Four days after Richard shoved our three-year-old daughter hard enough to send her into the coffee table, I was on a plane to Rome with €274, one suitcase, and no intention of ever letting him control us again. I thought getting Maya out was the decision that would change everything, but eighty-seven minutes into the flight, another child’s desperate screams pulled me toward a man in first class whose life was about to collide with mine. And I still had no idea that helping that baby would connect me to something waiting for me on the other side of the Atlantic.

The romantic tension vanished in a fraction of a second, replaced by pure survival instinct.

Julian grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward the villa at a dead sprint. "Maria has the children! The panic room in the cellar!" he shouted over the blaring alarm.

In the courtyard, darkness swallowed the estate as the backup generators sputtered. Gunfire echoed from the lower gates—muffled, suppressed pops that sounded like firecrackers, followed by the deep, thunderous retort of Julian’s security team returning fire with assault rifles.

"They aren't here for Richard," Julian panted as we burst through the terrace doors into the dark mansion. "This is Vance’s private military contractors. They want Leo and Maya as leverage."

"Over my dead body," I hissed.

We reached the central hall just as Maria appeared from the nursery corridor, holding Leo in a swaddle while Maya clung terrified to her leg, crying in the dark.

"Mama!" Maya sobbed, reaching for me.

"I'm here, baby, I'm here!" I scooped Maya into my arms, pressing her face into my neck while Maria handed Leo to Julian.

Suddenly, the heavy stained-glass windows overlooking the gardens shattered into a shower of crystalline shards. Two men in tactical gear and night-vision goggles vaulted through the opening, assault weapons raised.

"Move!" Julian roared, shoving Maria and me toward the heavy oak door leading to the wine cellar.

He drew a concealed firearm from beneath his vest with lightning speed, firing twice. One of the intruders dropped instantly with a groan. The second intruder lunged forward, tackling Julian against the stone wall. The baby cried out, but Julian twisted his body with ferocious strength, shielding Leo with his broad back while slamming his elbow backward into the mercenary's throat.

I didn't think. I didn't hesitate.

Dropping Maya behind a thick marble column, I grabbed a heavy brass candelabra from the console table and swung it with all the strength in my body, smashing it squarely across the back of the second attacker's helmet. The impact stunned him, knocking his rifle loose across the floor.

Julian spun, driving a brutal heel-palm strike into the man’s jaw, sending him crashing unconscious onto the floor.

Chest heaving, Julian locked eyes with me in the flashing red emergency lights. Blood trickled down his temple, but his gaze was filled with pure, fierce admiration.