“I’m fine,” he said, eyeing me. “Your cheek is bleeding.”
I reached up and felt the wetness on my cheek, and my anger nearly boiled over. There were shouts all around us, but I didn’t stop until I was back outside. A cold sweat ran down my ribcage when I looked at the bearings stuck in the wood, and the glass that had been shattered by their impact.
That could’ve sliced me apart.
But it was the bomber I wanted to see. I wanted to see if the man had any other message on him.
Only, there was no man left. Where he stood were pieces. Half the body of the guard that had been searching him lay near the car, and hell, who knew where the other half was.
Nineteen left.
“I need a head count!” I yelled, surveying the bloody scene. The car’s windows were all shot out, and if it held another bomb, it hadn’t gone off yet. “Get the fucking car out of here!”
Emil moved forward, and after a quick count, we had two others injured. Another guard jumped in the car and pulled it well down the driveway in case it went off, and I kicked at the bloody bearings on the ground, pissed that I hadn’t seen this coming.
The most maddening part was: I thought this would happen. I just didn’t think Adrian would have the balls to attack me so soon.
Turned out I was wrong.
“I want a full fucking report from town,” I told Emil.
If we had been standing near the car, I wouldn’t have been talking to him like I was. We would both have been maimed at best, and part of this bloody mess at worst.
“Take care of this mess,” I growled at the remaining guards, noting the carnage that was littering my front drive.
“What else, don?” Emil asked, wiping his face and streaking the blood everywhere. “We are looking a bit slim right now.”
I blew out a breath, shoving my hand through my hair. He wasn’t lying. If Adrian came with more force, I wouldn’t be able to defend this place. We were sitting ducks at this moment, and clearly Adrian had taken the gloves off. “I want to know if anyone comes even within a hair of my fucking property. If they do, shoot to kill.”
He arched a brow. “Shoot to kill?”
“Yeah.”
“Emil,” I said “I need allies.”
“I’ll see that you get some.”
I glanced up at the house, a new thread of fear pulling at me. Many of the windows had damage to them, but I was too far away to see which ones were shattered.
Fuck.
Leda.
I took off to the house. My body ached where we had fallen to the floor, and there were cuts burning on my forearms, but it paled in comparison to the all-consuming fear that was coursing through my veins. Who the fuck was I kidding? I couldn’t live without her.
This house was no longer safe.
I thought I could make a stand here, but it had been too easy for that asshole to make his way onto the property under the pretense that Adrian was negotiating. I couldn’t stay here, not with my limited resources still be able to protect everyone.
I hadnocontrol over this situation. It was glaringly apparent from the yacht attack to this.
I hated this feeling.
I took two steps at a time until I was on the second landing, and nearly slipped on one of the bearings that had come through the windows high in the foyer.
Cold washed over me as I closed the distance to Leda’s door, barreling through it with little thought to what I might find on the other side.
If I found her dead, there would be nothing that would stop me from killing Adrian. Hell, I would kill him first and then her fucking father second, just because of how much she hated him.