Chapter 48
Chapter
Forty-Eight
KAYLANI
The decorative windows behind the quartet exploded inward. The musicians were hurled to the floor by the blast. Jagged shards stuck out of their bodies like grotesque quills. They were dead before they even hit the ground.
The skylights shattered next. A scream lodged in my throat as glass rained down.
The first gunshot followed so quickly that my mind barely registered the difference. Chaos ripped through the room. Chairs scraped violently across marble. A woman in a pale dress collapsed near the doorway. Blood spread beneath her as her cries were cut off, death claiming her mid-breath.
I spun, searching for my father as armed men poured into the restaurant like ants.
“Julian, what do we do?”
He stared at me, eyes wide, then ducked and bolted toward a group of his guards.
In stunned disbelief, I watched as they converged around him and rushed through one of the open doors. The man I was supposed to marry did not fight to protect me. He didn’t even take me with him. He saved himself.
A bullet whizzed by my head, and I dropped quickly, pressing myself against the wall. There was nowhere to hide. No pillar. No doorway. Only the balcony and a flimsy sheer curtain, now tattered with holes.
Everything was so loud. Men shoved tables aside, turning linen and crystal into cover. Gunshots cracked in rapid succession as men fired at one another.
A man suddenly stepped into view, his shoes inches from mine. I slowly lifted my gaze and found myself staring down the barrel of a gun aimed at my head. I swallowed hard and raised my hands.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted.
His expression changed, and he lowered his gun. Then, his body jerked as red bloomed across his chest. I screamed as blood splattered my face, and the man collapsed toward me. I scrambled backward, and his head landed just short of my heels.
“Oh my god.”
My father rushed over and seized my arm.
“Kaylani,” he barked.
I looked up at him, then down at the body.
“Kaylani?” He shook my arm.
“Yeah?”
He ripped the gun from the dead man’s grip and shoved it into my hand.
“Come on.” He pulled hard, and I stumbled to my feet. “Stay low.”
Father was focused and deadly in a way that made my blood run cold. I crouched down, following behind him while he fired at the men around us. There was no way to tell friend from foe.
Bullets struck the wall, and plaster sprayed in every direction. I instinctively threw an arm over my head, the gun still clutched in my hand.
Out of nowhere, Sven appeared and joined us behind an overturned table.
“All the exits are blocked, sir.”
Sven leaned in close so his voice carried over the noise while my father fired two more shots at targets I couldn’t see.
The initial shock was fading, replaced by pure terror, and I began to shake. As if sensing it, Sven placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Breathe.”
I nodded and took a slow, deep breath.
“What of the Harrington men?”
Sven shook his head.
“As soon as they got Arturo and Julian out of here, most of them ran. Luca is pinned down on the far side. Matteo has been shot, I don’t know how badly. No sign of Adriano, and Isadora is dead. We’re on our own.”
“Fuck,” Father grumbled.
Isadora was dead?
I hadn’t known her well, but I couldn’t help wondering if her final thought had been heartbreak and betrayal as Arturo fled and left her behind.
A shadow moved at the window closest to us.
I screamed and raised my gun, firing a single shot before Sven tackled me to the floor.
More shots rang out close enough to know they came from my father.
Sven pushed himself up and winced as he examined his arm.
“You’re hit.”
“It’s a flesh wound, I’ll be fine,” he said, glancing toward the window. “Nice shot.”
“I’m out.” Father let the empty clip drop from the gun.
Sven fired three more shots.
“Shit. I am too.”
“Here. Take mine,” I said, holding the gun out to Sven. “Who are they?”
“The DeLuca family,” Sven answered. “This was an assassination attempt.”
Dimitri swore and ran his hand down his face. They clearly knew information that wasn’t shared with me.
“If they are trying to take out Julian and Arturo, then why aren’t they leaving?”
“They aren’t after them.”
He stared at me, and then it clicked.
“Me? They want me? Why the hell do they want me?”
Sven glanced at my father, who had remained suspiciously quiet during the exchange. It had something to do with the deal my father had made with the Harringtons. He didn’t have to say it for me to understand.
I closed my eyes and tried to rein in the panic threatening to take over. Drawing in a deep breath, I forced the fear down. There was no room for weakness now that I knew I was the target.
“How are we going to get out of here?”
The look my father gave me said it all. He had known a day like this would come, and he had made his peace with it.
“We pray for a miracle.”
My hand went to the chain around my neck. I squeezed the ring, but I didn’t pray for a miracle. I prayed for Goran.
A second wave of men pushed through the side door and surged toward our table. Sven fired without hesitation. A masked man jerked back, stumbling out of view as he fell.
Then the cadence of the gunfight changed. There was a different rhythm. More shots echoed in the room, and everything was twice as loud, but the frantic firing of bullets had been replaced by military-level precision and were no longer hitting the wall near us
The De Luca men must have picked up on it as well.
Sven leaned around the edge of the table to get a better view.
“Looks like the cavalry has arrived.”
He rose and rejoined the fight, leaving me with my father, who looked relieved and irritated at the same time.
Someone moved through the smoke and chaos like a wraith. A figure in black tactical gear. With a gun in each hand, he fired and wove through our attackers, bending and twisting like a shadow that bullets couldn’t touch.
My heart sang when I saw his face. Goran.
He didn’t shout my name, but his gaze flicked to me, and I knew he had seen me. Relief washed over me like a warm bath.
A man with a massive knife charged at him from behind. I opened my mouth to warn him, but it was unnecessary. Goran caught the man’s arm and snapped it with a sickening crack. The man’s screams were cut short as Goran ripped the knife from his grip and slit his throat.
I had never seen anything so horrific outside of the movies.
More of Nathaniel’s men poured into the room with weapons strapped to every inch of their bodies.
Every shot was a kill, and blades flew from their hands with deadly accuracy.
This was the difference between my brother and everyone else.
He saw the world in a way that should terrify every other family.
Goran used the things around him as if every object were either a shield or a weapon.
A body could be dragged into his path for cover.
A table flipped with a single brutal shove that knocked a man flat before a bullet ended him.
A wine bottle smashed over someone’s skull was then used like a knife to cut his throat.
It was savage. He was ruthless. And I couldn’t look away.
When the remaining men began to retreat through the open archways, he jogged over.
“Stay down until they are gone,” he ordered.
I had never been so happy to obey an order in my life. I nodded and ducked low.
“Here you go, sir.”
Goran handed my father a gun, then followed the fight outside. The noise gradually faded until all that remained were the occasional shots and boots crunching over debris.
Everything had shifted the moment Goran arrived. Not just because he was here, but because he came like a promise. The look in his eyes told me that I was safe. No one would ever touch me again.
A single set of boots marched toward our hiding spot. I knew it was Nathaniel from Father’s disgruntled expression.
I darted out from behind, then around the heavy table and ran to my brother.
“Thank you for finding me,” I mumbled as he hugged me.
“You’re my baby sister. I will always be here for you.”
He pulled back and looked at me with warmth in his onyx eyes before turning a lethal glare on our father.
“We will speak, but not here,” Nathaniel growled, and the hairs on my neck stood on end.
Nathaniel walked away, barking orders. He moved through the smoke, jaw set and deadly. He directed every movement as if he had been preparing for his role his entire life.
“Hey, sis.”
I spun around to find Titus standing behind me, menacing in all black. I ran to him like I had Nathaniel.
“Thank you.”
“If you think I would let Nathaniel take all the glory, you’re sadly mistaken.”
He pulled me into a tight embrace.
Stepping back, I wiped stray tears of relief from my cheeks. Titus’s eyes swept over the room, and only then did I register the carnage.
“I’ll check for survivors,” he said, voice grim as he wandered toward the nearest casualty.
I spotted Matteo among the victims, eyes wide and unseeing, blood staining his shirt. The Harringtons had lost two family members. It was a brutal reminder of how little control we had.
Goran strode through the open archway, and my breath caught in my throat as the curtains billowed around him. Before I could react, his face blanched.
He lifted his arm with a gun aimed at me.
The bullet cracked through the air. A violent whisper of wind skimmed my ear, fluttering my hair.
I gasped.
For a heartbeat, the world went silent. Goran had shot at me, and my brain refused to comprehend why. My body braced for pain, for the impact that would end my life.
Nothing came. No darkness swallowed me. There was only the acrid scent of gunpowder and the ringing in my ears.
Then I heard a wet, choking sound. Something warm misted across the back of my neck.
I whipped around to find a man, standing inches away, eyes wide. Blood seeped through his fingers from the wound in his throat. A large knife lay useless at his feet. He stared at me like I was a ghost.
“You must die,” he rasped.
Goran appeared at my side in an instant. Without hesitation, he put three more bullets into the man’s chest. The attacker collapsed forward, motionless.
“Are you hurt?” Goran’s voice was low as he assessed for any sign of injury.
My arms locked around his neck, and I didn’t give a fuck who saw. He held me close, burying his head into the side of my throat. Time stood still, and no one else existed but the two of us.
“I’m fine now,” I breathed, the tremor in my voice betraying me.
Goran pulled back slightly and cupped my cheeks. His eyes darted over my shoulder before he cleared his throat. His hands fell away, and he slowly stepped around me. My father stood nearby, watching us.
Goran didn’t speak. He simply faced my father, his body coiled, ready for anything.
I glanced at the hard set of my father’s jaw and the gun in his hand.
“Hasn’t there been enough bloodshed? Please, Father.”
Instead of responding, he put the gun away, straightened his suit jacket, and marched outside. With a sigh, I leaned into Goran. He wrapped his arm around me as I took in the carnage.
Smoke drifted toward the ceiling in slow curls.
Water from a shattered sprinkler rained down, candle flames sputtered and died.
Bodies lay scattered, some lying on top of each other, others reaching out as if begging for help that never came.
The scent of roses was gone, replaced by gunpowder, blood, and scorched cloth.
“I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” Goran said, tightening his hold.
“Good, because I’m never leaving you. No matter what happens, I can’t let my father blackmail me again.”
Pulling the gaudy ring off my finger I dropped it to the ground, officially putting Julian and his family behind me.
“Come on, let’s get you to the limo where it’s safe. I don’t think anyone else will show up, but just in case.”
He guided me toward the door.
My feet faltered as we came to Isadora.
“Wait.”
I kneeled and stared into her lifeless eyes.
“Rest in peace,” I whispered, before gently closing them.
Goran tucked me under his arm as I stood.
“Did you know her?”
“Not well.”
He didn’t press me for more. Instead, he found a discarded jacket and offered me a bottle of water. We climbed into the pristine limo, a stark contrast to the massacre outside.
“I prayed for you. That you’d find me. I guess God was listening tonight.”
“No,” Goran said, tracing my jaw with his fingertips. “If he answered anyone’s prayer, then it was mine years ago when he brought you into my life.”
My bottom lip trembled as I rested my head over his heart. I was exhausted, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw dead bodies and blood coating every surface. It was a sight that I would never forget.
The car door opened and shut as Nathaniel climbed in, followed by Sven and Ivan. Nathaniel pounded on the divider glass.
“Let’s move out. Cops are on their way.”
“Where’s Titus?”
“In the next car with Dimitri. He’s making sure Father doesn’t try any bullshit on the way to the airfield.”
“You really think he will,” Goran asked.
Nathaniel shrugged.
“Don’t know. Don’t care. I won’t give him the chance to think it’s a possibility.” My brother shot me a quick grin. “Good to see you in one piece, sis, but don’t think for one second that you’re off the hook.”
I cringed but settled in for the berating I was about to receive. This would be the sweetest scolding of my life because we were all alive. My baby was safe. And the man holding me was all I would ever need.
Nothing mattered more than that.
Nothing.