The breaking point arrived like a storm over the lagoon sudden, violent, and long overdue. Three months and change into their forced marriage, the fragile equilibrium of revelations, phoenix pendants, and probing interrogations had begun to crack under the pressure of external threats and Dante’s unrelenting suspicion. Kane’s remnants had struck again, a sabotage at one of the ports that cost lives and leverage. In the grand hall, surrounded by his captains including the reinstated Lieutenant Marco Dante’s temper ignited during the debrief.
Elena sat at his side as partner, the phoenix pendant gleaming against her collarbone, her input valued in recent weeks. But when she suggested a measured retaliation drawing from old Voss intelligence routes she knew from childhood errands Dante cut h
