Page 121 of Branded

We emerge into chaos.

The house is under siege. Men everywhere, Drake ranch hands, but also others I don’t recognize at first. The air is thick with gun smoke. Bodies on the ground—I can’t tell if they’re dead or just down.

“This way!” Sebastian pulls me toward a truck. “We gotta go.”

A man steps out from behind the burning garage. One of Marshall’s ranch hands, with his rifle raised.

The shot catches Sebastian in the shoulder. He goes down hard, and I fall with him.

“Run!” he gasps. “Lennox, run!”

I can’t leave him. Won’t. But the Marshall’s hand is coming closer, the rifle still aimed.

Then he falls to the floor, not moving or breathing. I scream, covered in blood that isn’t mine.

Behind where he was standing, Walker emerges from the smoke. Rifle still raised. His face is cold, expressionless, as he moves through the chaos.

“Walker,” I whisper, tears filling my eyes.

“Stay down!” He fires twice more at targets I can’t see, then moves to me. “Seb, you hit bad?”

“Shoulder. I’ll live.” He’s already trying to stand. “Get her out of here, Dad.”

“That’s the plan.” Walker pulls me up.

We make it twenty feet before another ranch hand steps out. This one doesn’t hesitate—just starts firing.

James appears at my side. He shoves me behind a truck and returns fire. I hear him swear, see blood bloom on his arm, but he keeps shooting.

Then Miguel is there, and Nathaniel, and three other ranch hands I recognize from Sebastian’s operation. They provide cover while James drags me further back.

“How many men are there?” I gasp.

“There were about fifteen when we started. Down to maybe six now.” James’s voice is matter-of-fact. “Sebastian says nobody walks away from this. So nobody’s walking away.”

The coldness in his voice shocks me. This is the carefree brother, the one who flirted with me and welcomed me when I got here. The one who never questioned my place here. Now he sounds like someone I don’t recognize.

“James?”

“They took you, Len. They put their hands on you. They drugged you.” His eyes are hard. “What did you think was going to happen?”

Fair point.

We make it to the perimeter, where more Drake men have set up a defensive position. Caroline is there with a laptop, coordinating movements like this is a military operation.

“Lennox!” She grabs me, checks me over. “Are you hurt? Did they…”

“I’m fine. Scared, but fine.” I look at her and her eyes glisten with tears, and she pulls me in for a hug. When she lets me go, I look back at the burning compound. “Where’s Sebastian?”

“Inside with Dad. They’re clearing rooms.” Caroline’s voice is clinical, detached. “Looking for Thomas Marshall.”

“They’re going to kill him.”

She meets my eyes. “He’s a dead man, Lennox. That was decided the moment he took you.”

I should be horrified. But all I feel is numb acceptance.

Thomas Marshall crossed a line. And the Drakes are responding with overwhelming violence.