99Every Woman Fled the Mafia Boss Before Dawn, but the Poor Maid Fell Asleep in His Arms and Woke the Secret That Could Destroy Him

"GET DOWN!" Cassian roared.

He tackled Noel to the floor behind the concrete pillar just as a barrage of automatic gunfire tore through the air, shattering metal filing cabinets and raining concrete dust down upon them.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

Leo and Cassian’s men returned fire with ruthless efficiency, tactical muzzle flashes strobing through the dark basement.

Cassian pulled a sleek, heavy pistol from his coat, leaned around the pillar, and fired three precise shots, dropping two Moretti gunmen instantly.

"Leo!" Cassian shouted over the deafening roar of gunfire. "Get Noel to the service elevator in the back!"

"No!" Noel screamed, gripping Cassian’s lapels tightly, her eyes wide with terror and fierce love. "I'm not leaving you!"

"Listen to me!" Cassian commanded, grabbing her face in his hands, his grey eyes burning with absolute intensity. "You are my entire life, Noel! Take the ledger and get out! If you die, nothing I have matters!"

He shoved the leather-bound ledger into her cloth bag, zipped it shut, and kissed her hard on the lips.

"Go!" Cassian ordered.

Leo grabbed Noel’s arm, hauling her toward a narrow maintenance corridor behind the vault.

Noel looked back through the smoke and dust. She saw Cassian step out from behind the pillar like a dark god of vengeance, firing his weapon with terrifying speed and precision, holding off six gunmen single-handedly to buy her time to escape.

Leo dragged Noel through the dark corridor, burst out a side fire door, and shoved her into the rear seat of the armored SUV.

"Stay down!" Leo shouted, jumping into the driver’s seat and slamming the vehicle into reverse.

As the SUV roared away from the hospital, gunfire erupted from the upper windows. Bullets pinged harmlessly off the heavy bulletproof glass of the SUV.

Noel held the cloth bag tightly against her chest, tears streaming down her face, praying with every fiber of her being for Cassian’s survival.

Ten minutes later, Leo pulled the SUV into a hidden underground parking garage beneath a secure Marchetti safehouse in Lower Manhattan.

Noel scrambled out of the car, her hands shaking, her breath ragged.

"Where is he, Leo?!" Noel cried out. "We have to go back!"

"We wait, Ms. Draper," Leo said firmly, drawing his weapon and standing guard by the garage entrance. "Mr. Marchetti gave strict orders. If he isn't back in thirty minutes, I am to escort you and the ledger straight to the Federal Prosecutor’s office."

Every minute felt like an eternity.

Noel paced the concrete garage, holding her notebook and the ledger, her heart breaking into a thousand pieces. She realized in those agonizing minutes that she didn't care about the two thousand dollars, the clean apartment, or the empire.

She loved Cassian Marchetti. She loved the lonely, broken man who held her in the dark.

At twenty-eight minutes, a battered black sedan screeched into the garage, its tires squealing against the concrete.

The driver’s side door flew open.

Cassian stepped out.

His black coat was gone. His white shirt was torn and covered in soot, dust, and dark crimson blood along his left shoulder. But he was walking. He was alive.

"Cassian!" Noel screamed.

She ran across the garage, throwing her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.

Cassian let out a raspy groan, wrapping his good right arm around her, lifting her off her feet, pressing his face into her hair.

"I told you," Cassian whispered roughly into her ear. "No one takes you from me."

Leo walked over, a proud smile on his scarred face. "And Vittorio?"