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The interior of the MTA bus spun into a nauseating kaleidoscope of red taillights, glaring fluorescent bulbs, and terrified faces. Claire’s vision tunneled as another vicious wave of contractions ripped through her abdomen, tearing a raw, breathless sob from her throat. She was sinking sideways onto the rubber-matted floor, her soaked coat offering zero protection against the freezing draft sweeping through the doors. / Chapter 19 / 20

Chapter 19 - The Razor’s Edge

Claire’s eyes dropped to the letter opener in his hand, then flicked back up to his wild, desperate gaze. Every instinct screamed at her to turn and run, but she forced her feet to remain anchored to the marble floor.

"You did this to yourself, Ethan," she said, her voice steady and chillingly calm. "Your greed, your cruelty, your arrogance. I didn't ruin you; I merely survived you."

Ethan’s face contorted with rage. He lunged forward, his fingers clawing at the air. "I'll take everything from you, just like you took from—"

BANG.

The heavy double doors of the gallery slammed open with a deafening crash.

"Drop it!" Marcus roared, his service weapon drawn and instantly locked dead-center on Ethan’s chest, flanked by four heavily armed private security operatives.

Ethan froze, the letter opener slipping from his trembling fingers to clatter sharply against the marble floor. He looked around wildly, realizing he was completely trapped.

Within seconds, Marcus and his team had him pinned facedown to the floor, snapping heavy steel zip-ties around his wrists.

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The rain tapped a frantic rhythm against the glass of Marissa’s cramped,...

My hand froze inches from the cold steel of the Sig Sauer P226. Beneath the amber glow of the bedside lamp, the source of the warmth against my side wasn't an assassin, an operative from a rival syndicate, or a traitorous lieutenant.

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The silence in the master bedroom stretched so tight I could hear the slow, heavy drip of my own pulse in my ears. Dominic Rossi’s dark eyes locked onto mine, burning with a feverish intensity that should have sent me running back down the hallway and out into the rain

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As they hauled him violently to his feet, a cold, gravelly voice echoed from the entrance of the gallery.

"Touch her again in this lifetime, Mercer," Julian said, walking slowly out of the shadows, his tailored suit immaculate, his eyes burning with absolute, lethal darkness, "and you won't even make it to a prison cell."

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