Chapter 228 They Are Burning Our City

Chapter 228 They Are Burning Our City
The phone hit the mattress with a dull thud. The sound severed the remaining peace in the master suite.

The heat of our shared claiming vanished. A freezing wave of adrenaline crashed into my chest. The air in the room felt too thin to breathe.

"Victor is loose," I repeated. The words tasted like ash.

Sebastian did not waste a second on shock. The lover vanished. The warlord took command. He rolled off the bed. He grabbed the ruined, blood-stained dress shirt from the floor and pulled it over his broad shoulders.

"The scout at the front gates," Sebastian deduced. His voice carried a brutal, jagged edge. "He did not come to test our borders. He came to verify our location. He came to keep us distracted while the strike team hit the penitentiary."

Victor orchestrated a distraction. We fell for the bait.

Sebastian walked to the walk-in closet. He bypassed the tailored suits. He grabbed a pair of dark tactical trousers and a fresh black shirt. He tossed a pair of heavy denim jeans and a dark sweater onto the bed next to me.

"Dress," Sebastian commanded. "We leave the estate in two minutes."

I did not ask questions. I shed the remains of the casual sundress and pulled the rough denim over my legs. I shoved my arms into the thick sweater. My skin still carried the phantom heat of his touch, a stark contrast to the cold reality crashing down on us.

"Where are we going?" I asked. I slipped my feet into a pair of dark leather boots.

"The tower," Sebastian stated. He fastened a heavy leather belt around his waist. He checked the magazine of his combat pistol. The metallic clack echoed in the quiet room. "The mansion possesses too much acreage. Too many windows. Too many blind spots. It requires an army to defend. We evacuate to the skyscraper."

The logic tracked. The Wolfe Skyscraper stood as a monument of steel and reinforced glass. It functioned as a vertical bunker. We controlled the elevators. We controlled the security grid. We could turn the entire building into an impenetrable choke point.

We ran out of the master suite. We sprinted down the long hallway.

We reached the grand staircase. We descended into the foyer. The cold night air poured through the shattered oak front doors. The shattered glass crunched beneath our boots. The destruction looked different now. It was not a message. It was a target painted on our backs.

Bob waited in the driveway. The heavy armored SUV idled in the dark. The headlights remained off. The enforcer kept a suppressed rifle slung across his chest. Fresh blood stained the white bandage on his head, but his focus remained razor-sharp.

Sebastian opened the heavy rear door. I climbed into the dark cabin. He slid in right behind me.

"Drive," Sebastian ordered.

Bob gunned the engine. The massive vehicle tore down the private driveway. We blew past the ruined iron gates. The tires hit the wet asphalt of the main road. The SUV accelerated, eating up the distance between the estate and the city center.

The silence inside the cabin felt thick and oppressive.

I stared out the tinted window. The dark shapes of the trees blurred past. A deep, consuming rage ignited in my chest.

My mother forged a cage of paper. I burned the paper. I bought my freedom with fifty million dollars in real estate. We claimed each other in the master suite, stripped of legal labels and public scandals. We won the right to exist without shadows.

Victor Salazar stole that victory. He shattered the peace before the sun even possessed a chance to rise.

I looked at Sebastian. He sat rigid in the leather seat. He stared straight ahead. He pulled spare magazines from a hidden compartment under the seat and slotted them into his tactical belt. The lethal tension radiated from his massive frame. He prepared for a slaughter.

He felt my gaze. He turned his head. His gray eyes met mine in the dim light.

He reached across the seat. His rough, calloused hand wrapped around mine. His grip felt tight. It offered zero comfort, only a shared promise of coming violence.

"He burns tonight," Sebastian grated.

"He burns," I agreed.

The city skyline rose in the distance. The towering structures of glass and steel pierced the dark storm clouds. The Wolfe Skyscraper dominated the financial district.

Bob navigated the empty streets. He bypassed the main thoroughfares. He used the narrow industrial alleys to mask our approach. We reached the rear access road of the tower.

A massive corrugated steel door blocked the subterranean garage. Bob flashed the high beams in a specific, rapid sequence.

The steel door groaned open. We drove into the concrete cavern. The door slammed shut behind us, sealing us inside the fortress.

We exited the SUV. The echo of our boots bounced off the concrete pillars. We walked to the secure private elevator. Sebastian pressed his thumb against the biometric scanner. The machine chimed. The thick metal doors parted.

We stepped inside. The elevator shot upward, bypassing the lobby and the lower commercial floors. We ascended straight to the executive level.

The doors slid open.

The executive floor felt cold and sterile. The plush carpets absorbed our footsteps. The emergency backup lights cast a dim, pale glow along the corridors.

"Lock it down," Sebastian commanded.