Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
The bullet slams into his chest, and he drops hard, his body crashing into a narrow table that splinters across the carpeted floor.
Every step forward takes me deeper into the mansion, my focus stripped down to one single purpose. Find Nina and haul ass out of this house of horrors.
As I reach the end of the hallway, I notice a foyer ahead of me. A man suddenly lunges from where he was hiding behind the wall. A knife glints in his hand, and as he slices across my chest, I grab hold of his forearm and twist hard while slamming the handle of my gun into his face. The impact makes him stagger, and before he can recover, I wrench the knife from his hand and shove it into the side of his neck.
As he goes down, I quickly rush into the foyer, glancing at the front door.
Just then, it opens, and several more men come hurrying into the mansion.
Fuck.
I run for the nearest door on the opposite side of the foyer while they open fire.
Bullets crack through the air, slamming into the walls, and as I dive through the doorway and hit the polished floor of what looks like a formal sitting room, the gunfire increases dramatically.
I barely take in the velvet furniture as I take cover behind the nearest sofa.
Bullets shatter glass behind me, and bracing myself on one knee, I quickly dart up and shoot at whatever moves.
One man drops in the doorway and another stumbles back, clutching his throat, while a third fucker takes a bullet right in the dick before I also bury one in his head.
The fourth guy makes it inside the room, and knowing I can’t stay behind the sofa and run out of bullets, I lunge to my feet and meet him head-on.
We grab at each other and slam into a table, hard enough to make an expensive bottle of whiskey topple over. I catch it mid-fall and smash it against the fucker’s head, knocking him out cold. As he goes down, I fire a shot into his chest before running to the doorway.
How much fucking time has passed?
As I cautiously walk back into the foyer, a scream echoes through the mansion, and recognizing the sound I’ve heard every fucking night, I hurry up the stairs, taking two at a time.
Reaching the second floor, I hear her cry, “Please, Ivan. I’m begging you.” Her voice sounds hysterical, and it has me pushing my tired body harder than ever as I take another flight of stairs up to the third floor. “Just give Simi to me.”
Hearing Nina plead like that makes something dark rise from the pits of hell that calls my soul home.
The landing is illuminated by a crystal chandelier, and as my eyes lock on Nina, I see the ungodly horror on her face. My arms fly up, and I train the barrel of my gun on a man who has a little girl half over the banister, one arm clamped around her waist as her legs kick over open air.
Christ, the fall will kill her.
Silent tears form tracks on her terrified face, her eyes wide and glued to Nina.
“Please, Ivan!” Nina begs again, slowly inching a careful step forward. She’s not aware that I’m here.
If I shoot him, he’ll drop Simi.
Fuck.
Suddenly, a woman appears in the doorway, and not noticing me, she says, “Let go of the kid, already. We have to get out of here.”
My mind switches over to a higher gear, and not wasting another second, I shoot the woman in the head while running forward. Dropping the weapon near Nina, I grab hold of the banister and throw my body over it just as the fucker releases Simi.
“Noooooo!” Nina screams.
As we both fall, I catch Simi against my chest and lock my right arm around her tiny body. Just as we hurtle toward the second floor’s banister, I slam my left forearm over the railing and hook it hard around the steel.
Pain explodes through me as my body crashes into the metal while a gunshot rings through the air above us, and the blood on my arm from the bullet wound makes it fucking difficult to hang on.
“Simi!” Nina cries, looking down at us with a horrified expression I won’t forget as long as I live.
Suddenly, I hear men shouting, and recognizing their voices, I holler, “Hurry the fuck up! Second floor banister. About to fall to my death.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Dad shouts, and the sound of his voice fills me with intense relief.
I’m not surprised when he gets to me first with Augusto and Adriano right behind him.
Dad leans over the metal railing and grabs my torn-up wrist and forearm. Augusto and Adriano work to pull him back while Dad keeps a tight hold of me.
Santino joins them, and I use the last of my strength to push Simi up so he can take her.