The first time Dante Rossi touched his wife, she begged him not to hurt her.

Julian Sterling was not a smart man, but he was a proud one. And Dante had humiliated him in front of the entire city.

Two nights after the gala, the retaliation came.

Dante and Aria were in the compound’s massive library. The tension between them had been shifting from protective distance to a magnetic, unspoken pull. Dante was reading a leather-bound ledger while Aria sat on the sofa, a book resting in her lap.

Suddenly, the compound’s perimeter alarms shrieked.

Red emergency lights flooded the room. The heavy oak doors of the library burst open, and Enzo rushed in, holding a submachine gun.

"Boss! We have a breach. Two black SUVs rammed the south gates. Heavily armed mercenaries. They bypassed the outer sensors!"

Dante didn't panic. He moved with terrifying efficiency. He pulled a Glock from his shoulder holster and crossed the room to Aria in a second. "Stay behind me."

Gunfire erupted in the corridors outside. The Rossi guards were engaging the intruders.

"They’re pushing toward this wing," Enzo warned, taking cover by the doorframe.

A bullet shattered the library’s glass window, raining jagged shards over the Persian rug. Dante pushed Aria to the floor behind a massive mahogany desk, shielding her body with his own.

"Enzo, hold the chokepoint!" Dante roared, returning fire toward the hallway.

The air filled with the deafening roar of automatic weapons and the smell of cordite. Aria covered her ears, her heart hammering against her ribs. But as she crouched there, she realized she wasn't having a panic attack. For the first time, the violence wasn't directed at her. It was being used to protect her.

Suddenly, a mercenary slipped past Enzo through a side servant’s door. He raised his rifle, aiming directly at Dante’s exposed back.

Aria didn't think. She acted.

She reached down, grabbed a fallen revolver from a wounded guard on the floor, aimed with both hands just as Sienna had taught her, and pulled the trigger.

The recoil sent a shockwave up her arms.

The mercenary took the bullet to the shoulder, spun backward, and collapsed before he could fire at Dante.

Dante whipped around, his gun raised, only to see the man bleeding out on the floor and Aria standing over him, the revolver smoking in her trembling hands. The remaining attackers, realizing their ambush had failed against the Rossi defenses, sounded a retreat.

Silence fell over the ruined library.

Dante walked slowly over to Aria. He gently took the gun from her hands, engaged the safety, and set it on the desk. Then, he looked at her with a mixture of absolute awe and raw hunger.