Page 99 of Her Darkest Possession
The glass cracks, and the cracks spiderweb out in a perfect circle, but the window still holds. Temporarily frozen, I stare at it for a moment, and that's when I remember when I was brought to this mansion as Anatoly's bride and contemplating just how I might be able to escape.
When Svetlana looked at me and told me that the windows are bulletproof.
But bulletproof doesn't mean much if the attackers are determined enough. Nothing is truly impenetrable. With enough time, even this glass will shatter.
And then, as if to remind me of the very real danger we're in, another bullet hits the window in almost the same spot. The cracks expand further.
"We need to go!" Vassily hisses. "There isn't much time."
I squeeze Amara's hand tighter. She looks terrified, and I can't blame her. After everything she's been through with Lola and Grisha, now she's caught in the middle of a full-scale Volkov assault.
"Davai!" Vassily calls over his shoulder.
We move swiftly through the hallway towards the west wing where the panic room was. Last time, Anatoly told me to stay in it, and I didn't listen.
Not this time.
More shots ring out from different directions. Bullets ping and slam into both the stone façade and the glass, their impact sound like sledgehammers.
We're under attack from multiple sides.
Gunfire erupts from elsewhere in the mansion in a rapid rhythmic pattern that seems to shake the walls of the house with how loud they sound.
Anatoly's men are returning fire,I realize.
Each staccato burst makes me flinch. I pull Amara closer as we rush after Vassily. Two guards rush past us, their heavy footsteps thunder through the downstairs hallway.
We run down the hallway towards the west wing, my fingers interlaced with Amara's. Ahead of us, Vassily has slung Svetlana over his shoulder and is running at full speed.
We've barely made it to the west wing when I hear the distinctive sound of glass shattering somewhere behind us. A rush of cold winter air immediately floods the hallway, carrying with it the scent of snow and gunpowder.
Men's voices start shouting in Russian.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting BOOM rocks the entire mansion. The floor beneath my feet actually vibrates with the force of it. I chance a look behind me, my hair whipping across my face.
Oh no.
The massive front door has been blown completely off its hinges. Smoke billows through the gaping hole where it once stood.
Three men immediately rush inside. The rifles in their hands rises, and one of them points it directly at us.
Svetlana shouts something in Russian at Vassily, and he barks a response back.
She immediately reaches down and pulls a gun from under his jacket.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
One of the intruders crumples to the floor like a marionette whose string has been cut. The other two dive for cover.
A hail of gunfire from the second-floor thunders through the mansion. The two other intruders fall.
Pandemonium erupts all around us. The mansion has transformed into a war zone in seconds.
Men are shouting—some in English, and others in Russian. The words blur together into a cacophony of noise that pounds against my eardrums. I can't even begin to make sense of any of it.
And amidst the sound of chaos, men are dying.
I see one of Anatoly's guards take a shot to the shoulder. He spins, returns fire, and then takes another bullet to the chest. He crumples against the wall, leaving a smear of crimson as he slides to the floor.
