The Billionaire’s Bride Pushed His Mother Off the Rooftop—Then the Maid Did the Unthinkable / Chapter 25 / 46

Chapter 25 - The Silent Assassin

"Stay behind me!" Nathaniel barked, pulling Rose toward the corner of the conservatory where the thick marble pillars offered cover.

"I’m not a damsel, Nathaniel, give me a weapon!" Rose retorted, kicking off her high-heeled shoes to gain traction on the slick tiles.

Marcus unholstered a compact submachine gun from his coat, tossing a sleek 9mm pistol to Rose. She caught it out of the air, racked the slide with practiced muscle memory, and took up a firing stance behind the marble pillar.

The heavy glass skylight above shattered into a thousand raining daggers.

Three black-clad figures rappelled down through the broken ceiling on tactical lines, landing silently among the exotic ferns. Their faces were obscured by ballistic night-vision masks. Red laser targeting beams swept through the crimson-lit room, slicing through the hanging orchids.

*Pfft! Pfft!*

Silenced rounds chewed into the marble pillar an inch above Nathaniel’s head, spraying stone dust into the air.

Marcus returned fire, the loud cracks of his weapon dropping the first assailant instantly. The second operative sprinted laterally, firing a burst toward Marcus, catching the security chief in the shoulder. Marcus grunted in pain, collapsing against an iron planter.

"Marcus!" Rose shouted.

The third assassin flanked Nathaniel’s position, gun raised to put a fatal round through the billionaire’s chest.

Rose didn't hesitate. She stepped out from cover, leveled her pistol with both hands, and squeezed the trigger twice. The double-tap struck the assassin squarely in the center of his chest rig, throwing him backward into a glass display case that shattered into explosive shards.

Nathaniel lunged forward, tackling the remaining gunman before he could bring his weapon to bear on Rose. They crashed into a marble fountain, water spraying everywhere as Nathaniel wrestled for control of the barrel. With a vicious knee to the mercenary’s ribs and a swift downward strike of his forearm, Nathaniel snapped the man’s neck, the body going limp in the churning water.

Panting heavily, his tuxedo soaked in bloody water, Nathaniel scrambled out of the fountain. "Rose! Are you hit?"

"I’m fine!" Rose rushed to Marcus, pressing her silk wrap against his bleeding shoulder. "Marcus is hit, but the bullet passed through. We need to get him to the extraction point."

"The elevator bank is dead," Marcus groaned, gritting his teeth against the agony. "They planned this... they knew the security codes... only someone inside the Vance inner sanctum had those encrypted frequencies..."