25
“This place is gaudy,” Isobel comments, swiping a single red fingernail over the frame of a painting hanging on the wall before her eyes drop to the fur rug lining the corridor.
She wasn’t necessarily wrong. I don’t answer her and have no intentions of showing her around either, I feel like the only reason she offered was to get away from the tension and testosterone saturating the air in the kitchen. I couldn’t blame her but I was fucking pissed at Lex.
He forced me into this life, into his world of bloodshed, violence and danger and yet the first sign of trouble he’s ushering me out of the room like I’m a precious doll.
I’m not precious and I’m not a doll. I may have been innocent before but that girl no longer exists. If he wanted me at his side then he had to have me there a hundred percent.
I wouldn’t be a delicate woman on his arm or a piece of ass people can look at, I’ll be just as fierce as he, maybe not as ruthless but I’d have people whispering my name and turning to watch me like he has.
“Hey, what’s that?” Isobel draws me from my musings, and I turn to look at where she’s peering out the window, looking down the long drive to where the gates are.
I thought it pretty self-explanatory, I mean they’re only gates so I cross the hall and look out the window, “That’s just –” oh fuck.
A car is barreling down the drive, the gravel kicking up behind the tires. They weren’t slowing down and instead of following the drive around they continue over the lawn, cutting huge trenches into the garden, heading right for the kitchen.
Shit.
I grab Isobel’s arm and push her towards one of the back rooms before I sprint back towards the kitchen, not caring where she lands or if I hurt her.
“Get the fuck down!” I scream just as the car smashes through a wall in the house.
I dive to the left, my body smashing against the table, my head colliding with the wall as I slump to the floor. The impact isn’t too far from me, and I can see the headlights of the car, lights shining through the dust raining all around me.
My ears ringing, I vaguely hear doors slamming and then feet on the ground but it isn’t that, that pulls me from the fog in my head trying to drag me down, it’s the sound of a scream so filled with terror is turns my blood cold.
Rory.
I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but I could guess who had orchestrated this and there was no fucking way I was going back to my father.
I shakily climb to my feet, covering my nose and mouth in the crook of my elbow and duck around the corner, watching two guys step through the rubble, weapons drawn. They don’t even try to come this way, instead head right for the kitchen where Lex and the rest of the guys are.
Idiots.
Rory continues to scream but I know I can’t go to her yet, instead I follow behind the two attackers, quietly approaching and staying out of sight as they prepare to enter the kitchen.
Gun shots start ringing, loud bangs that make my head pulse and ears ring even more and a flurry of movement keeps me pinned to the wall, trying to be as silent and still as possible for fear of a gun being turned on me. I’ve been shot once, it wasn’t fun.
One guy goes down whilst the other continues to shoot wildly into the room, shots being fired back but the only thought flowing through my head was that this guy couldn’t die.
He was employed by Valentine.
And I need Valentine.
With the loud pops of the gunfire I’m able to creep up on the guy undetected, lifting a large China vase from the ground I raise it above my head as high as I can and smash it down with all the force my body can muster, slamming it around the back of his head hard enough for the vase to shatter into a million pieces, scattering amongst the rubble and stone littering the floor from the destroyed wall.
The guy hits the deck hard and then the gun fire ceases and all eyes turn to me.
Kingston is the first to snap out of it, storming to where the guy lays in the dust, a steady stream of blood seeping from the gash in the back of his head. He’s still breathing at least.
Kingston has every intention of shooting the guy and making that breathing stop.
“No!” I scream, jumping forward, “You can’t fucking kill him!”
“Why the fuck not!” Kingston bellows.
“Because we need him to find Valentine!”