Chapter 5 - THE FIRING LINEBANG! BANG!
The muzzle flashes illuminated the hallway in strobes of blinding white light. I threw myself to the floor, pulling Mia off the sofa and shielding her small body beneath mine as wood splinters rained down around us.
"Stay down!" I screamed, pressing her face against the carpet. "Don't look! Don't move!"
Outside our door, the corridor turned into a war zone.
"Clear the sector!" a harsh voice shouted in the hallway.
"Intruders in the north corridor!" Marcus’s voice roared over the distant gunfire.
I peeked around the splintered frame of our doorway. The sight froze the blood in my veins.
Adrian Kane stood in the center of the hallway, barefoot and wearing only black sleep pants, a tactical vest strapped over his bare chest. In each hand, he held a customized Sig Sauer P226, firing with cold, lethal precision.
Two masked intruders in black tactical gear lay motionless on the Persian rug. A third intruder was desperately trying to retreat toward the service stairwell, but Adrian advanced on him like an apex predator, stepping over the bodies without a flicker of emotion in his slate-gray eyes.
"Drop the weapon," Adrian commanded, his voice slicing through the ringing silence like a razor blade.
The intruder panicked, swinging his submachine gun around—
Bang.
Adrian fired once. The man dropped instantly, tumbling down the flight of concrete stairs with a heavy thud.
For a terrifying five seconds, the only sound in the mansion was the heavy, ragged breathing of Adrian Kane as he stood alone in the smoke-filled corridor, his guns still raised.
Slowly, he lowered his weapons. He turned his head, scanning the hallway, until his eyes locked onto our doorway.
When he saw me and Mia huddled on the floor, the cold, emotionless killer vanished in a heartbeat. The panic of a desperate protector flared in his eyes.
Adrian dropped his pistols, sprinting across the ruined hallway and dropping to his knees beside us.
"Elena! Mia!" he gasped, his hands hovering over us, shaking slightly as he checked us for injuries. "Are you hurt? Did any of them touch you?"
"We're—we're okay," I stammered, tears finally breaking free and spilling down my cheeks. "We're safe. Oh God, Adrian, there were men in the house—"
"I know," Adrian murmured fiercely, pulling both of us into his arms, burying his face in the crook of my neck. His heart was hammering wildly against his bare chest. "I'm sorry. I swear to you, I didn't think they'd move this fast. Julian just crossed a line he can never come back from."
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"Who were they?" I whispered, clutching the back of his tactical vest.
"Professionals," Adrian said, his voice hardening back into granite as he pulled back and looked into my eyes. "Which means someone inside my own security detail sold us out."
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