Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunfire exploded through Vallemont Tower, sharp and violent, ricocheting off steel beams and marble walls, multiplying until it felt as if the building itself were being ripped apart from the inside. The alarms kicked in a second later, shrill and frantic, but useless against the roar of automatic weapons tearing through twenty-seven floors of steel and power.
Men screamed.
Glass shattered in cascading sheets.
Bullets ripped through mahogany panels, through framed oil paintings worth millions, through flesh and bone without discrimination. Blood splattered across white marble like grotesque art.
The headquarters of the Bloom Syndicate—twenty-seven floors of influence, money, and fear—had never known chaos like this. For two decades, Vallemont Tower had stood as a symbol. Untouchable. Unbreakable. A monument to Matthias Bloom's dominance.
Matthias Bloom ruled from the top floor like a king who had outlived every rival foolish enough to challenge him.
No one dared storm his fortress.
Until tonight.
On the twenty-seventh floor, the private corridor outside the executive wing had become a battlefield. Smoke rolled across the ceiling in thick waves. Sprinklers burst to life as stray bullets ruptured the pipes overhead, turning polished marble slick with water and blood.
Ashley Bloom stepped out of the strategy room just as another round of shots ripped down the hallway.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"What the hell is happening?!" she demanded.
"East stairwell is compromised!" one of the men shouted into his radio, panic breaking through his voice. "They're inside! They're—"
Bang!
A bullet slammed into his chest mid-sentence. The force snapped his body backward. He crashed against the wall, leaving a dark red smear as he slid down, eyes wide and empty.
"Victor!" Ashley shouted, rushing forward instinctively. "Victor! Can you hear me? Victor!"
No response.
Only blood bubbling at his lips before he went still.
Ashley's chest tightened, but she didn't allow herself to freeze. Her hand flew to the gun holstered at her thigh. Her mind was racing through possibilities.
Why now?
Who would dare?
Fall back to the inner corridor!" she yelled at the men stumbling out of the elevators. "Protect my father! Move!"
The men nodded, scrambling into formation, firing wildly at the advancing attackers. Sparks flew as bullets struck steel pillars. The air filled with smoke and the metallic scent of blood.
Boom!
An explosion rocked the floor. The reinforced doors to the outer office blew inward, splintering off their hinges. Smoke billowed as masked men poured through, moving in tight formation, rifles raised, firing in controlled bursts.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound was deafening, maddening, relentless.
Bloom's men retaliated heavily, gunfire erupting from both sides. Muzzle flashes lit the corridor like strobe lights. Bodies dropped. Blood sprayed. Someone screamed as a bullet tore through his thigh, sending him crashing to the ground.
Ashley ducked behind a marble pillar as shards chipped near her face. She leaned out, steady despite the chaos, and fired twice.
Bang! Bang!
One masked man staggered as a round tore through his shoulder. He fell. Another stepped over him instantly, taking his place without hesitation.
Too organized.
The doors to Matthias Bloom's office swung open.
He stepped out as if he were attending a board meeting instead of standing in the middle of a massacre.
Tall. Immaculate suit. Silver hair swept back. A pistol steady in both hands.
Even with bullets tearing through his empire, Matthias Bloom looked like the most dangerous man in the room.
"Report!" he barked.
One of the captains ducked behind an overturned console. "They breached from the lower parking levels! Security grid's been overridden!"
"Override requires level thirty clearance!" Ashley snapped, disbelief flooding her voice. "That access is internal!"
Matthias's eyes flicked toward her.
Only five people had that clearance.
Only five.
Another wave of gunfire forced them backward toward the executive office. Two guards fell covering their retreat. One took a bullet to the throat; blood sprayed in a violent arc. The other was shot through the abdomen and collapsed, clutching at his spilling insides.
"Get inside!" Ashley shouted.
"Hey! Are you all okay?!" a tense voice called from the hallway.
They turned.
Adrian Tesla emerged from the smoke.
He looked disheveled, sweat drenching his shirt, two pistols holstered at his waist while he carried a machine gun in his hands. His chest rose and fell heavily as if he had just run for his life.
Matthias glared at him. "Where the hell have you been? Do you know what's happening?!"
"I was ambushed on the sixteenth floor!" Adrian replied quickly, wiping sweat from his brow. "They came out of nowhere! I fought through to get up here. Is anyone hurt?"
The nearby men shook their heads, breathing hard.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another barrage slammed into the walls.
Ashley turned sharply. "Everyone to the boardroom! Now!"
The boardroom was fortified with tempered, bulletproof glass. The security lock system was nearly impossible to breach. If they could hold there, they could regroup.
They rushed inside.
The office was dim, lit only by the glow of security monitors lining the far wall. Screen after screen displayed carnage. Their men were being cut down at alarming speed. Hallways overtaken. Safe rooms breached. The armory compromised.
Ashley stepped closer to the screens, her jaw tightening.
"They're hitting every critical point," she said tightly. "Server room. Armory. Accounting. This isn't just an attack. They're dismantling us piece by piece!"
"They had help," Matthias said quietly.
He had been in this business for over half his life. He knew betrayal when he saw one.
He just hadn't expected it from inside this room.
A slow clap echoed from the shadows near the bar.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Everyone turned.
Adrian.
But the man who had stumbled in sweating minutes ago was gone.
This Adrian stood straight. Calm. Composed. Not a trace of exhaustion on his face.
For sixteen years, he had stood at Matthias's right hand. Chief strategist. Adviser. The keeper of secrets. He knew every offshore account, every weapons cache, every dirty alliance.
Now he looked almost bored.
His tie hung loose. A gun dangled casually from his fingers. He rolled it along his index finger as if it were nothing more than a toy.
"I was wondering," Adrian said slowly, an ugly smile curling his lips, "how long it would take you to realize."
Ashley stared at him, fury and disbelief colliding inside her. "You?"