Page 77 of The Devil's Thorn
Even injured,she fought with precision. Brutality. Controlled chaos.
I gave the command to let them in. I handpicked the men. No live rounds—only blades. I made sure they knew to make itrealwithout making it fatal.
But her reaction?
That was real.
Every movement. Every breath. Every drop of blood.
And she didn’t just survive it—she conquered it.
That’s what stays with me now.
Not the wound. Not the lies. Not even the little story she fed me about her murdered family and her so-called search for truth.
No.
It’s theragein her eyes when she picked up that gun. The way her voice didn’t shake when she held it to a man twice her size.
And the way she didn’t flinch whenIput one to her head.
I tilt the glass slightly, watching the ice swirl.
Isabella.
A name like that belongs to someone important. Someonebornto be watched. And that’s exactly what I intend to do now.
I already have Nikolai running searches. Every system. Every database. Every face scan. But something tells me she’s buried whatever past she had too deep for even Nikolai to find quickly.
Which only makes her more interesting.
Because no one walks into my house without a past. Not her. Not the two men she commands like soldiers. Not the kind of woman who gets branded with blood and leaves the man who tried to kill herbeggingfor breath.
She didn’t just step into my world.
Shebelongsin it.
I finish the drink and set the empty glass down on the marble bar. My eyes never leave the skyline. Somewhere out there, she’s licking her wounds. Somewhere out there, she thinks she passed my test.
And maybe she did.
But this?
This was onlyround one.
I haven’t moved from the window for some time now. She gave me her name. But the bigger reveal wasn’t in what she said—it was in who stood beside her.
Kellan and Ash.
Two men who don’t answer to me. Two men who would’ve died the second I gave the word… and they knew it. Yet they stood their ground. For her.
They bled for her.
And when I touched her—barely brushed my hand down her buttons—they looked ready to tear the room apart.
That wasn’t protection. That wasdevotion.
I don’t underestimate that kind of loyalty. Icherishit. Because in this world, loyalty isn’t earned with blood—it’sprovenin it.
