Raven stormed out of the war room with Dante and Lucian already moving behind her, but the fire in her veins wouldn’t settle.

Her hand still pressed low on her belly where the deep tenderness from last night pulsed like a dirty secret. Vincent’s low promise echoed in her head — Last night was only the beginning. The way his thumb had stroked her hip, reminding her exactly how he’d claimed her... it made that deep, lingering ache throb even now, shame and heat twisting together until she wanted to scream.

She hated how her body remembered him. Hated how the word "wife" still sat heavy on her chest like a brand. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

But the new alerts flashing on every screen had drowned everything else out.

Another warehouse torched.

Two more scouts gone — probably carved up and left for the rats.

Caruso’s statement blasting everywhere: "the De Luca whore." Bounty so fucking high that even loyal dogs were starting to sniff around.

Raven stopped dead at the long table, staring at the glowing feeds. Her hands shook at her sides. The ring on her left finger felt like lead dragging her down.

She’d given them everything.

Since she was twelve they’d molded her. Orphaned kid turned into their perfect blade. First kill at sixteen. Blood. Silence. No dreams. No softness. No one to make her feel human. Just loyalty — cold, unquestioned loyalty.

Never asked for praise.

Never asked for rest.

Never asked for love.

All she wanted was to keep breathing so she could serve.

And this was their answer.

A dead body with "TRAITOR" hacked deep into the chest.

Her name dragged through the mud as a whore who spread her legs for the enemy.

A price tag on her head like she was fucking livestock.

Rage exploded in her chest like molten glass.

It burned so hot she couldn’t breathe. Vision blurring. Body shaking hard enough her teeth clicked.

"I was loyal," she whispered, voice cracking like thin ice.

Then it tore out of her.

"I was fucking loyal!"

Every head snapped toward her.

"I killed for them when I was still a goddamn child!" She slammed her fist on the table. The crack ripped through the room. "I bled for them! Gave them my childhood, my body, my fucking soul — everything! Never questioned an order. Never asked for more than the next target. Never wanted anything except to be useful!"

Her voice broke ugly and raw. Tears spilled hot down her cheeks. She didn’t wipe them. Let them fall.

"And the second I’m inconvenient, they throw me away like garbage? Carve up Marco? Call me a whore and put a bounty on me like I’m nothing?"

Chest heaving. Nails digging bloody half-moons into her palms. The tender pulse low in her belly flared with every ragged breath, pain tangling with the betrayal ripping her apart inside.

She whipped toward Vincent at the head of the table. Eyes blazing through the tears.

"They think this marriage made me weak." Her voice trembled with pure venom. "Think I’m just some trophy you fucked and claimed. Think the killer they raised is dead."

She slammed both palms down and leaned in hard.

"I want to remind them exactly who the fuck I am."

Her stare locked on Vincent, chin high, fire and years of pain burning together.

"They’ll hit the old east warehouse again tonight. I know the secondary tunnel — the one they never mapped right because they thought it was obsolete. I trained there for years. Every shadow. Every blind corner. Every fucking breath of that place."

She stepped closer, voice dropping low and vicious.

"Let me go in. I’ll wait in the dark. Take the lead team quiet. Leave one alive. Carve into his chest: ’The De Luca wife sends her regards.’ Let them choke on it."

Dante whistled low. "Ice cold, princess."

"It’s justice," Raven snarled. "They made me a killer. Now they get the version without the leash."

She turned fully to Vincent, breathing hard, tears streaking her face, body still trembling.

"I’m not asking permission. I’m telling you. Because if I sit here one more minute letting them spit on every year I gave them, I’m gonna lose what’s left of my mind."

The room went dead quiet.

Vincent studied her. Slow. Intense. Taking in the blood on her hands, the raw fury shaking her frame, the way her chest rose and fell like she might explode.

Then the corner of his mouth curved — dark, satisfied.

"Better."

He pushed up from his chair and crossed to her in three strides. Close enough that his heat wrapped around her again.

"You want to play?" His voice dropped low, just for her. "Play it right. Take two of my men. They don’t interfere unless you’re bleeding out. Non-negotiable."

Raven opened her mouth.

Vincent’s fingers caught her jaw — firm, possessive, the same grip that had held her down while he drove into her. A slow burn spread across her chest. Her breath went shallow. Shame and dirty want twisted low in her gut even through the rage.

"And when you come back..." His thumb brushed her bottom lip, eyes dark with hunger and something deeper. "I want every filthy detail. How it felt to remind them who you belong to now. How wet you got thinking about me while you carved that message. Because last night was only the beginning, wife. Tonight you fight for the De Lucas... and then you come home to me."

The words hit her like a spark on gasoline. Her breath hitched. Her legs pressed together involuntarily, sending a deep throb through her.

She jerked her face away, but her voice stayed steady. "I’ll be back before dawn."

As she turned — Lucian already pulling maps, Dante falling in with a sharp grin — something shifted hard in Raven’s chest.

She wasn’t just reacting anymore.

She wasn’t just surviving Vincent’s world or Caruso’s betrayal.

She was moving first.

The ring still weighed heavily on her finger. Vincent’s promise still burned on her skin. Years of acid loyalty churned in her veins like poison she was finally ready to spit back.

Caruso threw her away like trash.

She was going to make them regret every lesson they’d ever beaten into her.

One bloody, screaming message at a time.

And when she returned... Vincent would be waiting.