Page 75 of Fierce Secrets

"Looks like it's limited to outside," Sofia whispered beside me, her fingers digging into my arm. The way Gray had looked at her before Leo had closed the door had made me wonder, but now wasn't the time. "Gray's not... he's not like Leo."

"I know." My brother wasn't a killer, wasn't built for this kind of violence. Not that Sof knew that minute detail. Right now, it didn't seem important.

I surveyed all the screens highlighting the yard outside, seeing men crawling across it, gunfire blasting. "How many are there?"

Sofia's eyes darted between screens as she worried her lip. "They're outnumbered from what I can tell. Most of Leo's security team haven't arrived yet – there's only the one team outside. Why aren't they here? Did they not think this could happen?" Her voice hitched as she leaned forward to inspect one screen lighting up with gunfire.

Clearly not, considering the facts. Both Gray and Leo had thought this place safe, and Roman had a team outside.

Roman.

I searched the screens, relief sweeping through me when I caught the familiar sight of him, taking cover behind a parked vehicle.

My heart stopped as I spotted movement inside the villa on another screen – intruders had breached the building.

"Fuck." Sof's breath caught as she followed my gaze.

I watched, helpless, as Leo and Gray engaged them, working in sync despite their different styles. Leo moved like this was who he was born to be, each shot deliberate and fatal. Gray was less graceful but just as effective. Thank God.

I'd been right in believing Leo's shots always found their mark though from this viewing, although it did little to ease the erratic pounding of my heart, my stomach in tight knots.

Then they split up, Gray heading down the hall while Leo began rechecking rooms.

"No," I whispered, scanning the feeds frantically. "Stay together."

A shadow moved behind Leo as he moved through one room, and my scream died in my throat. But Gray appeared from the doorway, his shot dropping the attacker instantly.

"Thanks," Leo's voice came through the speakers as another wave of relief hit me.

This was crazy, watching the two men I loved try to stay alive. Why hadn't they just stayed with us here, where they were safe? This was why Leo had a security detail he paid top dollar for. This was their job, not his, and especially not Gray's.

I gritted my teeth, hating how I trembled right now out of fear for them. I was useless here, unable to do a thing to protect them.

Sofia's hand found mine, squeezing tight as we watched the men I loved fight for their lives.

My eyes tracked them through the various screens, and I vacantly wondered where half these cameras were. I'd seen some of them in the villa, but there were a lot of screens in here.

My gaze honed in on my brother, in yet another room away from Leo as he checked beyond the windows. The office I'd been in with Leo earlier, where Gray had now gunned down two men who'd gotten in.

The crack of a gunshot, followed by Gray's cry of pain as he went down, was my unravelling.

"No!" Without thinking, I hit the panic room release, ignoring Sofia's protests as I tore into the study room. I headed right out, knowing the room was just down the hall, needing to get to my brother.

My blood thumped in my ears, drowning out the gunfire in the rest of the house.

I couldn't lose Gray, not after everything. Not when we'd just patched things up. I needed him.

I paused at the doorway, holding my breath as I glanced around the corner, half-expecting to find someone waiting with a gun at the ready.

Instead, a fallen intruder lay in the hallway, his gun on the floor by him. Just what I needed right now. Not giving myselftime to worry about all the risks, I lurched for it. As I grabbed it, memories flooded back – Leo's hands guiding mine at the lake that summer, teaching me proper stance, how to account for recoil. "Just in case," he'd said. I doubt he'd ever have thought I'd wind up in this situation.

I kept low as I moved down the hall quickly, pausing and glancing inside the office my brother had gone down in. Had one of those shots after been his death blow? Had he shot his attacker? Was he already dead and his attacker going to be there to bring about my end as well?

Fuck no.

If anyone was there, they'd die for what they'd done. I moved around the corner, dropping low as I held the gun out before me with both hands, ready to fire.

No one greeted me, just three bodies strewn across the room.

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