She moved forward, her bare feet padding across the floor. “Listen, I know you’re angry—”
“You have no idea,” I growled, locking my jaw.
“Actually, I do.” She halted in front of me. “I’m not asking you not to take your revenge. I’m only begging you to spare Richard’s life.”
My brows knitted together at her request.
“You can destroy his assets, burn his empire to the ground. Hell, you can even frame him for something that would land him in jail for a very long time.” She paused, staring into my eyes. “Just don’t kill him. Please.”
“This is war, Emika,” I replied, my voice dripping with venom. “And he started it.”
“I know,” she said. “Richard Beaumont is evil. But he’s also my grandfather. I don’t…I don’t wanna be linked to his death. It’ll be messed up.”
I clenched my fingers into fists, hating how much her tenderness affected me. However, before I could even give her request some thought, I noticed something strange.
Her eyes, wide with terror, had shifted from my face to something behind me. And in the next second, chaos erupted.
“Get down!” she screamed at me, her arms wrapping around me as she pushed me away from the window.
The moment we hit the ground, gunshots rang out, bullets shattering the glass. Instinctively, I rolled over her body, my protective arms shielding her face from the falling shards.
Richard’s men had followed us home. They brought the fight to my mansion. How dare they!
“This is the man you’re rooting for?” I asked her, my voice filled with rage.
Three armed men swung into my office space through the broken window.
“Stay down,” I murmured in her ear.
With lightning speed, I sprang to my feet and hurled myself into the air. A second layer, my knee connected with an assailant’s head, denting it into the edge of my table.
The other two turned toward me, firing their guns.
Too slow.
I moved between them, weaving through their shots with tactical steps. I grabbed one’s hand in a heartbeat and twisted. He threw his head back and screamed as I snapped his elbow like a fuckin’ twig.
The other fired three times, but I was quick to use the one with the broken arm as a human shield. While his body absorbed the shots, his gun slipped from his grasp. I caught it in midair, poked my head from behind his back, and pulled the trigger. A bullet to the head knocked the other guy out cold.
The two men dropped dead.
“Don’t get up!” I said to Emika.
By now, the sound of rapid gunfire has filled the air, plunging the whole mansion into chaos.
I picked up an assault rifle discarded on the floor and aimed it at the door. Waiting. Less than three seconds later, four armed men barged in. Unfortunately for them, I was prepared. I open fire: four rapid shots. One bullet for each.
The screams of my maids echoed through the hallways, blending with the deafening sound of gunshots. My staff had nothing to do with our fight, and Richard had no business invading my home.
There was no way in hell that I was going to let him live after this.
“Emi, stay here,” I said to her, already marching toward the door.
“What? No!” She rose to her feet, rushing over to me with her head lowered. “Wherever you go, I go.”
“It’s dangerous out there,” I insisted, shifting my gaze between her and the front door. “For all we know, these people might be everywhere in the house.” My voice dropped to a low whisper. “We’re trapped in here with them.”
“No, Adrik. This isourhome.” She picked up one of the dead men’s pistols. “We’re not trapped in here with them. They’re trapped in here withus.”
