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

The Rossi estate was an armed fortress by the time the battered limousine limped through the front gates. Dozens of enforcers swarmed the perimeter with assault rifles, and the floodlights cut aggressively through the driving rain.

Dante practically carried Aria into the foyer, his face a mask of lethal, unadulterated fury. Matteo was already waiting, his suit jacket discarded, a tactical vest strapped over his chest.

"Casualties?" Matteo asked grimly.

"None. Armor held just long enough," Dante clipped, his voice vibrating with a terrifying rage. He looked down at Aria, who was pale but standing firmly on her own two feet. "Take her upstairs. Put four men on the door."

"No," Aria said, her voice cutting through the chaotic shouting of the guards in the hallway. "I am not hiding upstairs."

Dante whipped around, his eyes blazing. "They tried to kill you tonight, Aria! Sterling realized we have the financial records, and he hired external muscle to wipe us out before the paper hits the stands. You are going upstairs, and tomorrow morning, I am putting you on a private jet to Sicily until this is over."

"I am not leaving you!" she shot back, stepping directly into his space, completely unafraid of his wrath. "We are married. I am a Rossi. I knew what I was signing up for when I gave you those bank accounts. If you send me away, you prove that my father still has the power to dictate my life."

Dante stared at her, his chest heaving. He wanted nothing more than to lock her in a vault and throw away the key, to keep her safe from the monsters that populated his world. But looking at her defiant, beautiful face, he realized that caging her—even for her own protection—would destroy everything they had built.

He reached out, cupping her face in his hands, his thumbs tracing her cheekbones.

"If you stay," he whispered harshly, "there is no going back. I am not going to just bankrupt him anymore, Aria. I am going to tear his entire world apart. I am going to burn his legacy to ash."

"Then hand me a match," she replied, her eyes burning with a fierce, unwavering loyalty.

Dante let out a ragged breath, pressing a hard, desperate kiss to her forehead. He turned back to Matteo, the momentary vulnerability completely vanishing, replaced by the cold, calculating apex predator.

"The article drops at 6:00 AM," Dante ordered, his voice echoing in the cavernous hall. "But we are not waiting for the police to arrest him. Pull every man we have in the city. Arm them. We are going to the Sterling estate."

Matteo nodded, racking the slide of his sidearm. "And what are your orders regarding the Senator, Boss?"