Men are shouting, there’s more gunfire and something that sounds like it might be grenades.
The window shatters—just one pane, but it’s enough to let in the sounds of combat from outside, making everything seem even closer and real.
This is actuallyhappening.
There’s an actual firefight happening right now, and my father is out there somewhere trying to get to me.
Please be okay. Please don’t get hurt. Please don’t let anyone die because of me.
And then, as quickly as it started, it stops.
The gunfire fades and the explosions cease.
The shouting dies down to tense, clipped communications that I can’t quite make out.
The alarms are still wailing but everything else goes quiet in a way that’s somehow worse than the noise.
I wait, barely breathing, desperately hoping that the silence means my father won.
That any second now, the door is going to burst open and it’ll be Connor Brennan standing there, coming to take his daughter home.
Please. Please pleaseplease.
Suddenly, I hear something.
Footsteps in the hallway.
Quick and purposeful.
And they’re heading this way.
I scramble to my feet, still clutching the lamp, my whole body tensed and ready.
The lock clicks.
The door opens.
It’s Leo.
He strides into the room and my heart drops so fast I feel sick.
He’s got blood on his shirt.
It’s not a lot, but enough to be visible against the white fabric.
His dark hair is disheveled and there’s a gun in his right hand, held low but ready.
He’s breathing hard and his eyes are wild, dark and intense in a way that makes him look dangerous, not just theoretically dangerous.
For a moment—just a moment—I’m genuinely afraid.
“Are you hurt?” His voice is urgent and his eyes are scanning me like he’s looking for injuries.
I’m too confused to answer properly. “I—no. The bullets didn’t—they went through the wall but they didn’t hit me.”
He crosses to me in three long strides and suddenly his hands are on me, running over my arms, my shoulders, checking for injuries I’ve already told him I don’t have.
His fingers are rough but not painful, quick and efficient like he’s done this before.