The first attack came quietly. quietly.
Naya woke before the alarm muscle memory snapping her eyes open at 4:17 a.m. The penthouse was silent, but silence had weight. She slipped out of bed, barefoot, gun already in her hand.Glass doors. Balcony. Wind.
Wrong.She moved fast.
"Kairo," she hissed into the comm as she reached his door.No response.
Her pulse spiked.
She entered low, sweeping the room. Moonlight spilled across the bed empty. The balcony doors were slightly open.
"Kairo!" she whispered sharply.
"I'm right here."
She spun, gun up.
He stood near the kitchenette in workout shorts, shirtless, holding a bottle of water like this was any other morning.
"What the hell are you doing?" she snapped.
"Couldn't sleep," he said. "Went for water."
"You don't move without telling me."
"I don't take orders"
The blade flew before he finished the sentence.
Naya lunged, knocking him back as the knife embedded itself in the wall where his head had been a second earlier. Glass shattered. An intruder dropped from the balcony railing.
Everything exploded into motion.
Kairo felt her body slam into his, pushing him down as she fired two precise shots. The man went over the railing, disappearing into the darkness below.
Silence.Again.
But this time it was earned.
Naya's chest rose and fell as she scanned the room, then the balcony, then him.
"You're bleeding," he said.
She looked down. A shallow cut along her forearm.
"Later."She grabbed his face roughly, forcing him to look at her. "I said don't move without telling me."Her eyes were furious. Shaken.
Concerned.He swallowed. "Noted."
The authorities arrived within minutes. So did lawyers. Contracts were reviewed. Security doubled.And the conclusion was simple.
"You can't stay here," Naya said later, as dawn crept in.
Kairo leaned against the counter, adrenaline still buzzing. "This is a fortress."
"Someone still got in."
"So what you want to put me in a bunker?"
"No," she said. "I want to hide you in plain sight."