"Code Black. East Garden rose beds. We have a breach."
The guard's frantic voice barked into his shoulder radio, breaking the silence of the morning garden.
Mara didn't move. Some terrified part of her brain felt that looking away would make it worse, as if keeping her eyes fixed on Ferro's lifeless body was the only way to hold the violent scene in place.
It took less than sixty seconds for the footsteps to tear across the manicured lawn.
Nico cleared the tall hedgerow, moving faster than a man of his size should have been able to, with his heavy black handgun already drawn. Luca followed a fraction of a second behind him, his weapon raised as he scanned the tree line.
Nico didn't look at the body first.
He grabbed Mara by the upper arms and physically turned her away from the blood in the grass. His dark eyes snapped rapidly over her face, her neck, her hands, and every other places.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded, taking in deep breaths.
"No."
