Unlocking the steel door, I dart onto the grounds, moving through the strategically planted forest and trampling wildflowers. I continue to run, ducking behind bushes to hide my approach.
There’s no way to fight the beast inside of me, and now it's triggered blood will paint the walls and seep into the floorboards.
Behind me, boots thud—my brothers aren’t as covert as I am. But that doesn’t matter. Not when they’re here for all the right reasons. For me––India and Leo.
Every step I take isn’t fast enough. Thinking about it, I shouldn’t have gone against my better judgment and welcomed my brothers into my private space. Secrets have a way of protecting the people you care about, and maybe they were better off not knowing the real me. And now they’re at risk––we all are.
An unusual surge of anxiety shoots through my muscles, but I keep going. They’re grown men, they can look out for themselves.
More choppers arrive and more dark clothed men scramble over the roof. Whoever sent them here has an agenda. This isn’t a random attack. Then again, they haven’t descended on a random guy's house either.
André’s voice rumbles over my shoulder when I pull out a pocket knife to hack at the mass of climbing ivy disguising the west side entrance. “Do you know where she is exactly?”
My heart shrivels. I’d checked the camera footage before we left the caves and couldn’t see them. Which means they’re hiding in the passageways and could be anywhere.
“She’s in there… in the Manor House with Leo.” I tell him, snipping the woody vines as a flash of lightning illuminates the old door. “The newest part of the house is locked tight. Lola can get out if she needs to, but no one can get in. We have the advantage. They won’t see us until we’re ready.”
The crack of gunfire rings in my ears, the sound of it coming from deep inside Blackwater. My heart stops beating and my ears strain to hear.
“Jesus fuck,” André says what I’m incapable of muttering.
I’ve never truly known fear, not when I’ve always been the man in control. The instigator. The punisher. The assassin. But right this second, fear is my fucking master and not even darkness can hide it.
29
INDIA
“Stay right here, okay?” I tell Leo, both of us standing in a narrow tunnel lining the wall of my old bedroom. “Whatever happens, keep hidden in the walls and be quiet. As long as the strangers don’t know these passageways exist, you’ll be safe.”
Worried lines crease his forehead. “What are you doing?”
“I’m grabbing weapons in case we need them. Remember what I said about keeping the monsters away?” I lean down and kiss the crown of his head. “Back in a sec.”
I push inward, let the panel close behind me and cross over the plush carpet, its color appearing darker in the dim light. Repetitive thuds come from above like human raindrops. Immediately, my gaze darts upward, following the sounds.
My stomach twists. How the hell did our enemies find Blackwater? I rush over to the window and look out at the night sky where a helicopter is hit by a missile and loses control.
I gasp and quickly wedge a scream in my throat. An explosion from the cove at the bottom of the cliff brightens the night sky like a beacon of hope.
Giovanni is on his way back to us. I know it. And he’s targeting the choppers like clay pigeons.
My pulse is racing when I back away from the window. I’m spurred on by the fact we won’t be alone for much longer, but terrified to my bones that people I care about could get hurt—or worse—killed.
Aware of the creaks and thumps overhead, I fling open the doors to my gun cabinet, the one Giovanni had commissioned for me a few weeks ago as another birthday present. It houses all the weapons my brother had ever bought me, from daggers to bullets and everything in between.
Still wearing the dress from earlier, I quickly strap on a thigh holster with a small revolver. From there, I clip a pistol belt around my belly before throwing on an oversized hoodie to hide it.
Needing more, I slip a switchblade into the front pocket and check the clip on my favorite Cabot, removing the safety.
To blend in with the shadows, I pull my hood up over my head. The footsteps above me continue, but they aren’t just in the attic now. They’re pounding in the hallway too.
My eyes shoot to the doorway, and my heart jumps into my throat. I start to back away when the door swings open and a masked man points a flashlight and service pistol into the room.
Instinctively, I drop low and shuffle against the wall, breathing hard. A second soldier, shorter in build, storms in next and instantly pinpoints me in the beam of his flashlight. “She’s in here.”
Shit!
I hold my breath and weigh up my options. He’s pointing his gun right at me, and now the other guy notices me too. If I shoot first, I could easily kill one of them, but then the other soldier could shoot me dead next.
