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She was trained to keep her guard up.
But he was never part of the mission.
Ex–military captain Audrey Rousseau has bullets in her blood and shadows on her back. After a mission gone wrong forced her out of the French armed forces, she takes a high-risk job oceans away—protecting the dangerously handsome heir to a billion-dollar private security empire.
Sebastian Donovan has more money than most countries—and just as many enemies. With that effortless charm and a habit of pushing limits, he’s exactly the kind of trouble Audrey promised herself she’d avoid. But when a hit team comes too close and secrets start bleeding from his father’s empire, protecting Sebastian means going off-grid... and toeing the line between survival and surrender.
Every mission has rules.
But in the heat of escape, in the silence between gunfire and glances, rules break. Walls fall. And what begins as protection becomes something far more dangerous.
Because obsession doesn’t wait for permission.
And love never asks for orders.

Between Orders and Obsession

Outside Tannersville, Wyoming – Present Day

Time: 05:43 AM

Audrey sat motionless inside the stolen 4x4, boots up on the dash, eyes fixed on the pale orange bleeding through the clouds. The sunrise didn't move her. It hadn't in years.

Beside her, Sebastian rifled through a dossier stolen from a safehouse contact—Lucien's surveillance grid, timelines, operative assets.

"You ever wonder," she murmured, "how much of this started with us?"

And because he already knew the answer.

Flashback

Damascus, Syria – 6 Years Ago

Rain had no business in the desert, but that night—it fell like ash.

Four of them dropped into the city's western perimeter in silence. Black suits. Unmarked gear. Intel classified even to senior NATO analysts.

Her name was Layla Rousseau—code-name Valkyrie, embedded field medic, specialist in urban recon.

She was also Audrey's best friend.

Sisters. By blood? No. But by life? Every breath, every bullet.

Audrey's orders were clear: infiltrate a weapons depot controlled by an emerging militia faction with ties to an unknown financier—code-named Zeus. Collect, confirm, extract.

But nothing about that night was clear.

"Eyes on target," Layla's voice whispered through comms, tinged with tension. "Intel said eight guards. I count thirteen."

Lucien's voice came next—cold, clinical. "Change of plan. Confirm presence of Package Zulu inside the lower chamber. Engage if compromised."

"Zulu wasn't part of the brief," she hissed into the mic.

Then: "Zulu is primary. Orders supersede."

She turned to Layla, who crouched beside her in a second-story ruin, wind pushing dust between them.

"Do you trust him?" Layla asked softly.

Audrey stared at the compound below. "No."

Explosions. Misfired signals. Backup never arrived.

In the lower chamber—Audrey found the package.

Seven of them. Maybe eight. Chained. Drugged. Unconscious.

And standing across the chamber, pistol drawn—Lucien.

"I said Zulu was the target," he said calmly. "I never said what Zulu was."

"I gave you purpose. You just didn't like the cost."

Layla stepped between Audrey and Lucien. "We get them out, or I burn the whole damn op."

She doesn't remember how she got out. Only that she did.

Dragging Layla's body through rubble. Half her face gone. No pulse. No med evac.

When Audrey made it back to the extraction zone—she was the only one left alive.

Lucien was gone. Files were buried. And Project Heretic was officially disbanded within 48 hours.

Return to Present – Wyoming

Sebastian watched Audrey, her jaw clenched, hands gripping the wheel like she could choke the past out of it.

"She was Clara's daughter, wasn't she?"

"She died because I followed orders."

Sebastian leaned closer. "No. She died because Lucien used you both."

"We're not just fighting him," she said. "We're fighting what he made from our mistakes."

She pulled a folded photo from her coat pocket—creased, weathered.

Layla. Smiling. Arm slung over Audrey's shoulder. Syria, 2019.

"We end this," Audrey whispered. "Not for justice. Not for redemption."

CHAPTER 22 - Damascus, Again