Chapter 10
The heavy door clicked shut, sealing them inside the quiet, luxurious sanctuary of the secure suite. The ambient lighting of the room cast a soft, warm glow over them, completely isolating them from the violence that had ravaged the driveway below.
Briony threw herself forward, abandoning all the careful propriety of her station. She wrapped her arms tightly around Kellan’s waist, burying her face in the crisp white fabric of his shirt. He smelled of gunpowder, cold night air, and his signature expensive cologne.
Kellan immediately returned the embrace. His powerful, muscular arms wrapped around her delicate frame, pulling her tightly against his broad chest. He buried his face in her neatly pinned hair, his eyes closing as he inhaled the clean, sweet scent of her. The quiet, unspoken affection that had defined their relationship for years was finally breaking open, crashing over them both in a wave of profound, undeniable relief.
“Are you completely unharmed, Briony?” Kellan asked, his voice muffled against her hair, dropping into an intimate, desperate register.
“I’m safe,” Briony sobbed quietly, clinging to the fabric of his tailored vest. “I was so terrified, Kellan. I heard the explosions. I thought they had breached the walls.”
“Do you think I would ever allow a single enemy to step foot inside the house where you sleep?” Kellan asked, slowly pulling back just enough to look down into her beautiful, tear-streaked face.
He raised his hands, the artistic tattoos on his fingers stark against her fair, rosy skin, and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. His dark eyes searched her highly expressive face, his sharp jawline relaxing as he took in the depth of her devotion.
“You risked your entire empire tonight,” Briony whispered, looking up at him in awe. “Cedric was right. You went to war because of a maid.”
“Is a man’s empire worth anything at all if he cannot use it to protect the woman he loves?” Kellan asked, his thumb gently tracing the curve of her lower lip.
Briony’s breath hitched. She looked into his dark, unwavering eyes, realizing that the terrifying mafia boss had just laid his entire heart at her feet. She was not just a maid to him; she was his equal, his sanctuary, and the only person he trusted entirely.
“Will you stay here with me tonight, Kellan?” Briony asked, her voice soft but filled with a fierce, quiet courage. “Will you let me take care of you, just for a little while?”
Kellan looked at her, his heart hammering against his ribs in a way it never did during a firefight. He gently removed the white lace maid headband from her neatly pinned hair, tossing it carelessly onto a nearby chair, a symbolic shedding of the barrier between them.
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“Do you honestly believe I could be anywhere else in the world, Briony, now that I have finally found my way to you?” Kellan asked.
He leaned down, the space between them vanishing entirely, and pressed a deep, lingering kiss to her lips. The syndicate war was far from over, and the political fallout of Cedric’s betrayal would undoubtedly require his ruthless attention by morning. But as he held Briony in the quiet warmth of the secure suite, Kellan knew that the only battle that truly mattered had already been won.
