THE MONSTER'S SHADOW

"Run to my bathroom, lock the door, and hide in the tub," I whispered into Elena's ear, pushing her gently down the hall. She bolted, her small feet silent on the rug.

Lorenzo laughed, a dry, ugly sound. "Shoot her in the legs," he told his men. "Leave her alive for Nico to find."

The men raised their weapons. I didn't wait.

My father was a gambler, and he had taught me one thing: when the odds are against you, flip the damn table.

I hurled the heavy bronze bookend directly at the nearest thug's face. It struck him square in the nose with a sickening crunch. As he went down, his gun discharged wildly into the ceiling.

I threw myself sideways through the open doorway of the medical supply room I had set up near Elena’s suite. Bullets tore through the drywall behind me, showering me in dust.

I scrambled to my feet in the dark, my nursing instincts and survival adrenaline merging into a cold, clinical focus. I needed a weapon. I grabbed a heavy oxygen tank from the corner, dragged it to the door, and cracked the valve open. The hiss of pressurized oxygen filled the tight space.

"Get in there and drag her out!" Lorenzo shouted from the hallway.

I grabbed a small emergency flare from the medical survival kit, cracked it, and tossed it toward the hissing tank as I dove behind an overturned reinforced steel cabinet.

The spark caught the concentrated oxygen. The explosion was deafening.

The doorframe blew outward in a concussive wave of fire and force. The thugs in the hallway screamed as they were thrown back. The sprinkler system engaged, raining cold water down on the chaos.

I crawled out of the smoke, coughing, my injured shoulder burning in agony. One thug was unconscious. The other was groaning on the floor.

Lorenzo was staggering, bleeding from his forehead, but he raised his gun toward me.

Before he could pull the trigger, the front doors of the mansion were blown off their hinges.

Through the smoke and the falling water strode Nico Vitali. He looked like the god of death himself, flanked by his men, assault rifles raised. He took in the scene in a fraction of a second—the explosion, the wounded men, Lorenzo aiming a gun at me.

Nico didn't hesitate. He raised his weapon and fired three precise shots.

Lorenzo collapsed, dead before he hit the marble floor.

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the hiss of the sprinklers. Nico dropped his gun and ran to me, sliding on the wet marble. He pulled me into his arms, crushing me to his chest.

"I've got you. I've got you," he chanted, kissing my wet hair, my face, my lips. "The trap at the docks... the moment I realized, I drove like a madman."

"Elena," I gasped out. "She's in the bathroom."

Nico stood, lifting me in his arms, and walked down the hall. When he opened the bathroom door, Elena peeked out from the tub. Seeing her father, she cried out and ran into his legs.