Chapter 4 - Blood and Broken GlassThe elevator doors opened with a soft chime, and Daniel Hayes stepped into the forty-second-floor lobby.
His midnight-blue suit was slightly rumpled, his breathing elevated, and his usual confident demeanor replaced by an unmistakable edge of panic. As he caught sight of Simone standing beside Adrienne’s doorway, he hurried forward.
"Simone," Daniel breathed out, grabbing her by the arms to check if she was unharmed. "Thank God you're still here. I tried calling your mobile, but it went straight to voicemail."
"Daniel, what are you doing here?" Simone asked, her eyes wide with alarm. "How did you even get past security?"
"I didn't have a choice," Daniel said quickly, glancing nervously at the two armed guards standing near the elevator banks. "Your apartment building on 74th Street—someone kicked your front door in about twenty minutes ago. The place is completely torn apart."
The air left Simone’s lungs in a single, sharp gasp. "My apartment?"
"The super called me because my name was listed as an emergency contact," Daniel explained, his voice tight. "Drawers emptied, papers strewn everywhere, and a message spray-painted on your kitchen wall."
Before Daniel could finish the sentence, the heavy mahogany office door swung wide open.
Adrienne Romano stepped out into the lobby. The transformation was absolute. The CEO was gone; in his place stood the syndicate boss—cold, lethal, and radiating a controlled fury that made the security guards instinctively check their holsters.
"What message?" Adrienne demanded, his voice slicing through the room like a scalpel.
Daniel blinked, intimidated by the sheer menace rolling off the man. "A warning. It said: ‘Tell your boss his debts are coming due in blood, starting with his favorite inventory.’ "
A terrifying silence fell over the forty-second floor.
Simone’s knees buckled slightly, but she caught herself against the edge of her desk. The Veretti family. They must have traced her connection to Adrienne through the charity gala guest registry or the port logistics paperwork. They were coming after her to hurt Adrienne where it mattered most.
Adrienne’s face went completely blank, though his dark eyes burned with an apocalyptic rage.
"Salvatore," Adrienne barked into his lapel radio, his voice a lethal whisper.
“Boss?”
"Lock down the building. No one enters, no one leaves. Put a tactical detail on Daniel Hayes immediately and get him into the secure holding suite on the thirty-fifth floor." Adrienne turned his piercing gaze toward Simone, who stood paralyzed with shock. Then he looked at Daniel. "You did the right thing coming here, Hayes. Now stay out of the way."
"I'm not leaving Simone," Daniel protested, stepping defensively in front of her.
Adrienne didn't yell. He didn't threaten. He simply took one slow, deliberate step closer to Daniel, his towering frame and terrifying aura forcing the younger man to hesitate.
"She is in this building because of my enemies," Adrienne said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. "Which means her safety is my responsibility. If you want her to survive the next twenty-four hours, you will let my men secure you downstairs now."
Daniel looked at Simone, searching her face for guidance. Simone gave a faint, trembling nod. "Go, Daniel. Please."
As Salvatore and two armed guards escorted Daniel away toward the private elevators, Adrienne turned back to Simone. The lobby was empty now except for the two of them.
"Grab your coat," Adrienne ordered, his tone absolute.
"Where are we going?" Simone asked, her voice shaking for the first time in five years.
"To my estate in Westchester," Adrienne replied, walking back into his office to retrieve his leather holster and a heavy wool overcoat. "If the Verettis want to play war, I'm going to show them what happens when they touch what belongs to me."
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Simone stood frozen in the doorway. She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him she wasn't his property, that she wasn't "inventory." But as she looked at the man who had built an empire on blood and control—the man who was now willing to burn New York to the ground to keep her breathing—she realized the terrifying truth:
She didn't want to run away. She wanted to stand right beside him in the fire.
