Chapter 4 - Blood in the Ballroom
Glass rained down like deadly hail as bullets tore through the grand windows.
Maya squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears.
The sound of the gunfire was deafening, bouncing off the high, painted ceilings.
Roman knelt beside her, checking the magazine of a silver pistol he had drawn from an ankle holster.
He looked completely calm, like a man ordering a cup of coffee.
"Stay exactly where you are, little bird," Roman commanded.
He peeked over the edge of the overturned table.
Julian’s assassins were highly trained, but they were vastly outnumbered by Sokolov’s loyal guards.
Viktor was moving like a machine, taking down two of the fake guests with precise shots.
Across the room, Elena was screaming in frustration.
She had lost her veil, and her pristine white dress was stained with soot and red cake icing.
She grabbed a fallen pistol from a dead guard and aimed it wildly.
"You ruined everything!" Elena shrieked, firing blindly toward Roman’s position.
Wood splintered above Maya’s head.
Roman didn't flinch.
He calculated the angle of the shots and the remaining bullets in Elena’s gun.
"Viktor!" Roman yelled into his earpiece.
"Secure the mother in the kitchen, then get them both to the tunnels!"
Roman fired two suppressing shots toward Julian, forcing the fixer to dive behind the ice sculpture.
The beautiful carving of two swans shattered into a million frozen pieces.
Julian cursed loudly, realizing his coup had failed miserably.
He looked toward the main doors, calculating his escape route.
"Retreat!" Julian barked to his surviving men.
"Fall back to the extraction point!"
Roman stood up, his eyes burning with a cold, murderous fury.
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"Nobody leaves my house alive," Roman vowed.
He vaulted over the table, charging directly into the crossfire.
