Beneath HIS EMPIRE

chapter 7

The warehouse went silent. Not quiet. Dead silent. Even the gunfire outside faded beneath the words crushing through my head.

Promised to the Armand family.

Before I was born.

My vision tunneled. The concrete under my heels dropped out. “What the hell is he talking about?” I looked at Lucien. His face gave me nothing. No flicker, no tells. My stomach turned to ice. That was worse than the guns.

The senator adjusted his cufflinks while bodies bled across the warehouse floor behind him. “You never told her?” Lucien raised his weapon. “Careful.” The warning failed to shake him. Senator Mercer smiled at me instead. “Your father signed an agreement with the Armands twenty-six years ago.” Dad’s jaw locked. “Stop talking.” “Why?” Mercer asked. “She deserves the truth.”

Lucien stepped forward. Every guard shifted with him. Power moved around that man like breathing. “You’re buying time,” Lucien said. Mercer shrugged. “I already won time.” Then he looked at me again. “Your father owed the Armand family everything. Money. Protection. Political access. He promised his future daughter in return.”

I recoiled. Bile rose in my throat, sour and hot. It burned all the way up. The floor didn’t just tilt — it dropped out. My knees hit concrete but I didn’t feel the impact. All I tasted was Dad’s lies, thick like metal on my tongue. “No.” Dad moved toward me. “Selene—” “You sold me?”

His mask slipped. For half a second, something raw cracked through his eyes. Then it was gone. His fingers twitched at his sides like he wanted to reach for me but forgot how. “I was trying to save you.” The same excuse again. Always protection. Always lies hiding behind it.

Lucien’s voice cut skin. “You don’t get to play father now.” Dad ignored him. He didn’t even glance over. “The deal changed after Lucien’s father died.” That caught Lucien’s attention. A small shift. Nothing more. Still enough. Mercer’s eyes narrowed. He’d caught it too. “Lucien was never supposed to inherit the empire,” Mercer continued. “His older brother was.” I froze. Older brother? Lucien never mentioned another brother. Never.

Lucien’s gun snapped toward Mercer’s head. “Enough.” Mercer laughed softly. “There he is.” Dad grabbed my arm. “You need to leave with me.” Lucien caught my other arm. The movement turned violent. Neither man released me. “Let go,” I snapped. Dad pulled harder. “You don’t understand what he is.” Lucien’s fingers dug into my skin. “And you do?” “I watched your family bury people for decades.” “And you helped them.”

Dad’s hold crushed my wrist. The veins on Lucien’s forearm jumped. The air between them smelled like gunpowder and sweat. Mercer watched them fight, smiling like he was checking items off a list.

Another explosion shook dust from the ceiling. Lucien’s head guard rushed toward him, blood covering one side of his face. “We lost the east exit.” “How many men?” “Eight confirmed dead.” Lucien didn’t blink. “How close?” “Three minutes.” Lucien nodded once. Decision made. He released me first. “We move now.”

Dad blocked the path. “She goes with me.” Lucien’s stare turned murderous. “Move.” Mercer sighed. “You’re both wasting time.” Then he pulled a small black device from his pocket. My lungs stopped. Detonator. Lucien saw it too. Every guard raised weapons. Mercer smiled wider. “That ledger was never the real weapon.” Dad’s face drained. For the first time, his shoulders dropped. “Adrian—” Too late.

Mercer pressed the button. The warehouse lights died. Then the floor beneath us exploded.

The blast was sound first. A roar that tore my eardrums. Then heat — not warm, but peeling. My skin felt like it was lifting off. Concrete chewed my palms when I landed. I tasted blood and smoke and my own scream, but I couldn’t hear it. Somebody grabbed me. Strong arms. Lucien. He dragged me through debris while gunfire erupted again from outside. “Move,” he barked at his guards.

Flames climbed the walls behind us. The heat scorched my cheeks and dried my eyes. I coughed until my ribs ached while Lucien shoved me through a broken side exit into freezing rain. Black SUVs surrounded the loading dock. Bodies everywhere. His men fired toward incoming vehicles while dragging the wounded behind cover. This looked less like security. More like a private war.

Lucien shoved me toward the nearest SUV. “Inside.” “What about my father?” “He made his choice.” The answer hit like a slap. I grabbed the door instead of getting inside. “You knew about this arrangement?” Silence. Rain plastered his shirt to his chest. Blood streaked one sleeve. Not his blood. “Lucien.” His jaw flexed once. “Yes.”

My throat closed. My nails scraped against the SUV door until the paint flaked off. “You knew?” “It happened before either of us were born.” “You still knew.” “I found out six years ago.”

Air punched out of my lungs. The word hung in the air and my knees buckled. “You used me.” His stare locked onto mine. Hard. Controlled. Dangerous. “I married you to keep you alive.” “That’s not an answer.” “It’s the only one that matters.”

Gunfire cracked behind us again. One of Lucien’s men dropped. Sniper. Chaos exploded across the dock. “Get her out of here!” somebody shouted. Lucien pulled me against the SUV hard enough to pin me there while bullets shattered glass behind us. Then his phone rang. Wrong timing. He answered anyway. Listened. His expression changed. Cold somehow turned colder. “What?” I asked. He lowered the phone. “Mason disappeared from the hospital.”