Chapter 5 - The Blood on the VelvetThe sound of bone shattering was loud and sickening in the small closet.
Marcus let out a choked, wet shriek of agony as his head whipped violently to the left. The silver revolver slipped from his numb fingers, clattering uselessly against the plush carpet floor.
He stumbled backward, clutching his ruined jaw, blood spraying from his mouth as three of his teeth clinked against the hardwood threshold outside. He looked at me with wide, shock-filled eyes—unable to comprehend that the timid, silent wife he had beaten and discarded had just struck him with lethal, absolute precision.
"You..." Marcus gurgled, his voice thick with blood, his face swelling rapidly into a disfigured purple mess. He lunged forward again, his fingers clawing toward my throat in a wild, manic rage.
I raised the brass bookend again, ready to drive it into his skull, ready to kill him to protect my daughters.
BANG!
A single, deafening gunshot echoed through the nursery.
Marcus froze mid-stride. His eyes widened into vast, hollow circles of shock.
A small, neat red hole appeared in the exact center of his chest, ruining his crisp white shirt. He slowly looked down at his chest, then looked past me toward the nursery entrance.
A heavy, dark silhouette stood in the shattered doorway of the nursery.
Elias Vance.
His charcoal coat was drenched in rainwater and blood. He held his Sig Sauer pistol in his right hand, smoke trailing faintly from the barrel, his gray eyes burning with an ancient, terrifying, unholy fury that made the air in the room freeze solid.
Behind him, two more of his security guards flooded the room, their weapons raised, securing the perimeter within two seconds.
Marcus dropped to his knees, clutching his chest, blood pooling beneath his knees onto the white carpet. He looked up at Elias, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish, trying to gasp for air that was no longer filling his lungs.
Elias didn't look at Marcus's face. He didn't say a word. He took three slow, heavy steps forward, raised his leather boot, and kicked Marcus flat onto his back, completely clear of the closet entrance.
Then Elias set his gun on the changing table, stepped into the closet, and dropped to his knees in front of me.
The murderous, lethal monster vanished in an instant. His hands—large, strong, and steady—wrapped gently around my arms, taking the heavy brass bookend from my white-knuckled grip, setting it carefully on the floor.
"Ava," Elias whispered, his voice trembling slightly as his slate-gray eyes searched my face, checking my neck, my arms, my body for injuries. "Are you hurt? Did he touch you?"
I stared at him, my chest heaving in ragged gasps, tears finally breaking through the shock, spilling over my lashes in a hot, torrential flood.
"The... the girls..." I choked out, pointing a shaking hand toward the rear corner of the closet. "They're... they're safe..."
Elias looked over my shoulder at the pile of cashmere blankets where Maya and Lily lay quiet and untouched, their tiny eyes wide, watching us from the shadows.
A long, shuddering breath escaped Elias's chest. He leaned forward, wrapping his broad arms around my shoulders, pulling me gently against his broad, solid chest. He held me tightly, shielding me from the sight of the blood on the floor, his hand gently stroking the back of my head as I wept into his shoulder.
"It's over, Ava," Elias murmured against my hair, his voice steady, warm, and absolute. "It's over. He will never touch you again. No one will ever touch you again."
Outside the nursery, Marco stepped into the doorway, stepping over Marcus's motionless body on the carpet. He looked at Elias, offering a single, firm nod.
"The police chief is downstairs, Boss," Marco reported softly. "The building security feeds have been secured. Marcus Miller broke into your private residence with five armed mercenaries. It was a clear, legal case of home defense."
Elias didn't look back at the body. He gently lifted me in his arms, standing up effortlessly, carrying me out of the closet away from the ruin, while Marco reached down and scooped up the cashmere bundle containing Maya and Lily.
May you like
As Elias carried me down the hallway toward the master suite, I looked back one last time at the blood on the white carpet.
The coward who had called my daughters a curse was gone. The nightmare that had ruled my life for three years was buried forever. And as Elias laid me gently onto the warm, clean sheets of his bed, placing my twin daughters safely into my arms, I knew that our new life had finally begun.
