russo had no intention of letting Dominic consolidate his power through this marriage. Knowing that Dominic’s guards were spread thin securing the city after Lorenzo’s death, Carmine launched a full-scale assault on the Lake Forest estate.

The sound of shattering glass and heavy explosions woke Harper from her sleep.

“Dominic!” she gasped, sitting up in the massive bed.

Dominic was already out of bed, strapping a tactical vest over his clothes and racking the slide of an assault rifle. His face was a mask of cold, lethal focus.

“Carmine’s men breached the outer gate,” Dominic said, pulling Harper from the bed and throwing a Kevlar jacket over her shoulders. “Enzo is holding the main hall, but they have overwhelming numbers.”

“We’re trapped!” Harper cried out as the house shook from a grenade blast downstairs.

“Never trapped,” Dominic replied, opening a hidden panel inside the walk-in closet, revealing a secure, steel-reinforced safe room equipped with surveillance monitors. “Get inside. Lock it from the inside. Do not open it for anyone except me.”

“Dominic, no! Don't go down there alone!” Harper begged, clutching his vest. Tears welled in her eyes. “You’ll die!”

Dominic grabbed her face, kissing her forcefully, a kiss that tasted of steel and desperate love. “I survived Palermo, Harper. I will survive tonight. Lock the door!”

He shoved her into the safe room and slammed the heavy steel door. Harper heard the electronic locks engage with a heavy THUD.

Through the security monitors inside the room, Harper watched in horror as the conflict unfolded. Dominic joined Enzo in the main hallway, moving like a deadly shadow, wiping out Carmine’s hitmen with terrifying efficiency.

But then, Harper noticed something on the monitor that made her heart stop.

On the screen showing the estate’s secondary entry point, a group of armed men wasn't targeting Dominic. They had a blueprint of the house. They were bypassing the main firefight and heading directly toward the hidden safe room.