Harrison stands there, expression composed, hands at his sides. But his smile—it’s tight.
Wrong.
“Your father didn’t want to risk sending this electronically,” he says. “May I come in? Won’t take more than a minute.”
I hesitate. No briefcase. No folder. No envelope.
My heart misses a beat.
“You don’t have the documents,” I say flatly.
Harrison’s gaze flicks to the hallway behind me. “They’re in the car. I thought I’d explain them first.”
A lie. I feel it.
I step back instinctively?—
—and his hand goes for his jacket.
Max explodes forward, all snarling rage and unleashed power. The door slams open as the dog hits Harrison like a missile, teeth sinking deep into his forearm just as he yanks a pistol free.
The gun drops. Harrison screams.
“Gun!” Jenna shouts, diving, sliding, snatching the weapon off the floor.
Outside, his men react—draw weapons.
Move fast.
Inside, chaos.
Rebel’s voice cuts through it all, sharp as a whip: “Sophia, Violet—kids! Now!”
I stumble backward as Harrison crashes into the wall, Max still latched to his arm, blood streaking the carpet. The snarl ripping from the dog’s throat is furious, protective, and absolutely feral.
Jenna’s already on her feet, gun raised, back to the wall, eyes on the hallway. “They’re coming in!”
The first man steps into view?—
Jennadoesn’t hesitate.
She opens fire. Bullets slam into the wall.
“Ally, back—now!” Her voice cuts through the chaos, hard and urgent.
I scramble as shots crack overhead. Malia flips the heavy coffee table with a grunt, dragging me down behind it as bullets chew through the air.
Rebel is already armed—where the hell did that knife come from? She’s death in motion.
Mia clutches her phone, fingers flying.
Sophia and Violet vanish into the hallway, ushering the kids toward the panic room tucked behind Jenna’s bedroom closet.
Glass explodes inward—shards rain down like razors.
Black-clad soldiers flood through the windows, silent and surgical, tactical rifles raised.
A howl—high, sharp, agonized—rips through the room.