He Kissed Her to Survive an Ambush — Until Her Phone Lit Up With a Death Threat Meant for His Wife

Marco burst out laughing, though his voice cracked at the edges. "Salvatore, are you going to listen to this stray? She’s inventing fairy tales to justify her presence!"

"Sit down, Marco," Salvatore commanded, his voice freezing the air in the room.

Salvatore stood up and walked toward Harper, stopping just inches from her. He pulled a heavy leather-bound file from the sideboard and placed it into her hands. "Show me."

Harper opened the file. Her hands didn't shake. For three hours, while armed men stood in silence, Harper dissected months of logistics records, shipping manifests, and digital security logs.

Using her photographic memory for blueprints and architectural layouts, she pointed out the anomalies: the exact blind spots where the security cameras had been disabled thirty minutes before the shooting; the fraudulent maintenance orders signed under a forged digital key; and the off-shore shell corporation that funded the communications jammer used in the salon.

"The digital signature on this maintenance reroute," Harper whispered, tracing a line on the screen, "matches the corporate seal of Vance Holdings."

She stopped dead.

*Vance.*

"Oliver Vance," Harper said, the name tasting like ash in her mouth. "The man who arrived at my table after the shooting. His father owns the shipping transport fleet contracted by the city."

Salvatore leaned down, his face inches from hers, his voice dangerous and low. "Oliver Vance is the cousin of your stepsister’s fiancé, isn't he, Harper?"

Harper looked up at him, the entire puzzle snapping together in a horrifying instant of betrayal.

Chloe hadn't just set her up on an embarrassing blind date. Chloe had coordinated with Marco Rossi and Oliver Vance to place Harper at that exact table at 8:00 PM. Harper wasn't supposed to survive. She was meant to be caught in the crossfire as collateral damage, leaving Chloe the sole inheritor of their father's multi-million-dollar waterfront restoration contract.

Marco had planned to kill Salvatore; Chloe had planned to eliminate Harper. Two birds, one bloodbath.

"They used us both," Harper whispered, a wave of cold fury washing away every remaining ounce of fear in her body.

Salvatore looked at her, his amber eyes blazing with an unholy fire.

"Then let us show them what happens when the wolves realize the prey has teeth," Salvatore murmured.