The first bullet shattered the crystal chandelier in the foyer, sending thousands of glass shards raining down like diamond snow. Isabella screamed, her hands over her head. The sound was so loud it felt like it was inside her skull.
"GET DOWN, BELLA!" Jaxson roared.
He didn't run away from the window; he ran toward it. He grabbed a heavy mahogany chair and threw it through the glass to create a gap, then he started firing back with his custom black handgun. Pop! Pop! Pop! The muzzle flashes were bright orange in the dimming twilight of the living room.
Isabella scrambled on her hands and knees across the cold marble floor. Her gold silk dress was getting caught under her knees, so she reached down and ripped the fabric up to her thigh so she could move faster. She didn't care about the dress anymore. She only cared about the pantry.
"I'm not leaving you, Jaxson!" she yelled over the sound of the gunfire.
"You have to!" he shouted back, ducking as a burst of submachine gun fire from Vanessa chewed up the wall behind him, sending plaster dust into the air. "There's a bag in the floorboards! It has a radio and a grenade! If I don't come for you in ten minutes, you run for the boat!"
Isabella reached the pantry and pulled the hidden lever. The floorboards slid back. She dropped into the small, concrete-lined room. It was dark and smelled like dry rice. She found the bag. Her hands were shaking so hard she almost dropped the radio.
Above her, the house was being torn apart. She heard the front door being kicked in. She heard the heavy boots of the Boss's men.
"Find them!" Vanessa's voice echoed through the vents. "I want Jaxson alive for a little while, but the girl is optional. Kill her if she gets in the way."
Isabella gripped the grenade. She didn't know how to use it, but she remembered Jaxson showing her the pin once when they were on the boat. Pull, aim, throw. She heard a man enter the kitchen directly above her. Thud. Thud. Thud. He was walking right over her head. She held her breath, pressing her hand over her mouth so he wouldn't hear her breathing.
Suddenly, a loud CRASH came from the living room, followed by a scream.
"Is that all you got?" Jaxson's voice boomed.
Isabella heard the sounds of a physical struggle. Grunts, the sound of meat hitting meat, and the crash of furniture. Jaxson was fighting them hand-to-hand now. He was a beast when he was cornered. She heard him throw someone through the glass coffee table.
But then, she heard the one sound she dreaded.
Click-clack.
The sound of a heavy rifle being cocked.
"Step away from the guard, Jax," the Boss said. His voice was calm, like he was ordering a drink at a bar. "You're fast, but you're not faster than a .45. Where is the girl?"
"She's gone," Jaxson gasped. He sounded hurt. "She took the boat an hour ago. You'll never find her."
"Liar," Vanessa hissed. "I smell her perfume. It's that expensive French stuff you bought her in the city. She's in this house."
Isabella couldn't stay in the hole. She couldn't let them hurt him. She pushed the pantry floorboard up just an inch. She saw Vanessa's boots—white leather, stained with mud. Vanessa was standing right by the stove.
Isabella took the grenade. She didn't pull the pin yet. She waited.
"If you kill me," Jaxson said, his voice strained, "you'll never get the rest of the gold. I moved it. It's not in the safe."
The Boss laughed. "We don't need the gold anymore, Jaxson. This was about the insult. You thought you could walk away from me? No one walks away."
Vanessa raised her rifle, pointing it at Jaxson's head. He was kneeling on the floor, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead, his hands tied behind his back with plastic zips.
"Any last words, lover boy?" Vanessa sneered.
Isabella pushed the floorboard all the way open. She stood up, her eyes wide and wild. "HEY, VANESSA!"
Vanessa turned, her eyes widening in surprise.
Isabella pulled the pin. She didn't throw it at Vanessa. She threw it at the giant gas stove behind her.
"GET DOWN!" Isabella screamed at Jaxson.