Chapter 27 Accelerating The Claim

• (POV: Mateo)
• The brief report crackled through the secure comms unit clipped discreetly inside my jacket cuff, delivering the expected update as my men efficiently cleared the scene outside the gala. “Asset secure, physically unharmed. Two hostiles down, one likely escaped wounded. Clear signs the female asset was the primary target.”
• My knuckles tightened where my hand rested on the smooth leather armrest inside the armored sedan. Physically unharmed. Good. Damaged goods are less valuable. But the fact remained – they had dared. Someone had possessed the audacity, the sheer suicidal stupidity, to mount an attack specifically aimed at her. At my intended wife. My property.