Page 51 of Knuckles & Knives
He exhales slowly, and there’s a rare, unguarded smile on his lips. “Now I memorize this moment… and prepare to kill anyone who tries to take it from me.”
“Hmm. The monitors are still off,”I observe.
“I noticed.” His arm tightens around me. “Strangely, the world hasn’t ended.”
“Maybe you don’t need to watch everything all the time.”
“Maybe I’ve found something worth not watching everything for.” Marcus tilts my chin up so I’m looking at him. “The plan I showed you tonight… I meant what I said about it being the endgame, but, Raven, I need you to understand something.”
“What’s that?”
“When this is all over, when you’re ruling this city the way your father should have been allowed to rule it, I won’t disappear into the shadows. I won’t step back and become just another advisor or lieutenant.” His gaze is intense, serious. “I’m going to stay right here, being possessive and overprotective and probably driving you crazy with my need to plan for every contingency.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. You were right earlier. I do need something from you. I need to matter to you in a way that has nothing to do with strategy or tactical advantage.” He brushes a strand of hair from my face. “I need to be the man you turn to when the weight of leadership gets too heavy. The one who reminds you that you’re more than just Vincent Blackwood’s heir. You’re Raven, and you’re extraordinary all on your own.”
“You already are that man, Marcus. You have been since the day you saw through every mask I wear and decided to love me anyway.” I stretch up to kiss him softly. “Though I have to ask… was this part of your master plan too? Getting me into your bed so you could guarantee my loyalty?”
His laughter is rich, genuine, free of the careful calculation that usually colors his interactions with the world. “This, Raven Blackwood, was the one thing I never saw coming. The one variable I couldn’t account for or control.” His smile is soft, vulnerable in the darkness. “Falling completely and irrevocably in love with you was never part of any plan. It was just the best mistake I’ve ever made.”
“Good,” I murmur against his lips. “Because the world’s most brilliant strategist should have at least one thing in his life that’s pure chaos.”
“I have four things, actually,” he corrects, his arms tightening around me. “You and your other three impossible men who’ve somehow become my allies instead of my rivals.”
“And how does that make you feel? Sharing?”
“Like the luckiest bastard alive,” he admits. “Because loving you means accepting every part of who you are, including your capacity to love multiple people completely. And if sharing you is the price for keeping you, then I’ll pay it gladly.”
As we lie tangled together in his fortress bedroom, the monitors still dark and the city spreading out below us like a glittering map of possibilities, I realize that Marcus has given me something none of the others could: complete intellectual partnership. With him, I don’t just feel desired or protected or understood—I feel like an equal in the truest sense.
Tomorrow, we’ll implement his brilliant strategy to reclaim my father’s empire. But tonight, the master strategist has finally learned to stop planning long enough to simply feel.
And the world hasn’t ended. It’s just gotten infinitely more beautiful.
I’ve given myself to each of them now—Dom’s fire, Kieran’s redemption, Axel’s ache, and Marcus’s mind--and with each surrender, I’ve taken something back. Strength. Clarity. Control.
It’s amazing how I can’t imagine life without any of them anymore.
CHAPTER 17
The explosion happens at 3:47 AM, according to the timestamp on Marcus’s security footage. I’m jolted awake in his fortress bedroom by the sound of shattering glass and the harsh wail of alarms, my body instinctively rolling toward the edge of the bed even as my mind struggles to process what’s happening.
“Stay down,” Marcus commands, already moving with lethal efficiency despite having been dead asleep moments ago. His hands fly over the control panel he’d turned off earlier, bringing all his monitors back online in a cascade of blue light. “Explosive device in the parking garage. Professional grade, designed to take out structural supports.”
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I can see smoke billowing from the lower levels of the building. The city lights that had seemed so beautiful hours ago now illuminate a war zone, and I realize with cold clarity that our enemies have just made their first direct move.
“How many?” I ask, reaching for the clothes scattered across his bedroom floor.
“Unclear. Thermal imaging is compromised by the fire, but I’m reading at least twelve heat signatures moving through the building.” Marcus is already fully dressed, moving with the kind of practiced efficiency that comes from years of preparing for exactly this scenario. “They’ve disabled the elevators and blocked the main stairwells. We’re trapped.”
My phone buzzes with incoming calls—Dom then Axel then Kieran. I answer Dom’s, putting it on speaker as I finish pulling on my boots.
“Raven, where the hell are you?” His voice is tight with controlled fury and barely concealed panic. “Someone just tried to blow up Marcus’s building.”
“I’m with Marcus. We’re okay for now, but we’re trapped on the thirtieth floor.” I move to the windows, assessing our options. “What’s the situation on your end?”
“Coordinated attacks across the city. The Obsidian is under siege. Three of our safe houses have been hit, and there’s been an attempt on Kieran’s life.” Dom’s report is delivered with military precision, but I can hear the underlying tension. “This isn’t random violence, Raven. Someone is trying to eliminate all of us simultaneously.”
