Page 130 of Brutal Crown
The doors are thrown open before I reach them. One of the butlers steps out, but his eyes go wide the moment he sees me.
“Sir—”
“Get out of my way.”
He stumbles back without another word.
The entrance hall falls silent when I storm in.
Maids freeze mid-step. One gasps when she sees me. I see her eyes drop to the blood soaked across my chest and my arms, the weapon still in my hand. She stumbles backward, hitting a table and sending a porcelain vase crashing to the floor. The crash echoes throughout the space, but I barely hear it over the roar in my head.
“Who took her?” I growl, my voice hoarse and rough.
No one answers.
“Who the fuck came into the estate and took her?” I roar.
Still silence.
That’s when I lose it.
I fire once into the air. The sound cracks through the chandelier above, sending the crystals crashing to the floor. Some maids scream and duck. The butler shields himself from the glass shards that explode in the air.
“GUARDS!” I bellow, my voice echoing up the grand staircase.
Heavy boots thunder in from different wings in the house. Five men rush in, their guns half-drawn before they spot me.
They freeze when they see my face.
I march toward the first one—tall, broad, a scar over one eye. I grab him by the collar and slam him against the wall behind him so hard his spine might crack.
“You were on gate duty earlier tonight.”
“S-sir, yes?—”
“How the fuck did they get past you?”
“I-I didn’t see anyone come through?—”
“Then you’re blind or a traitor,” I hiss.
“I swear?—”
My gun is already pressed to his throat. The other guards shift nervously, unsure if they’re supposed to intervene or let the mad prince tear one of them apart.
“Talk,” I snarl.
“She was in the courtyard,” he finally blurts. He looks like he wants to pee himself. “She was resting and receiving some fresh air. That was the last place I saw her. In the next minute, she was just gone.”
“Gone?” I snap. “Where were you when she was taken away? You were supposed to watch her.”
“E-Elio summoned me to do something for him,” he chokes out.
The red in my vision flares.
“Elio,” I hiss.
And then, as if he were summoned, he appears.
