Gabriel staggered upright, gasping curses, and swung wildly at her. Daniella ducked, grabbed his wrist, and wrenched it behind his back, slamming him face-first onto the floor. She dropped her full weight onto him, knees pinning his spine as her fists continued their merciless rhythm, cheek, temple, ribs, until his pleas dissolved into wet, broken groans.
The room descended into wreckage. Chairs overturned, a side table shattered, shards of wood and glass crunching underfoot. The air thickened with the metallic tang of blood, sweat, and fear. Furniture lay in splinters. Gabriel and Marcus writhed on the ground, faces swollen and bruised, bodies marked with fresh cuts and darkening welts. Blood trickled from Gabriel's nose and mouth; Marcus clutched his damaged arm, leg twisted at an unnatural angle.
