Chapter 1 - The Crimson Marble
The world lost all color, narrowing down to a single, blinding flash of white pain.
When the high-caliber bullet tore into Evelyn’s back, the kinetic impact slammed her onto the marble floor. Her body acted as a human shield, completely covering seven-year-old Noah and Lily beneath her. Blood—hot, bright, and thick—spilled over her floral dress, pooling around the children’s hands.
“EVIE!” Lily shrieked, her tiny hands clutching Evelyn’s torn dress. “Evie, open your eyes! Evie, please!”
Noah didn't scream. His small body shook violently, his fingers digging into Evelyn’s shoulders as if he could physically pull her back from the darkness taking over her eyes. The silence that had held him captive for eleven months after his mother's death shattered completely.
“Daddy!” Noah sobbed, his voice raw, cracking with terrified agony. “DADDY, HELP US!”
The sound of his son’s voice—the first word Noah had spoken in nearly a year—did not bring Adrian Moretti joy. It tore through his soul like a ragged blade.
Adrian moved like a predator unleashed from hell itself.
His custom-fitted suit jacket flared open as he raised his suppressed assault rifle. He didn't take cover. He didn't hesitate. His eyes, usually cold and calculating as grey slate, were burning with a terrifying, apocalyptic rage.
Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.
The gunman who had aimed at Lily took three rounds to the center chest before his body hit the ground.
Adrian swept through the ruined conservatory, a force of pure, lethal nature. Two more mercenaries attempted to raise their weapons from behind a shattered palm display; Adrian bypassed their cover, firing with precise, cold lethality. Within twelve seconds, six attackers lay dead or dying on the shattered glass and blood-stained orchids.
Then Adrian saw Caleb Dunn.
The senior security guard—a man Adrian had trusted to guard his house for five years—was trying to scramble toward the south exit.
Adrian didn't shoot him. He sprinted forward, caught Caleb by the throat, and slammed him face-first into a bronze statue. The force of the impact shattered Caleb’s jaw with a sickening crunch.
“Adrian—please—!” Caleb choked out through blood and shattered teeth. “They... they took my daughter! They forced me—!”
Adrian lowered his face close to Caleb’s, his breath cold, his voice dropping into a register that made the wounded guard tremble harder than the bullet wounds ever could.
“I don't care about your daughter, Caleb,” Adrian whispered, his eyes void of any human warmth. “You touched my family.”
Adrian snapped Caleb’s collarbone with a single, brutal twist, dropping the groaning traitor to the floor, then turned toward the statue.
The rage instantly evaporated from Adrian’s face, replaced by a hollow, sickening terror he hadn't felt since the night his wife died.
Evelyn lay motionless across the twins. Her dark hair was splayed across the white marble, soaked in blood. Her breathing was shallow, a wet, rattling sound echoing in her chest. Yet, even in unconsciousness, her arms remained locked tightly around Noah and Lily, refusing to let them go.
Adrian dropped his weapon. He fell to his knees in the pool of crimson, his tailored pants soaking through immediately.
“Evelyn,” he breathed, his voice cracking.
He gently reached out, his hands trembling as he lifted her heavy, limp body off the children.
Lily buried her face in Adrian’s chest, weeping hysterically. “Daddy! The bad man shot her! She took the red dot for Noah!”
Noah grabbed Adrian’s sleeve, pointing a shaking finger at Evelyn’s chest. “Dad... save Evie. Please, Dad. Don't let her go to heaven like Mommy.”
Adrian pulled his children close with one arm while cupping Evelyn’s pale, blood-stained cheek with his hand. Her skin was growing deathly cold. Her pulse beneath his fingers was a faint, fluttering beat, slowing down with every passing second.
He looked at her face—the quiet, stubborn kindergarten teacher who had stood up to him on her very first day, the woman who had brought laughter back into his hollow home, the woman who had just thrown her body over a rifle bullet to save his bloodline.
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For the first time in eleven years, a tear cut through the dirt and gunpowder residue on Adrian Moretti’s face.
“Hold on,” Adrian commanded her softly, his voice shaking with a desperate promise. “Do you hear me, Evelyn? You stay with me. I order you to stay.”
