Julian's private jet touched down like thunder cracking through the night sky. Midnight shadows curled around the runway, but his steps were fire—fueled by rage, worry, and the unbearable silence from the one person that mattered most right now.
He didn't wait for clearance. Didn't wait for his security escort to open the jet doors. He was already halfway down the stairs when his phone vibrated with a message from Alex:
"Found the van. Location pinned. She's in there."
Julian didn't reply. He simply passed the phone to one of his guards and barked, "Get the cars. All of them."
---
Outside the target location—an old industrial warehouse cloaked in shadows and silence—thirty blacked-out vehicles formed a black wall, surrounding the building like wolves circling a carcass. Engines running. Guns cocked. Alex stood in front, dressed in combat black, an earpiece tucked under his dark hair.
When Julian's vehicle pulled up, the tension turned electric.
He stepped out without a word, his face unreadable, his aura deadly. The air shifted.
Alex moved to intercept. "We should let the men sweep the place first—"
"I'm going in." Julian didn't break stride.
"Julian—!"
"Send ten with me, that's all." His voice brooked no argument.
Alex gritted his teeth but nodded, signaling ten elite men forward. The group moved like shadows into the building, the only sound being boots and breathing and the subtle click of safeties coming off.
---
The inside of the warehouse smelled like rust and blood. Faint light flickered from exposed bulbs above. As Julian advanced through the corridor, a scrawny man stumbled out from behind a crate, trembling, gun raised.
Julian was faster.
He aimed, finger on the trigger, but halted. "Where is she?"
The man's voice cracked. "She—she escaped. Few minutes ago. Out the back gate. I swear—"
A gunshot tore through the silence.
Julian didn't wait for lies. He fired a clean shot to the chest and stepped over the body without blinking.
"No one leaves alive," he growled. "Except one we'll use. Make sure he talks. Burn the rest."
Alex, still outside, heard the echo of the shot and tilted his head.
Then came the shout.
"I'm going to find her!" Julian's voice cracked the night as he stormed out of the building, the fire in his eyes leaving the armed guards still and silent.
He didn't wait for backup. He didn't wait for logic. He was already sprinting along the southern perimeter of the compound, calling out her name.
"Rose!"
"Rose, where are you?!"
He moved like a storm, brushing past barbed fences and overgrown trash. His coat snagged on a nail, but he ripped through it. He could feel it—she was close.
And then—
Blood.
Dark, smeared stains led away from the fence, toward a broken alley.
His steps grew faster. More frantic.
Until his eyes landed on her.
There she was.
Lying motionless near a stack of broken crates, barely breathing, the moonlight kissing her battered face. Her hair was tangled, her cheek bruised, and blood seeped from her temple and arm. One of her shoes was missing.
He froze for a second.
It was the first time in a very long time that Julian Carter froze.
Then everything in him shattered.
He was at her side in two strides, kneeling. "Rose. Rose—look at me."
Her eyes fluttered.
"J-Julian…?" Her voice was a whisper, fragile and broken.
"I'm here. I've got you." He scooped her up, holding her like she'd crumble if he wasn't careful. His jaw clenched, tears burning behind his eyes, but he didn't let them fall.
He turned and walked—no, marched—back toward the building. The same guards that feared no one moved out of his path.
"Get the door!" he barked.
Alex opened the back of the car immediately, eyes widening as he saw Rose.
"Go. Get things done," Julian said, not breaking pace. "No mercy."
"Understood," Alex said grimly.
Julian placed Rose gently in the back seat, cradling her head, before slamming the door and racing to the driver's seat himself. He didn't trust anyone else with her life right now.
The tires screamed against the asphalt as the car sped off into the night, headed for the nearest private hospital under his network.
Julian didn't look back.
But war had begun.
And Bullet had just made himself the most hunted man in Julian Carter's world.