Chapter 4 - Bullets and Bloodlines
A high-powered rifle bullet embedded itself deep into the oak wall directly above Adeline’s head, showering them in splinters of wood and glass.
“Get down!” Nico roared. With astonishing upper-body strength, he grabbed the back of Adeline’s scrubs and hauled her violently off her feet, dragging her down behind the reinforced steel frame of his medical bed just as a second round punched through the glass.
Alarms began to wail across the estate. Red emergency strobe lights flashed against the white walls.
“Sniper! Northwest ridge!” Adeline yelled, her medical training kicking in as she assessed the room for cover. She saw the blood trickling down Nico’s shoulder where a flying shard of glass had sliced deep into his deltoid. “You’re bleeding!”
“It’s nothing,” Nico growled, his face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury. He reached under the mattress, sliding open a hidden magnetic panel to reveal a matte-black Sig Sauer pistol and an extra magazine. He checked the load with practiced, deadly efficiency. “Dante didn't just want me poisoned. Now that the alliance with Camille is broken, he’s moving to a permanent corporate hostile takeover.”
“They’re shooting through the windows!” Adeline shouted over the blaring alarms as heavy footsteps pounded down the exterior hallway.
“Vincenzo!” Nico yelled into his wrist comm. “Secure the east wing! Someone’s breached the perimeter!”
The door to the medical suite flew open. A masked enforcer rushed in, holding a suppressed submachine gun, scanning the room for targets.
Before the man could raise his weapon toward the bed, Adeline didn't hesitate. Seizing a heavy iron oxygen tank from the rack beside her, she swung it with all her strength, catching the intruder squarely behind the knees. The man buckled with a sharp cry, crashing hard onto the marble floor.
Before he could recover, Nico fired a single, calculated shot from floor-level, neutralizing the threat with cold precision.
The room fell deadly silent, save for the blaring alarms and their ragged breathing.
Adeline dropped the oxygen tank, her hands finally beginning to shake as the adrenaline wave crashed over her. She looked down at the blood on the floor, then up at Nico, who was calmly re-securing his weapon while applying pressure to his bleeding shoulder.
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“You’re insane,” Adeline whispered.
“Welcome to the family business,” Nico muttered, looking at her with a new, profound depth of respect. He reached out, grabbing her wrist—not with the grip of an oppressor, but with the desperate anchor of an ally. “Pack your bags, Adeline. We’re leaving the estate. If we stay here tonight, Dante will finish what he started.”
