Chapter 2 BOUND BY FIRE

Her mouth was still on mine when I heard the second gunshot-closer this time.

I didn't pull away. I bit her bottom lip instead. "We don't have time for slow."

"We don't have time for this."

Her breath shuddered against my skin, but her fingers clutched my shirt like she wasn't planning to let go.

"Say you don't want this."

"I don't want this."

Her mouth slammed into mine.

The war could wait.

I shoved her against the cold steel wall, tasting the defiance on her tongue, her pulse hammering against mine.

Her nails scraped down my back, marking me like she owned me.

Like she wanted to break me before I broke her.

"They're watching," she panted.

"Then let them see who they're up against."

My hands traced fire over her waist, up her ribs, catching every tremble her body betrayed.

"Let them see what I protect."

Her voice cracked like glass. "I'm not your territory."

"Sweetheart, you've been mine since you stole my seat."

The sound of boots crashing through the hallway snapped me back to the kill zone.

I pulled away, breath ragged, pulse a loaded weapon.

"We'll finish this later. I promise you that."

I kicked open the emergency exit, dragging her with me into the underground escape tunnels beneath the mansion.

The walls sweat danger. My blood pumped like gasoline.

"How deep does this tunnel go?" she asked, gasping as we ran.

"Deep enough to bury anyone who follows us."

We burst into the garage.

I shoved her into my black Pagani, slamming the door.

"Buckle up. We're not going out quietly."

The tires screamed as we shot through the back gate.

Bullets grazed the windows. I laughed.

"They really thought they could cage me in my own house?"

Her phone buzzed. She stared at the message. Went pale.

"What?" I snapped.

"He's tracking the car. They hacked it."

I grinned, sharp and lethal.

"Good. Let him follow me."

"Why the hell would you want that?"

"Because I want him close when I kill him."

I jammed the brakes, spun the car in a perfect 180, and drove straight toward the convoy chasing us.

Her eyes went wide. "Silas, what the hell are you doing?"

"Ending this."

I slammed my foot down. The car roared.

Gunfire shredded the air as I swerved between SUVs, brushing death like it was foreplay.

I clipped one car. Spun another. Sent it flipping over the highway barrier in a rain of sparks.

She was breathing hard.

"You're insane."

"Baby, I told you-I don't follow rules. I burn them."

Her phone buzzed again. One final message.

She read it. Froze. Her whole body went rigid.

"What does it say?" I barked.

Her voice was small. Broken.

"Silas... it says if you don't surrender, they'll kill my mother. But if you do... they'll kill you in front of me."

I grinned, savage.

"Guess they're underestimating me. Again."

"You're not afraid to die?"

"I'm afraid of boring endings."

I spun the wheel, launching the Pagani into a narrow alley.

Bullets ricocheted off the walls. The enemy convoy crashed, trying to follow.

Smoke. Fire. Screams.

We burst out onto the pier, screeching to a stop.

I jumped out, yanked her door open, and pulled her close.

"You stay behind me. You do not run. You do not negotiate. You do not beg."

"And if I do?"

"Then you're not the woman I kissed."

The enemy's lead car screeched to a halt twenty feet away.

The doors opened.

A man stepped out.

Not a soldier. Not a stranger. My half-brother. The one I was supposed to have killed.

He pulled off his mask, smirking like the devil himself.

"Hello, little brother. Miss me?"The man I buried three years ago walked toward me like death had been a mild inconvenience.

His grin was still the same-sharp, smug, untouchable.

"Hello, little brother. Miss me?"

I cocked my head, pulse steady, gun loose in my grip.

"I don't miss what I kill."

His laugh cut through the smoke.

"Yeah? Funny thing about death-it doesn't always stick."

Sienna gripped my arm. I felt her shaking, but her voice came out clean.

"That's your brother?"

"Half-brother." I didn't take my eyes off him. "The bad half."

His name was Kairos.

The ghost of my bloodline.

The monster I buried in the ruins of an arms deal gone wrong.

I'd watched the fire consume him. Watched the building collapse. Heard nothing but silence.

But ghosts don't die in this business. They wait.

"You were always the favorite," Kairos said, circling slowly. "The heir. The golden son. You got the crown. I got the bullets."

"You earned those bullets," I shot back. "You sold out the family. You sold me out."

"I didn't sell you out, Silas." His eyes flicked to Sienna. "I'm just cashing in now."

Her grip tightened.

"You've been using her," I growled, stepping in front of her.

"Oh, I didn't just use her." His grin widened. "I trained her."

"You're lying."

But the flicker of guilt in Sienna's eyes cracked me wide open.

"Tell him, sweetheart," Kairos cooed. "Tell him how long you've been mine."

Her voice trembled.

"It started before I met you."

"Before the fight club?"

She nodded, barely breathing.

"I didn't know you were his brother. I didn't know you'd... matter."

"But I do now?"

Silence.

"Say it, Sienna. I need to hear you choke on it."

"You matter."

I bit back the war ripping through me.

"And you played me anyway."

"They had my mother, Silas. I had no choice."

"We always have a choice."

Kairos laughed, slow and brutal.

"She chose me. Even when she chose you, she chose me. You just didn't see it yet."

I stepped forward, gun leveled.

"You really think I won't shoot you this time?"

"You won't." He spread his arms wide. "Because if you kill me, your little fire here burns too. You see, she's my insurance policy."

Sienna's voice cracked. "He's lying, Silas."

"Am I?"

Kairos pulled a small detonator from his pocket, twirling it between his fingers.

"What's that wired to?" I barked.

"Tick, tick, brother. Your house? Your syndicate vault? Your father's cars? Guess you'll just have to find out."

I squeezed the trigger halfway.

"If you wired my house, you won't leave this pier breathing."

"You've always been so cocky."

"You've always been so disposable."

"Shoot me, and she goes up with me."

His grin cut razor-sharp. "I tied her to the detonator. Her heartbeat's the switch. When it stops, the bombs stop ticking."

Sienna gasped. "You're bluffing!"

"You really think I won't strap a bomb to my favorite weapon?" He winked at her.

My blood turned to ice.

"I hate you," I seethed.

"Love you too, brother."

The standoff stretched, gun aimed, detonator spinning, Sienna's body pressed against my back like I was her only shield left.

And maybe I was.

Kairos backed toward his car.

"See you soon, Silas. Or maybe you'll see me first... when you realize she's not done betraying you yet."

I didn't lower my gun.

"Tell me one thing."

He paused, hand on the car door.

"Why her? Why Sienna?"

His smile turned cold.

"Because I wanted to see what you'd do when the fire you loved started burning you alive."

And just like that, he was gone.

I holstered my gun, my pulse hammering, my mind ripping itself apart.

Sienna touched my arm, soft, trembling.

"Silas... please believe me-"

I spun on her, my voice cutting low and brutal.

"Don't. Not yet. Not until I know what part of you is still mine... and what part still belongs to him."I didn't trust the silence.

Silence meant someone was already bleeding.

I dragged Sienna into the getaway car, slammed the door, and peeled off so hard the tires smoked.

"You need to start talking."

My voice was all razor and venom.

"Now."

She was shaking. But she didn't cower.

"I didn't know he was your brother-"

"Cut the sweet lies, Sienna."

I swerved between trucks, brushing death with every turn.

"How deep are you in with him? Don't waste my time."

Her jaw locked. She wouldn't look at me.

"How deep?" I barked, punching the steering wheel.

"Deep enough," she whispered.

"Deep enough to sell me out?"

"I didn't sell you out!" Her voice cracked like a whip.

"You used me!"

"You used me first!"

The car skidded to a brutal stop on the side of the highway.

I yanked the brake, cut the engine.

The silence slammed into us like a gunshot.

"Out."

"What?"

"Get out."

"Silas-"

"Now."

She scrambled out as I stepped into the heat, pulse vibrating like a live wire.

I stalked toward her, closing the distance like a storm.

"You played me. He's tracking you, using you, and I kissed you anyway. I'd do it again."

My hand caught her jaw, rough, desperate.

"Tell me right now-do you regret it?"

Her eyes burned.

"I regret walking into that fight club."

"Wrong answer."

I crashed my mouth into hers, hard, brutal, claiming what was mine in the middle of the goddamn highway.

Her body melted against me. She shoved me back, slapped me, then pulled me in harder.

"You're going to get me killed."

"Sweetheart, you've already killed me."

She gripped my shirt, breath ragged.

"I don't know how to stop this."

"Don't." I kissed her again, devouring the lie that we could walk away clean.

Her phone buzzed.

We both froze.

One new message:

You've got six hours. Bring him to me. Or I burn your mother alive.

Her breath snapped.

"Silas... he's moving her. He's tightening the clock."

"Where's the drop?"

Her hands trembled as she showed me the address.

The docks. Syndicate territory. A death trap.

"This is suicide."

"No," I said, sliding back into the driver's seat, eyes cold as steel.

"This is a family business."

I slammed the gas.

The city blurred around us.

"You're going to walk into his kill box?"

"I don't walk in."

I slid a switch on the dashboard. Explosives primed.

"I kick the damn door down."

"Silas-"

"Strap in. This is going to get ugly."

The Pagani screamed through the streets.

She gripped the door like she'd break it.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because you're mine."

"Even after everything I did?"

"Especially after that."

We hit the final turn toward the docks.

Gunfire erupted instantly. Bullets peppered the car.

I slammed the brakes, tires howling, and reached into the glovebox.

Pulled out a small velvet box.

I flipped it open. Inside-a black ring, a family seal.

"What's that?" she gasped.

"Insurance."

I shoved the ring into her hand.

"If I go down, you wear this. You walk into the Mavros Syndicate as my heir. You burn them all for me."

Her hands shook.

"I can't-"

"You will."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the only one I'd trust to kill my ghosts."

The gunfire slammed closer.

"Silas-"

"If we die tonight, I want you to know something."

"What?"

"I would've picked your seat every time."

The windshield shattered. I grinned.

"Let's go say hello to my brother."

We kicked open the doors and sprinted into the war zone.

And right before we disappeared into the smoke, her voice caught me:

"I didn't just choose you. I fell for you."

I didn't get to answer.

Because the docks exploded.

And everything went black.