This is my fault. I led them here.
12
MIKHAIL
The gunfire is getting closer.
I press my back against the wall of the hallway at the top of the stairs, my Glock warm in my hand, and count the shots.
Three attackers on the east wing.
Two more coming up the main staircase.
The acrid smell of gunpowder fills my nostrils, mixing with something else. Blood. Too much blood.
“Boss!” Marco’s voice crackles through my earpiece. “They’ve breached the south entrance. We’re falling back to the—” Static. Then nothing.
Fuck.
I take down the men climbing up the stairs then sprint down the corridor toward the master bedroom, my heart hammering against my ribs. Sophia.
I left her there with two guards, thinking it would be enough.
Thinking I could handle Adrian’s assault before it reached her.
I was wrong.
The door to our bedroom hangs open, splintered wood scattered across the marble floor.
One guard lies face down in a pool of crimson.
The other is slumped against the wall, his eyes staring at nothing.
The bathroom and closet doors are open and their rooms empty.
“Sophia!” Her name tears from my throat.
Grunting, then shuffling.
As I spin toward the door, Sophia emerges from under the master bed, her blue eyes wild with fear but very much alive.
Relief floods through me so intensely my knees nearly buckle.
“Mikhail.” She runs to me, and I catch her against my chest, one arm wrapping around her waist while I keep my gun trained on the hallway. She’s trembling, her fingers clutching my shirt. “They killed them. They just…they came in and…”
“I know.” I press a kiss to the top of her messy hair, breathing in her scent. Alive. She’s alive. “We need to move.”
More gunfire erupts from downstairs. Glass shatters. Someone screams, the sound cutting off abruptly.
Sophia pulls back to look at me, and I see something shift in her expression. The fear is still there, but underneath it is something harder. Determination. “Give me a gun.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” She holds out her hand, steady despite everything. “I’m not going to hide while you fight. Give me a weapon.”
Every instinct screams at me to refuse.
To lock her in the panic room and handle this myself.
