Chapter 6 Blood and shadows

Smoke curled toward the chandeliers, staining the golden light with darkness. The music was gone, replaced by the deafening chorus of screams, shouts, and gunfire.

Sophia pressed herself against the column, her chest heaving. She couldn't see Maria. She couldn't see anyone she knew. The glittering gowns, the tuxedos-they were a blur of terrified bodies scrambling for safety.

A man stumbled past her, blood spraying from his shoulder as he collapsed. Sophia slapped a trembling hand to her mouth to stifle a scream.

Another shot split the air. Then another.

And through it all, Adrian moved like a predator among prey.

He didn't panic. He didn't falter. Every step was deliberate, his weapon raised, his eyes scanning with deadly focus. Men twice his size fell like rag dolls, cut down by his precise aim.

He wasn't just surviving the attack-he was controlling it.

"Cover the south wing!" Adrian barked in Italian to two of his men, who appeared as if conjured from the shadows, guns blazing. "No one leaves alive."

Sophia shivered. His voice-deep, commanding-wasn't a request. It was law.

Her heart pounded so hard it hurt. She had to move. She had to find Maria. But as she tried to slip further along the column, a shadow loomed.

One of the attackers spotted her.

"Hey!" His eyes gleamed as he raised his weapon, teeth bared in a cruel grin.

Sophia froze, her body paralyzed.

But before the man could fire, Adrian was there.

He closed the distance with terrifying speed, his pistol whipping across the man's jaw with a sickening crack. The attacker crumpled, dazed, but Adrian didn't hesitate-he pressed the muzzle against the man's temple and pulled the trigger.

Blood spattered across Sophia's cheek.

She gasped, staggering back, her hands shaking.

Adrian turned to her, his gaze hard, his expression unreadable. "I told you to stay down."

Her voice broke. "I-I was just trying to-"

"Silence." His tone was sharp, but his hand came up, shockingly gentle, wiping the blood from her face with the edge of his sleeve. "Do you want to die here?"

Tears stung her eyes. She shook her head.

"Then you listen to me," Adrian growled. "And you do not move unless I tell you."

Another barrage of gunfire erupted, forcing them both lower. Adrian crouched beside her, his body shielding hers as bullets shattered glass above.

Sophia could barely breathe. The scent of him-smoke, leather, and something darkly masculine-wrapped around her. She should have been repulsed. She should have pushed him away.

But instead, she felt an unsettling rush of safety.

Adrian's eyes flicked back to the chaos. His men were gaining ground, pushing the attackers toward the far doors. Still, the fight wasn't over.

He leaned closer, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. "When I move, you follow. No hesitation."

Sophia swallowed hard. "Where are you taking me?"

His gaze locked onto hers, intense and unrelenting. "Out of this mess. And into my world."

Before she could question him, he surged to his feet, one hand gripping her wrist, the other raising his pistol. He pulled her with him, dragging her through smoke and screams as the ballroom descended further into hell.