The gunshot cracked through the estate like thunder splitting stone.
For half a heartbeat the world froze.
Then everything moved at once.
Guards shouted from the corridors, boots striking marble floors, doors slamming open somewhere deeper inside the building. The calm night shattered into noise and panic.
Elara's pulse hammered violently in her chest.
"What the hell—"
Alessandro moved before she finished speaking. His arm swept in front of her instinctively, forcing her a step behind him as he turned toward the open garden doors.
"Inside," he growled.
Another crash echoed from within the estate.
Glass.
Someone screamed.
Luca's voice barked from the path behind them. "Shit! That came from the south wing!"
Alessandro's eyes flashed gold.
"They're already moving."
Elara felt the bond between them tighten suddenly like a wire pulled too hard.
Fear.
His fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
She pushed past his arm.
"I'm not hiding."
"Damn it, Elara—"
"I'm not!"
