Chapter 5 - The Silent StrikeThe Cane Corso moved like lightning.
Before Marcus could bring the bronze statue down, Max leaped. His massive jaws didn't aim for the arm or the vest this time. He hit Marcus squarely in the throat.
A wet, choking gurgle escaped Marcus's lips as the man crashed backward through the stained-glass window on the landing. Shards of multicolored glass exploded outward into the night air, raining down into the foyer below like shattered rubies.
Marcus didn't scream. There was no time. His body pitched backward over the railing, plummeting twenty feet down to the marble-tiled foyer. A sickening thud echoed through the empty house, followed by absolute, deathly silence.
I slumped against the wall, my breathing ragged and shallow. The poison was eating through my system, freezing my limbs, turning my blood to ice.
Isabella stared down at the stairwell, her eyes wide with genuine shock for the first time all night. She looked back at me, then down at the massive black dog standing guard over the shattered window.
Max turned his head slowly. His amber eyes locked onto Isabella.
For seven years, he had been her dog. She had trained him. She had fed him. She had brought him into this house as a silent weapon against me.
But animals don't understand human greed, vengeance, or contracts. They understand pack, and they understand survival. And over seven years of sleeping at the foot of my bed, watching me work, watching me protect my home, Max had chosen his alpha.
"Max," Isabella whispered, taking a slow step back, her voice trembling slightly for the first time. "Good boy... remember me? Good dog..."
Max didn't move. He didn't growl. He simply lowered his massive head, baring his teeth in a silent snarl that sent a shiver straight down the spine.
"Traitor," Isabella spat, pulling a small silver-plated derringer pistol from her tactical belt with shaking hands. "Stupid, worthless beast—"
She raised the gun toward the dog.
With the last remaining ounce of strength in my body, I reached out from the floor, my fingers digging into the hem of her tactical pants, pulling hard.
Isabella lost her footing on the shattered glass scattered across the landing.
Crack.
May you like
Her shot went wild, embedding itself harmlessly in the mahogany floorboards just as she slipped and fell hard onto her back. The derringer skittered across the floor, sliding over the edge of the stairs and falling into the darkness below.
Max was on her in a heartbeat.
