Page 28 of Silent Night, Savage Heart

"Blake Delano." She smiles against my mouth. "Are you trying to seduce me?”

"I'm trying to keep you alive long enough to see you claim that inheritance and destroy everyone who ever underestimated you."

"And after that?"

"After that, we'll figure out what’s next…together."

The word together feels foreign, dangerous. I've been alone for so long that partnership sounds like a weakness. But standing here with Peyton in my arms, her heartbeat racing against my chest, I think maybe it's the opposite. Maybe together is the only way either of us survives this because I’ve never felt more alive.

"We need to go," I say reluctantly. "The appointment's in an hour, and we need to get these documents first."

"Right. Documents. DNA verification. Saving my life." She straightens her sweater, tries to fix her hair. “Those are very important, very urgent things that we should definitely focus on instead of doing this."

She’s taking this way too casually.

"Peyton."

"I know, I know. Survival first, feeling me up in hallways second." She grins. "But for the record? Totally worth it."

Yeah. It was.

I lead her to my office, unlock the safe where I've kept the additional files Talia gave me. Peyton takes them with reverent hands, like she's holding pieces of her mother.

"She probably was looking for this," she says quietly. "For proof. For power. For everything they took from her."

"And now you're going to finish what she started."

We leave through the back entrance. The morning's gotten colder, snow starting to fall again in lazy spirals.

My phone buzzes. It’s Talia.

Talia: Silas knows you have her. Nico's been ordered to bring you both in. Be careful.

I show Peyton the message.

"So it begins," she says.

"It began the moment you walked into that gala." I open the car door for her. "Now we just finish it."

She slides into the passenger seat, files clutched to her chest, lips still swollen from my kiss.

I get behind the wheel, pull into traffic. In the rearview mirror, I see a black SUV two cars back. They’re following us, and they’re not being subtle about it. It may be Silas's men or the Hollow Club's. Maybe both.

But it doesn't matter.

If they want her, they'll have to go through me, and I've already proven I'm willing to burn the world for less. I reach over, take her hand. She threads her fingers through mine.

We’ve now made a promise neither of us can afford to break. But we make it anyway. Because I'm done pretending I don't care.

I'm all in.

And when a man like me makes a commitment, I sure as hell am going to see it through.

“Hold on, Peyton. This ride’s about to get bumpy.”

Chapter 6

Peyton