201. BENEATH THE DON
201. BENEATH THE DON
SELINE
I have this feeling that Nina's entire family punished Kade for what happened to them.
The feeling wasn't logical.
It was instinct.
The same instinct that had kept me alive all these years.
A little boy shouldn't have paid the price for adults' mistakes.
Yet somehow, he did.
I carefully folded the papers and slipped them back into the folder.
My fingers lingered there for a moment.
The rest of the drive passed in silence.
The moment the car rolled through the gates, I knew something was wrong.
I saw Kade immediately.
He wasn't standing outside waiting.
He wasn't leaning against one of the pillars with that bored, terrifying calm he wore like a second skin.
He was pacing.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
The movement was sharp and restless, each turn too abrupt, each stride too long, like a predator trapped inside a cage that had become far too small to contain it. Even from the distance separating us, I could see the tension radiating from him. His phone was clenched tightly in one hand. His shoulders were rigid. His jaw looked locked hard enough to crack teeth.
And the second his eyes landed on the approaching car, he started walking toward us. Fast.
The kind of fast that made my stomach tighten.
Xavier gasped.
I turned toward him in surprise.
For the first time since I'd met him, Xavier looked genuinely worried.
Not cautious.
Not annoyed.
Not calculating.
Worried.
The realization alone should have terrified me.
The car hadn't even come to a complete stop when Kade reached us.
The driver's door opened.
Xavier stepped out.
And Kade hit him.
Hard.
There was no warning.
No demand for an explanation.
No questions.
No conversation.
One second Xavier was stepping from the vehicle.
The next, Kade's fist connected with his jaw with enough force to send the giant stumbling sideways.
The sound echoed through the courtyard.
A sharp crack.
Violent.
Brutal.
Silence followed immediately.
The entire estate seemed to freeze.
"Kade!"
Nobody listened.
Especially not Kade.
Because Xavier had barely managed to regain his footing before another punch landed.
Blood splattered against the stone.
"You took her there."
The words came out low.
Dangerously low.
Not shouted.
Not screamed.
If anything, that made them worse.
There was something lethal in that quiet tone.
Something that made the air itself feel heavy.
Xavier straightened instantly despite the blood running from his lip.
"Kad—"
"You took her there."
Another step forward.
Another hit.
Another burst of crimson.
Dante visibly winced.
Another new guy, probably Hana's bodyguard folded his arms across his chest.
Neither man moved.
Neither man intervened.
Because they understood exactly what this was.
And why it was happening.
"I would never repeat this, Kade."
"You are never going to set foot here again."
The sentence landed harder than any punch.
Because Xavier flinched.
Not from physical pain.
From disappointment.
His own.
For a moment, I saw it clearly.
The guilt.
The self-loathing.
The knowledge that he had failed.
Kade pointed toward me.
Toward the house behind us.
Toward the folder still pressed tightly against my chest.
"You had one job."
His voice dropped lower with every word.
Another step.
"You knew the rules."
Another.
"You knew what was at stake."
Another.
"And somehow my pregnant wife ended up in that house."
The last two words dripped venom.
Xavier lowered his head.
The movement was small.
Quiet.
Defeated.
"Kade, enough." I yelled, pulling him back. I stayed there.
Then—
Kade looked at me.
And everything stopped.
Not gradually.
Not slowly.
Immediately.
The rage.
The violence.
The fury threatening to tear through the entire courtyard.
Gone.
His gaze moved over me once.
A single sweep.
But it wasn't really a look.
It was an inspection.
A desperate search.
Checking.
Always checking.
My face.
My hands.
My shoulders.
My stomach.
The folder.
Then back to my face.
Looking for injuries.
Looking for fear.
Looking for proof that I was okay.
The dozens of missed calls suddenly made sense.
I pulled my phone from my bag.
Twenty-three missed calls.
Twelve messages.
Three from Dante.
Four from Kai.
The rest from Kade.
Under normal circumstances, any husband would have been furious.
Kade wasn't.
Not even remotely.
If anything, he looked relieved.
The kind of relief that only comes after spending hours imagining every possible nightmare and discovering none of them had happened.
His shoulders dropped slightly.
Barely noticeable.
Yet I saw it.
The gratitude.
The overwhelming relief.
Then his eyes found the folder.
And everything changed again.
Because he knew.
He knew exactly what I had found.
"Someone put these in that house. Someone lured me. Someone who knew you. They want me to know."
Silence follower. For a long moment neither of us spoke.
The world disappeared.
There was only him.
Only me.
Then I saw it.
Something infinitely worse.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear of me.
Fear that after everything I'd learned, after everything I'd seen, after every horrific detail hidden inside those walls, I would finally look at him differently.
The look on his face shattered something inside my chest.
Because after all of it—
He still believed this would be the moment I turned away.
Idiot.
My eyes burned.
And somehow he understood immediately.
The tension in his face softened.
A long breath escaped him.
Heavy.
Exhausted.
The breath of a man who had spent years carrying ghosts no one else could see.
Then he walked toward me.
As if approaching something precious.
One hand lifted.
Cupping my face.
"Baby."
That single word almost broke me.
Not because I was sad.
Not because I was overwhelmed.
But because suddenly all I could think about was a six-year-old little boy who had never had anyone to call him that.
A little boy who had survived horrors no child should even know existed.
A little boy who had grown into this terrifying man because nobody had been there to protect him.
Kade's thumb brushed beneath my eye.
The touch impossibly gentle for hands capable of so much destruction.
"Everything's alright."
His voice had changed completely.
Gone was the monster from moments ago.
Gone was the Don.
Gone was the man who had nearly beaten Xavier unconscious.
Only Kade remained.
Trying to comfort me.
When all I wanted was to comfort him.
"I have a meeting."
His forehead came to rest against mine.
The contact was brief.
"I need to go."
The reluctance in his voice was unmistakable.
He didn't want to leave.
Not now.
Not after seeing that folder.
Not after seeing my expression.
Not after realizing I knew everything.
But responsibility was responsibility.
Even for men like Kade.
So instead, he pressed a kiss against my forehead.
Then whispered against my skin,
"Whatever you're thinking..."
His thumb remained against my cheek.
A silent anchor.
"...we'll talk about it when I come back."
"There's a mole in your team." I whispered as if it was the most important thing to do. "Find him."
"I will." He promised.
And for the briefest moment, I saw it.
A crack in the armor.
A glimpse beneath the legend.
Beneath the Don.
Beneath the monster the world feared.