Chapter 1
For a long moment, the bathroom feels like the only place in the world. The faint drip of the faucet. The pale morning light cutting across cold tile. The small white stick clutched in Sienna’s hand.
Two lines.
Her throat burns, but she refuses to look away from Kade. His body fills the doorway, shirtless, shadows carving out the hard lines of muscle and tattoos she knows like her own heartbeat. His eyes, though—those blue-gray storms she’s never been able to hide from—are locked on her, waiting.
“I’m pregnant,” she whispers again, the words tasting foreign even as she says them.
Kade doesn’t move at first. Doesn’t breathe. His jaw flexes once, hard, before he crosses the room in two strides and closes the space between them. One calloused hand wraps around hers, prying the test from her grip, like he needs to see it himself. He stares down at it, silent, before finally lifting his gaze back to her.
“You sure?” His voice is low, rough, like gravel.
Sienna nods, lips pressing together to keep from trembling. “I…I missed. I thought it was stress, but—” she gestures to the stick in his hand “—it’s not.”
For a heartbeat, she braces for anger, panic, something that mirrors the chaos spinning through her chest. But Kade just exhales through his nose, sharp and heavy, before leaning forward and pressing his forehead against hers.
“Fuck.” The word rumbles out of him, not with regret, but with the weight of someone staring down an army. His fingers tighten around hers. “Sienna…this changes everything.”
Her eyes sting, but she blinks hard, fighting it. “I know. And I don’t even know if I’m ready to—” Her voice cracks, the crack she’s fought so hard against since her father’s death, since Vitale, since everything. “But we don’t have a choice now.”
Kade cups her face, forcing her to look at him. His thumb skims over the faint bruise on her cheek, the reminder of Vitale, and his expression hardens, protective and terrifying all at once. “No. We do have a choice. Our choice. Nobody else’s. You hear me?”
Sienna lets out a shaky breath, nodding.
He kisses her then, hard and consuming, tasting like fury and fear and the kind of devotion that has nearly killed them both a hundred times. When he pulls back, his voice is softer, but no less certain.
“You’re mine. Always. And now…” his hand slides down, resting flat against her stomach, the barest curve of her there, “…so is this.”
Her heart lurches. For the first time since the test, she lets the tears come—silent, hot, trailing down her cheeks. Kade doesn’t flinch, doesn’t let go. He just holds her tighter, bracing them both for the storm ahead.
Because there will be a storm. There always is.
Outside the bathroom, the world is waiting. Her father’s empire. The men questioning her right to lead. The traitor who poisoned him still hiding in plain sight. And now…the tiny heartbeat that hasn’t even begun yet, already shifting the ground beneath their feet.
But right here, in this small room, with Kade’s forehead pressed to hers and his hand steady over her stomach, Sienna knows one thing for certain:
They will burn the world down before they let anyone take this away from them.
Kade slammed the bathroom door shut harder than he meant to. The sound cracked through the room, bouncing off the walls, and Sienna flinched. She hated that she did, but she couldn’t help it. As much as Kade was supportive, he was also panicking. They both were.
He still had the test in his hand, glaring down at the two lines like they’d betrayed him personally. “Fuck.” His voice was rough, low. “We weren’t careful. We knew better, Sienna.”
She stiffened where she sat on the bed, her chin lifting in that instinctive defiance. “Don’t you think I know that?” Her fingers toyed with the crescent moon necklace at her throat, a nervous tell she couldn’t stop. “You think I planned this? That I wanted this right now?”
Kade dragged a hand down his face, pacing once before stopping in front of her. His jaw was set tight, his shoulders hard with tension. “This world—we barely crawled out of Vitale’s mess. You almost died. And now…” He shook his head, swallowing the rest. “A baby in this life? It’s not safe. It’s not fucking fair to you, to them.”
Her throat burned, but she kept her voice steady. “So what are you saying? That you don’t want it?”
That pulled his eyes to hers. Sharp, electric, furious—and underneath, wrecked. He dropped the test on the nightstand and crouched in front of her, his big hands gripping her knees like anchors. “Don’t twist my words. I want you. I’ll always want you. And if this is happening, then it’s happening. We’ll protect it, protect you, with everything I’ve got. But don’t ask me to be happy about the timing, because I’m not.”
Her eyes stung. He wasn’t giving her sweet words, but maybe that was better. Real. Brutal honesty, the way Kade always gave it to her.
“Kade…” Her voice cracked, soft. “I don’t know if I can do this. Not with everything else.”
His grip tightened, almost painful. “You can. You’re Sienna fucking Moretti. You can do anything. And I’ll back you every step of the way. Even when I’m pissed. Even when it’s hell. Got it?”
Tears finally slipped free, hot against her cheeks. Not from weakness, but from the way he still believed in her when she felt so breakable.
Kade exhaled hard, some of his edge softening. He brushed his thumb over her cheek where a tear tracked down, rough but careful. “We’ll figure it out. Not because it’s easy. Not because we wanted it this way. But because it’s us. And we don’t fucking break.”
Sienna let out a shaky laugh, dropping her forehead against his. For a long moment, neither of them moved, just breathing the same air, clinging to the only thing that felt solid.
Kade’s forehead was pressed to hers, his breathing rough and uneven, when he finally muttered, “Fuck it.”
His mouth crashed onto hers—nothing soft, nothing careful. Just teeth, tongue, and heat. Sienna gasped into him, clutching his shirt in both fists like he was the only thing keeping her there.
She wasn’t even sure who moved first, but suddenly he had her flat on the bed, his weight over her, caging her in. Every kiss tasted like anger and fear and the truth neither of them wanted to say out loud: that the world they lived in wasn’t made for children, for family, for them.
Her tshirt was gone in seconds, ripped off with a frustrated growl. Kade’s calloused hands mapped her skin with a desperation that bordered on rough, but never crossed the line. He needed this. Needed her. The only way he knew how to hold himself together.
“Still so fucking reckless,” he muttered against her throat, biting down just enough to make her gasp. “Always making me lose control.”
Sienna arched under him, her nails dragging down his back. “You love it,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “You love me when I drive you crazy.”
“Damn right I do.” He pinned her wrists above her head with one hand, his other skimming down her stomach, making her shiver. “But you’re gonna remember who you belong to, Sienna.”
“Then show me.” Her defiance flared even now, daring him.
And he did.
Kade kissed her like he could pour all his rage and devotion straight into her veins. Every movement was raw and demanding, his body grinding against hers like he was trying to erase everything else—Vitale, her father’s death, the test burning on the nightstand.
When he finally thrust into her, it wasn’t slow or careful. It was hard, deep, claiming. A rhythm that shook the bed, that stole her breath and made her cry out his name.
“Mine,” he growled against her ear, his voice breaking with the force of it. “You, this life, even this baby—I’ll burn the whole world down before I let anyone touch what’s mine.”
Sienna clung to him, nails digging into his shoulders as wave after wave crashed through her. And when she shattered beneath him, Kade followed with a groan, spilling into her like he could seal their fate together forever.
After, he didn’t move right away. Just stayed inside her, forehead pressed to her collarbone, his chest heaving. For once, he didn’t have any more words. Just the weight of everything they’d done, everything still to come.
Sienna threaded her fingers through his damp hair, her voice a whisper in the dark. “We don’t break.”
Kade lifted his head, his blue eyes blazing even in the low light. “No. We don’t.”
The room was quiet except for the slowing rhythm of their breaths. The air smelled like sex and leather and gunpowder—their life distilled into one space.
Kade rolled to the side just enough to give her air, though his arm stayed locked around her waist like he couldn’t stand the thought of letting go. His face was buried against her neck, rough stubble scraping her skin, his breath still uneven.
Sienna let her hand trail down his spine, nails scratching lightly. “You’re still mad,” she murmured, not a question.
“Mad as hell,” Kade admitted, his voice low, raw. “Mad at you. Mad at me. Mad at this whole fucked-up world we’re stuck in.” He lifted his head, meeting her eyes. “But I’ll never be mad at what we make together. Don’t get that twisted.”
Her throat tightened at that, and she bit her lip to keep from crying again. “I don’t want you to regret me.”
“Regret you?” His hand slid to her jaw, forcing her to look at him. His thumb brushed the faint mark from Vitale’s slap, still there, still haunting him. “You think I’d survive a day without you?”
The way he said it made her chest ache. Because she believed him. Kade wasn’t made to bend, not for anyone—but for her, he already had.
For a moment they just stayed there, breathing each other in, holding on like the world outside wasn’t waiting to tear them apart again.
Kade’s mouth found her temple, then her cheek, then hovered over her lips. Softer this time, lingering instead of devouring. “Sleep while you can, princess,” he whispered. “Morning’s gonna come fast.”
Sienna pressed closer, her crescent moon necklace cool against his chest as she curled into him. “As long as it comes with you, I’ll be fine.”
Kade’s hold tightened. He didn’t answer—he didn’t need to.
Sunlight slipped in through the cracks of the curtains, pale and muted against the dark of their room. The world outside was already moving, but inside, it was still. Sienna stirred first, her head still pillowed against Kade’s chest, his heartbeat steady beneath her ear.
For one fragile second, she forgot the weight of crowns, guns, and betrayals. She let herself imagine it was just them—two people in love, tangled in sheets, with nothing chasing them but time.
Kade groaned low in his throat as she shifted, his hand tightening on her hip like he wasn’t ready to wake up either. “Don’t move yet,” he muttered, voice gravelly from sleep.
“You’re the one squeezing me like I’m gonna run away.”
His lips curved against her hair. “You might. You got that look in your eyes last night.”
She tilted her head up, giving him a small smile. “You’d drag me back.”
“Damn right.” He kissed her forehead, then sighed. “Wish we could stay like this.”
Sienna’s chest ached at the honesty in his tone. “Me too.” She traced circles on his skin with her finger, the silence stretching comfortably. Then, after a long pause: “We’ll figure it out. Whatever comes next.”
Kade looked down at her, blue eyes shadowed but steady. “We always do.”
The knock shattered the moment. Sharp. Urgent. Not the kind you could ignore.
Kade’s jaw flexed as he untangled from her, already pushing up to sit on the edge of the bed. His hand automatically went to the gun on the nightstand, thumb brushing the safety.
Sienna sat up too, clutching the sheet to her chest, her heart hammering. “Kade—”
He glanced back at her, his face hardening back into the mask the world demanded of him. “Stay here.”
Another knock, heavier this time. A man’s voice through the door: “Kade. We’ve got something. You need to see this.”
Kade swore under his breath, then looked at Sienna one more time. That flicker of tenderness was still there, fighting through the steel. “We’ll finish this later.”
And then he was on his feet, pulling on his shirt, heading for the door.
Sienna watched him go, clutching the sheets tighter around her, the weight of the world already pressing back in.
Kade swung the door open, shoulders broad, every muscle taut with restrained violence. On the other side stood Marco, one of their most trusted men, though right now even trust felt like a fragile thing. His expression was tight, his jaw set.
“We found something,” Marco said without preamble. His gaze flicked briefly past Kade’s shoulder toward Sienna, sitting upright in the bed. Respect—or maybe guilt—made him snap his eyes back quickly. “One of Vitale’s men didn’t make the sweep. He’s been hiding in the city. And he’s not alone.”
Kade’s eyes narrowed. “You’re sure?”
Marco nodded. “We caught one of our own meeting with him. Quietly. Too quietly. She cracked after a few broken fingers. Said she delivered the poison that killed your father.”
The air in the room turned to ice. Behind Kade, Sienna’s sharp inhale cut through the silence.
Kade’s grip on the doorframe tightened until his knuckles went white. His voice came out low, lethal. “Who?”
Marco’s gaze darted between them, hesitation written in the lines of his face. “It’s someone close. I thought you’d both want to be there before we deal with her.”
Kade didn’t move for a moment, his jaw ticking as he wrestled the fury boiling inside him. Then he gave one curt nod. “Bring her. Lock her down. No one touches her until I say so.”
Marco nodded, already stepping back into the hall.
Kade closed the door but didn’t turn right away. He stood there, shoulders heaving, hands curled into fists.
From the bed, Sienna’s voice was soft but razor-sharp. “So it’s true. There’s a traitor.”
Finally, Kade turned. His gaze locked on hers—equal parts protective and burning with rage. “Yeah. And we’re about to rip her out by the root.”
Kade crossed back to the bed, crouching in front of Sienna. His hands braced against her knees, grounding her, his stormy eyes refusing to look away.
“They thought they could break you by taking him,” Kade said, voice low, steady, dangerous. “Now they’re going to see what happens when we come for blood. Together.”
Sienna swallowed, her hand finding the small crescent moon pendant at her throat. It felt heavier now. Her father’s legacy. Their future. The baby inside her. All of it tangled in the firestorm about to hit.
“Whoever betrayed us…” she whispered, “…they’ll wish Vitale finished the job.”
Kade’s mouth ghosted against her knuckles, not soft but a vow. “They will.”
And then a sharp rap echoed at the door again—three hard knocks that promised no more waiting.
Kade straightened, already shifting into the weapon he became for her. “It’s time.”
Sienna exhaled, steadying herself, and stood.
The game had changed.
