Page 53 of The Shadow King's Brother

My senses sharpen. Adrenaline courses through my veins, replacing my wariness with a cold, focused alertness.

“Stop the car,” I bark at Angelo.

He slams on the brakes, the tires screeching against the asphalt. Marco is out of the car before it even comes to a complete stop, his gun drawn. I follow close behind, my hand gripping the gun at my hip.

“Fuck!” I hiss under my breath, my eyes scanning the scene, taking in every detail.

The mansion has been breached.

I gesture for Vinny to stay in the car. “Stay here with Angelo. Don’t move.”

He hesitates for a moment, then nods.

Marco and I move forward, cautiously approaching the gates. I follow close behind, my heart pounding in my chest.

As we reach the gates, I see them. Two of my men slumped against the stone pillars, their eyes vacant, their bodies lifeless.

“Shit,” Marco whispers.

I push the gates open, stepping onto the mansion’s grounds. I smell blood and gunpowder. The scene is chaotic.

The lawn is littered with more bodies, some of my men, others… others I don’t recognize. The house itself is dark and silent against the night sky.

I raise my gun, my finger tightening on the trigger. “Inside,” I command. “Now.”

Marco moves forward, flanking me as we approach the house. We move quickly, silently.

Where is she? Nica, please. Be alive. Be okay.

My chest is tight. My mind screams images of her bleeding, broken, gone. I shove them down, but they claw back up.

We reach the front door. I pause. One breath. Two.

This is it.

I kick the door open. It crashes inward, and I charge through, gun raised, ready to kill.

The foyer greets me like a warzone. Blood stains the Persian rug. The chandelier dangles like a broken limb. The air is thick with iron and death.

Nica.

Where the fuck is she?

The silence is deafening, broken only by the crunch of our boots on shattered glass. My eyes sweep every corner, every shadow.

If she’s dead—if they’ve touched her—I will burn the whole fucking city to the ground.

“Clear!” Marco shouts, voice sharp, clipped.

But my blood’s already howling. And I won’t stop until I find her.

“Keep going,” I murmur.

Marco moves to the left, and I move to the right. The house feels… empty.

Eerily, disturbingly empty.

We move through the mansion room by room, clearing each space. The living room, the dining room, the library – all untouched. The only signs of violence are the two dead guards that Gio recently hired slumped against the walls, their eyes wide with a look of frozen terror.

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