“Keep her.” Those were the two words I heard my mafia husband say about another woman on our fifth wedding anniversary,

The fortress erupted into violence.

Vanessa didn't wait for Adrien’s reply. On the monitor, she casually tapped a red button on a remote control in her palm. Instantly, deafening sirens began to wail throughout the entire underground compound. Red emergency strobes pulsed against the walls, painting the concrete corridors in blood-colored light.

"Containment protocol active," a robotic Russian voice droned over the facility’s public address system. "Blast doors closing in sixty seconds."

"Go! Go!" Adrien roared.

They burst out of the communications hub into the central spine of the bunker—a colossal subterranean hangar where dozens of paramilitary mercenaries were already scrambling to defensive positions.

Gunfire exploded instantly. Heavy 7.62mm rounds chewed through the concrete pillars around them, sending lethal chips of stone showering over Elena’s shoulders.

Adrien returned fire with brutal efficiency, his customized assault rifle barking with terrifying speed. Every trigger pull dropped a mercenary. "Cover the left flank!" he shouted to his men. "Elena, stay behind my shield!"

"Like hell I will!" Elena ducked behind a steel shipping container, popped up, and fired three controlled shots, dropping a gunner who was mounting a heavy machine gun on the upper mezzanine.

The strike team advanced with terrifying aggression. Adrien moved like an elemental force of nature, an unstoppable mafia Don reclaiming what belonged to his dynasty. When a mercenary charged him with a combat shotgun, Adrien didn't flinch; he closed the distance, grabbed the barrel, redirected the blast into the floor, broke the man's arm with an audible snap, and drove his combat knife through the man's neck—all in one uninterrupted, terrifying motion.

"The blast doors are sliding!" Elena screamed over the roar of gunfire.

At the far end of the hangar, a twelve-inch-thick steel door was descending slowly from the ceiling, threatening to seal off the residential sector where Aurelia was being held.

"Keller, override that hydraulic line!" Adrien barked into his comms.

"I can't, boss! It’s a mechanical counterweight system! You have fifteen seconds before it seals completely!"

"Adrien!" Elena locked eyes with him.

Without needing words, Adrien understood. He grabbed an empty steel ammunition crate, sprinting through the storm of ricocheting bullets, and hurled his body beneath the descending steel slab. He slid on his knees, jamming the solid titanium crate directly beneath the descending edge.

The door crashed down onto the crate with a sickening crunch. The metal buckled under the immense weight, screeching in protest, but the crate held—leaving an eighteen-inch opening above the floor.

"Slide through!" Adrien yelled, holding the buckled crate with his bare hands as the hydraulic pressure groaned, threatening to crush anything beneath it. "Elena, go!"

Elena didn't hesitate. She threw her rifle through the gap, dropped flat onto her stomach, and slid through the muddy snow and hydraulic fluid beneath the descending death trap.

The moment she cleared the threshold, the crate crumpled entirely. The blast door slammed into the concrete with the force of an earthquake, sealing Elena on the inside—alone.

"Elena!" Adrien’s muffled roar came through the thick steel.

Elena scrambled to her feet, picking up her rifle. "I’m in, Adrien! I’m getting our daughter!"

"Elena, wait for me to breach the hinge!" Adrien shouted from the other side, the sound of his team laying breaching charges already vibrating through the wall.