Chapter 3 - The Sniper’s CallThe glass of the western window shattered into a million glittering diamonds.
Julian’s head snapped sideways as a high-caliber round tore through the heavy mahogany bookshelf inches from his ear, embedding itself deep into the stone wall behind us.
"Ambush!" Marcus roared, diving across the room and tackling Julian to the floor just as a second bullet whistled through the open window, splintering the edge of my desk.
"Get down!" Marcus shouted, dragging Julian behind the reinforced steel barricade of the desk while other guards formed a protective semicircle around my wheelchair.
My heart hammered, not from fear, but from cold, furious adrenaline. Someone was trying to silence Julian before he could drop the name. Someone in my own inner circle—or someone with eyes inside my perimeter.
"Perimeter breach at the west watchtower!" a voice crackled over the tactical radio clipped to Marcus’s shoulder. "Sniper fire originating from the cliffside ridge outside the estate wall! Code Red!"
"Trace the muzzle flash!" I shouted over the rising chaos, gripping my wheels and spinning my chair around to face the smashed window. "Don't let them escape!"
Julian was hyperventilating on the floor, clutching his head, covered in glass shards and wood dust. "They're coming for me! They'll kill us all! You don't know who you're dealing with, Caleb! It goes higher than you think!"
"Shut him up," I snapped at Marcus.
Marcus slammed the butt of his sidearm against the floor near Julian’s head, silencing his hysterics. "Mr. Marino, the shooter is using a suppressed anti-materiel rifle. Standard security countermeasures won't stop a direct hit on the main house. We need to move you to the underground panic room immediately."
"No panic rooms," I snarled. I gripped the wheels of my chair with both hands, my forearms bulging with tension. The phantom electricity I felt earlier in the garden flared up again, racing down my spine. "I spent eight years hiding in this chair while ghosts ran my life. We are going to the roof."
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Marcus looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Sir?"
"The roof," I repeated, my voice leaving zero room for argument. "If someone thinks they can assassinate me in my own home, I'm going to give them a clear shot—and let them see what happens when the Harbor King bites back."
