A day before the chaos at the Caldwell home

The penthouse air turned thick, the kind of silence that came right before violence.

Jaden’s back pressed harder against the door, his good hand flat against the wood as if he could push through it by sheer will. His ruined hand hung limp, throbbing in time with his racing pulse. The two men blocking his path didn’t move, didn’t speak just stood there like statues.

Keenan took one slow step forward, then another, hands loose at his sides. The smirk was gone. In its place was something colder, more dangerous, something vile and sinister.

“You think you’re noble,” Keenan said softly,...