Chapter 9
Elise’s eyes widened in shock, her lips parting slightly. "Sir, I... I don't know what to say."
"Say you will stay," Nathan said, his tone shifting from the calculated focus of a mafia boss to a deeply vulnerable, quiet plea.
"Stay?"
"I cannot trust anyone else with my son," Nathan explained, his dark eyes burning into hers. "And... I cannot imagine this house without you in it. I have been blind, Elise. But I see you now. I see everything you have done for us."
Elise’s heart hammered against her ribs. The quiet, unspoken affection she had harbored for him for years was suddenly being acknowledged, dragged into the bright light of reality.
"I will stay, Nathan," Elise whispered, dropping his formal title for the first time.
Nathan let out a slow, ragged exhale. He finally closed the distance, his tattooed hand gently cupping her face. His thumb brushed lightly over her cheekbone, wiping away a stray tear. The intimacy of the moment was overwhelming, a quiet sanctuary built in the middle of a warzone.
But before he could lean in, a frantic, heavy pounding echoed from the hallway outside the master suite.
The romantic vulnerability vanished in a fraction of a second, replaced instantly by the cold, calculating mask of the apex predator. Nathan’s hand dropped from Elise’s face, moving swiftly to the heavy pistol holstered beneath his tailored suit jacket. He positioned his broad shoulders between Elise and the doorway, his angular face setting into a mask of pure, lethal authority.
"Enter," Nathan commanded, his deep voice slicing through the heavy silence of the sitting room.
The heavy oak door swung open. Silas, Nathan’s most trusted and scarred lead enforcer, stepped into the room. His face was pale and grim under the warm lighting, his dark suit dusted with ash.
"Boss, we have a massive problem," Silas reported, catching his breath. "Daphne’s father knows. One of her personal guards managed to get a distress signal out before we jammed their communications and locked them down in the basement."
"Are they demanding negotiations?" Nathan asked, his voice a terrifying, measured calm.
"No, sir. They aren't talking," Silas said, checking the magazine of his weapon with a sharp, metallic click. "We just got word from the perimeter guards. A convoy of heavily armored, unmarked vehicles has breached the southern gates. The Wren family is heavily armed, and they are moving aggressively toward the main house."
Nathan’s eyes darkened to pitch. The immediate threat of Daphne was neutralized, but the war she had promised had arrived at his doorstep far faster than anticipated. The Wren syndicate was executing a full-scale military assault to wipe out the Vale family, erase the humiliation of the broken engagement, and assert their dominance over the eastern ports.
He looked at Elise, the protective instinct surging through his veins with terrifying force. The bright, airy world he wanted to build with her was currently under siege by monsters.
"Go back inside the bedroom with Evan," Nathan commanded, his voice absolute and leaving no room for argument. "Lock the heavy steel security door from the inside. The biometric lock will only open for me. Do not come out until I tell you it is safe."
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"Nathan, please," Elise begged, grabbing the sleeve of his dark suit, her expressive eyes wide with terror. "They will kill you. There are too many of them."
"I am going to slaughter every man who steps foot on my property tonight," Nathan promised, reaching out to pull her flush against his chest for one brief, desperate embrace. He pressed a fierce kiss to her forehead. "I will come back to you. Now go!"
