The rain was unrelenting, beating against the windows as Amira paced the penthouse floor. Rosalie sat hunched over her laptop, her fingers a blur. Gabriel checked the weapons, his jaw tense. Zion leaned against the wall, blood staining his sleeve where a bullet had grazed him in the previous skirmish.
"Dominic's men are moving in fast," Rosalie said, voice tight. "We have maybe twenty minutes before they hit us."
Amira clenched her fists. "Then we fight."
Over the next several pages, the chapter follows the group's tense preparations: Gabriel setting traps by the windows, Rosalie intercepting enemy communications, Zion and Amira sharing a heated exchange where old wounds and hidden longing surface. Lucia arrives, battered and breathless, with new intel: Dominic plans to auction Celeste's stolen paintings to finance his final strike against Amira.
As thunder shakes the building, Dominic calls Amira on an open line, taunting her with the memory of Celeste's death. The group steels themselves as headlights pierce the rain-soaked night, Dominic's men pouring out of black SUVs. The chapter ends with Amira lifting her gun, whispering, "Then let it end here."
The house burned around them, flames licking at the cracked wallpaper as gunshots rattled the windows. Amira's ears rang as she pressed her back to the hallway wall, clutching the pistol Gabriel had handed her minutes earlier. Smoke stung her eyes, but she refused to blink, her focus pinned on the doorway where Dominic's men advanced.
Zion crouched across from her, blood staining the shoulder of his shirt. "We can't hold them here," he growled, reloading. "We need to move,now!"
Amira shook her head. "They'll corner us if we leave this hallway. We stay. We finish this."
Bullets shredded the wooden doorframe, and glass exploded overhead. Lucia screamed from the next room as two mercenaries dragged her into view, their guns aimed at her head. "Drop your weapons!" one shouted.
Amira aimed her pistol, her hands steady even as her stomach churned. "Let her go!"
Dominic's voice cut through the chaos like ice. "Amira," he purred from behind the mercenaries, stepping into the smoky light, his gun pointed at Zion. "Let's end this dance. Come with me. You're worth more alive than dead."
Amira's heart thundered. "You killed Celeste."
Dominic smirked. "And I'll kill everyone else you care about unless you lower that gun."
The walls shook as part of the roof collapsed, showering sparks onto the blood-soaked floor. Zion lunged forward, firing at the mercenaries holding Lucia. Amira shot Dominic, the bullet grazing his cheek as he stumbled back, cursing. Chaos exploded. Amira grabbed Lucia's hand, dragging her behind a fallen beam as Zion covered them, the world dissolving into fire, gunfire, and Dominic's furious roar…