My billionaire mafia husband asked if I could still love him if he never walked again, but before I could answer, a terrifying phone call changed everything...

"Drop the detonator, Victor."

The voice was cold, level, and stepped directly out of the nightmare Victor had tried to create.

Victor froze. He slowly turned his head.

At the other end of the catwalk stood Adrian. His suit jacket was torn, blood staining his white dress shirt, but he stood completely upright, balanced on the narrow iron bridge like a monolith. The mechanical servos at his knees hissed softly, venting heat. A faint red warning light was flashing on his inner collar—his time was running out.

Victor’s jaw dropped in sheer, unadulterated terror. "You... you can walk? It was a lie? All of it?"

"Not all of it," Adrian said, taking a slow, heavy step forward. Each footfall echoed like a funeral bell. "I feel every broken bone in my lumbar spine screaming right now. But the pain is a small price to pay to watch you die."

"Stay back!" Victor shrieked, panic unraveling his sanity. He swung the gun between Adrian and me. "I'll press it! I swear to God I'll blow this entire catwalk into the bay!"

"No, you won't," Adrian said softly.

He lunged.

The speed was unnatural, propelled by the hydraulic actuators. Victor pulled the trigger of the revolver, the deafening shot grazing Adrian's shoulder, tearing through flesh and fabric. But Adrian didn't even flinch. He crashed into Victor like a freight train, slamming the mobster against the industrial railing.

The gun clattered over the edge, plunging thirty feet into the dark water below.

Victor screamed, swinging the detonator box like a club, striking Adrian across the face. Blood welled at Adrian’s brow, but his hands—iron and merciless—found Victor’s throat. With terrifying strength, Adrian lifted Victor off his feet, suspending him over the sheer drop of the catwalk.

"Please!" Victor choked, his fingers clawing uselessly at Adrian’s forearms. "Adrian... we can split Harrington’s shares... please!"

"You threatened my wife," Adrian whispered, his eyes void of all mercy. "You touched her family."

A sudden, sharp mechanical alarm sounded from Adrian's braces—a high-pitched whine that signaled total structural failure of the battery pack. Adrian's left knee buckled violently, his own body betraying him as the neural feedback seized his nerves.

He began to fall. And with him, Victor was pulling him over the edge.