The air in the private command center beneath Croft Holdings turned into ice.

Harper let out a jagged, agonizing scream, dropping to her knees as if she had been shot through the chest. "Lily! Oh God, Lily!"

Damian reacted instantly. He dropped to the floor beside her, grabbing her arms and pulling her forcefully up against his chest.

"Harper, listen to my voice!" Damian commanded, his hands holding her face steady while tears streamed down her pale cheeks. "Listen to me! Lily is alive. They took her for leverage, not to kill her. Look at me!"

Harper forced her eyes to lock onto his grey glare, her entire body shaking violently. "They have my sister, Damian! They have Lily!"

"I am going to get her back," Damian said, his voice carrying a terrifying, absolute certainty that cut through her hysteria. "I swear to you on my father’s soul, I will bring Lily back to you unharmed."

He stood up, pulling Harper to her feet, and turned to Julian, who was standing by the door with four security directors.

"Who led the hit?" Damian demanded, his tone dropping into a deathly, unnatural quiet.

"Dominic Moretti," Julian reported, holding out a satellite phone. "The nephew of old Don Moretti. He took six men, rammed the transport vehicle on the Gowanus Expressway, and took Lily into a van. He just called the secure line."

"Put him on speaker," Damian ordered flatly.

Julian pressed a button on the phone, and the harsh, raspy voice of Dominic Moretti filled the room.

"Croft!" Dominic laughed, his tone dripping with arrogant malice. "I hear you got yourself a new little girlfriend! The catering girl who slapped you at the Waldorf!"

Damian’s face remained completely expressionless, but the muscle in his jaw twitched once. "Where is she, Dominic?"

"She's resting comfortably in an old meatpacking facility down on Pier 14," Dominic sneered over the static line. "Cute kid. Shame about her legs. Listen to me very carefully, Croft. You’re going to hand over the title deeds to Terminals One, Two, and Three by midnight tonight, or I start sending you this girl's fingers one by one."

Harper gasped, covering her mouth with her hands to choke back a sob.

Damian didn't flinch. "I want to hear her voice."

"Say hello to your sister's boss, kid!" Dominic shouted in the background.

A second later, Lily’s terrified, crying voice came through the speaker: "Harper! Harper, help me! They have guns—!"

"Lily!" Harper screamed into the phone. "Lily, stay calm! I'm coming!"

The line cut off with a click.

Dominic's voice returned: "Midnight, Croft. Come alone with the signed title deeds. If I see a single one of your armed guards within three blocks of Pier 14, the girl dies instantly."

The call disconnected.

Silence hung over the command center like a heavy shroud.

Julian turned to Damian. "Damian, we can't hand over Terminals One, Two, and Three! That’s eighty percent of our waterfront operations! It would ruin us!"

Damian didn't even look at Julian. He walked over to his weapon safe behind the wall art, tapped a biometric code into the keypad, and heavy steel doors slid open, revealing an array of tactical gear, handguns, and body armor.

"Sign the title transfer papers, Julian," Damian ordered calmly, pulling a sleek black combat vest over his dress shirt.

Julian stared at him in utter shock. "Damian, you're giving him the empire?!"

Damian loaded a fifteen-round magazine into a custom tactical pistol with a sharp, metallic clack.

"I am giving him the papers so he thinks he's won," Damian said softly, his eyes burning with an ancient, murderous flame. "Then I am going to tear his throat out."

He turned to Harper, who was wiping the tears from her face, her eyes filled with a desperate, terrifying resolve.

"You stay here with Julian," Damian told her gently, touching her cheek. "I will bring her home."

"No," Harper said, her voice dropping into a hard, unbreakable line. "I'm coming with you."

Damian stared at her. "Harper, it’s a war zone—"

"They have my sister because of me!" Harper snapped, stepping close to him. "Dominic knows what I look like. He expects you to bring me to sign the personal indemnity release for the deeds. If I'm not in that car, he'll know it's an assault!"

Damian searched her face for three long seconds. He saw no fear, no hesitation—only the fierce, protective flame of a woman who would tear the world apart to save her family.

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Slowly, Damian reached into his safe, pulled out a small, lightweight concealable pistol, and placed it gently into her hands.

"Keep the safety on until I tell you," Damian whispered, closing her fingers over the cold grip. "Let's go get your sister."