Page 106 of Vicious Intentions

Then I knew something was terribly wrong.

“Brock. Go check the grounds. I need to know how many soldiers are on the premises. And make contact with Marty. Make certain the house is locked down tight.”

“Of course, boss.”

We moved through the lower level. There was no sign of my father. I took the stairs two at a time, bounding into one room after the other.

Then the third floor, heading into the master suite that I swore I’d never enter again.

What the fuck?

“What the hell is going on?” Cristiano barked as he found me coming down the stairs.

“He’s not here.”

Hunter rushed toward us, holding out his phone. “The fucker knew we were coming.”

The single word would forever remain etched in my mind.

Help

* * *

Pop! Pop!

I dropped and rolled, firing off another two shots towards the guard who’d taken position on one of the balconies. As if in slow motion, his body pitched forward, tumbling over the wooden railing. Cristiano had taken out a second man at the entrance.

The wind was whipping through the trees, the storm turning violent. There’d been tornado warnings, the lake churning to the point flooding had begun from the torrential downpour. And the fucking lightning refused to give up, the air full of electricity.

“This is getting bad,” Hunter said as he crouched beside me.

“The storm or the round of sabotage?”

“Both. Like that night.”

He didn’t need to remind me of the storm in Kentucky.

Hissing, I glared at one of my fallen soldiers, the close shot nearly ripping off his face. Goddamn it. How had I allowed this to happen?

The one lesson that my father had tried to teach me was that when emotion was involved, mistakes were made. He’d known my entire life how emotional I was. No matter how many times he’d tried to beat it out of me, it had always returned.

He’d counted on the fact, knowing my lust for vengeance would cloud my judgment. Now, I risked losing the only thing that mattered to me.

Not business. Not money. No building could ever matter.

Only the single woman I’d been in love with my entire adult life.

“Are we going in?” he asked.

“Is there any other choice? Whatever happens, Sage comes out of this alive.”

Hunter yanked out another magazine, replacing the one in his Beretta. “I’ll protect her with my life.”

I heard another round of gunfire, but I continued heading to the front door. My father didn’t want me killed. He wanted me to suffer first. The three of us wanted it over.

Still, I held the weapon in both hands, knowing what I’d find in the living room.

Cristiano and Hunter moved beside me as we entered the room, both men pointing their weapons at my father.

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