The darkness that swallowed Vane Tower was thick and absolute, a physical weight that pressed down on the penthouse and seemed to squeeze the oxygen straight from the air. In the sudden, dead silence that followed the power failure, the only sounds were the heavy hum of the storm outside and the sharp, synchronized clicks of semi-automatic slides being racked in the dark.
Julian didn't make a sound, but Elena could feel him. The heat of his body was a solid, comforting wall of muscle directly in front of her, his arm sweeping backward instinctively to pin her against the mahogany desk, shielding her with his own chest.
"Dominic," Julian’s voice was barely a gravelly vibration in the dark. "Where’s Mother?"
"I’ve got her," Dominic’s voice drifted from the left, unusually quiet and stripp
