Chapter 20 - The Unseen Horizon
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Later that evening, as the gala wound down and the final guests departed, Rafe and Nell retreated to his private study. The fire cracked warmly in the hearth, casting long, dancing shadows against the mahogany walls.
Nell kicked off her heels, curling up in the heavy leather armchair with a glass of champagne, admiring the diamond sparkling on her left hand.
Rafe was pouring two fingers of bourbon at the bar when the heavy, encrypted red phone on his desk began to ring.
It was a secure line. A line that only three people in the world had the number for, and two of them were dead.
Rafe froze, the decanter hovering over his glass. The relaxed, victorious groom completely vanished, replaced instantly by the lethal, calculating mafia boss.
“Rafe?” Nell asked, her instincts flaring as she recognized the shift in his posture.
Rafe set the glass down and walked slowly toward the desk. He picked up the receiver, pressing it to his ear without saying a word.
He listened for a long, agonizing minute. The muscles in his jaw tightened so hard they looked carved from granite. The color drained from his face, leaving a pale, terrifying mask of impending violence.
“I understand,” Rafe finally whispered, his voice vibrating with absolute, suppressed fury.
He hung up the phone and looked across the room at Nell.
“What is it?” Nell asked, her heart suddenly racing, standing up from the armchair.
“Bruno wasn't the mastermind,” Rafe stated, his voice dropping into a dark, heavy register that sent a shiver down her spine. “He was just a regional manager. The syndicate in New York just found out I executed their primary earner in Boston without their permission.”
Nell’s blood turned to ice. “New York?”
“The High Commission,” Rafe confirmed, walking over to his hidden weapons vault behind the bookshelf. He racked the slide of a heavy assault rifle with a terrifying, mechanical clack. “They aren't sending lawyers, Nell. They are sending an army.”
He looked at her, no longer seeing a maid or a civilian bride, but a queen preparing for a siege.
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“The war didn't end,” Rafe said, tossing her a sleek, fully loaded 9mm pistol. “It just escalated.”
Nell caught the weapon effortlessly, the cold steel familiar and grounding in her hand. The peaceful illusion was over, but she wasn't afraid. She was the Queen of Ravenscliffe, and the monsters in the dark were about to find out exactly what happens when you threaten her family.
