Emily stared at him.

“You planned that?”

“I plan many things.”

The SUV disappeared into the night.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at a building Emily never would’ve noticed twice.

An old textile warehouse near the river.

Dark windows.

Rust-stained brick.

Dead quiet.

Inside was another world.

Men armed with military rifles guarded steel doors. Monitors covered entire walls. Conversations stopped the moment Adrien entered.

Every eye shifted toward Emily.

Not curious.

Evaluating.

Dangerous.

Adrien removed his coat and handed it away without looking.

“She stays with me.”

No one questioned him.

A woman with silver hair approached carrying a tablet.

“Elena called from Montreal. The shipment vanished.”

“Expected.”

“And Leone’s men are moving faster than we thought.”

Adrien’s expression hardened slightly.

“Because there’s a leak.”

The woman’s eyes flicked toward Emily.

“Or because you brought home a witness.”

Emily folded her arms. “I’m standing right here.”

Adrien looked at the woman.

“She warned us.”

“That doesn’t make her safe.”

“No,” Adrien agreed quietly. “It doesn’t.”

Emily felt suddenly cold.

“Maybe someone should explain what’s happening.”

Adrien finally faced her fully.

“There are people trying to kill me.”

“I figured that out.”

“They killed your brother too.”

The room disappeared.

For a moment Emily heard only rain against distant windows.

“What did you say?”

“Mateo Ruiz,” Adrien said evenly. “Three years ago.”

Her throat tightened painfully.

“You knew him?”

Adrien’s silence answered first.

Then—

Emily stepped backward.

“I did.”

“No, you’re lying.”

“He worked for me.”

The words hit harder than the gunfire.

Her brother.

Her stubborn, laughing, overprotective brother who claimed he worked import jobs on the docks.

Worked for him.

“You’re the reason he died.”

Several guards shifted subtly.

Adrien didn’t move.

“Mateo stole information from a man named Salvatore Leone.”

Emily remembered the name instantly.

Whispers in dark hallways.

Phone calls that stopped when she entered rooms.

Fear.

“He was trying to protect you,” Adrien continued. “Leone found out.”

Emily’s eyes burned.

“You let him die.”

For the first time, Adrien looked almost human.

“I tried to get him out.”

“Tried?”

“He refused to leave without you.”

Her chest cracked open with old grief.

She remembered that final argument now.

Mateo begging her to pack a bag.

To leave the city for a few weeks.

She thought he was overreacting.

The next morning he was dead.

Emily’s knees nearly gave out.

The silver-haired woman caught her arm gently and guided her into a chair.

“What does Leone want now?” Emily whispered.

Adrien answered immediately.

“A ledger.”

“And you have it?”

“But they think you do.”

Emily laughed once in disbelief.

“So now I’m trapped in some mafia war because I wrote a warning on a diner receipt?”

Adrien watched her carefully.

“No. You’re trapped because Leone saw your face.”

The room fell silent.

Emily understood.

Leone cleaned loose ends.

Witnesses.

Helpers.

Anyone connected.

Her life at the diner was already gone.

She felt it with horrible certainty.

Adrien walked toward the massive rain-covered windows.

“He’ll keep hunting until he finds you.”

Emily wiped angrily at her eyes.

“Then maybe you should hand me over.”

Several men looked shocked.

Adrien did not.

Instead he turned slowly.

“If I intended to do that, you’d already be dead.”

Something in the way he said it chilled her.