Page 186 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“Call it whatever you like. Learn it before our wedding night.”

He straightened his suit and had just started to walk away when all hell broke loose.

Chapter

Forty-Eight

KAYLANI

The decorative windows behind the quartet exploded inward. The musicians were hurled to the floor by the blast. Jagged shards stuck out of their bodies like grotesque quills. They were dead before they even hit the ground.

The skylights shattered next. A scream lodged in my throat as glass rained down.

The first gunshot followed so quickly that my mind barely registered the difference. Chaos ripped through the room. Chairs scraped violently across marble. A woman in a pale dress collapsed near the doorway. Blood spread beneath her as her cries were cut off, death claiming her mid-breath.

I spun, searching for my father as armed men poured into the restaurant like ants.

“Julian, what do we do?”

He stared at me, eyes wide, then ducked and bolted toward a group of his guards.

In stunned disbelief, I watched as they converged around him and rushed through one of the open doors. The man I was supposed to marry did not fight to protect me. He didn’t even take me with him. He saved himself.

A bullet whizzed by my head, and I dropped quickly, pressing myself against the wall. There was nowhere to hide. No pillar. No doorway. Only the balcony and a flimsy sheer curtain, now tattered with holes.

Everything was so loud. Men shoved tables aside, turning linen and crystal into cover. Gunshots cracked in rapid succession as men fired at one another.

A man suddenly stepped into view, his shoes inches from mine. I slowly lifted my gaze and found myself staring down the barrel of a gun aimed at my head. I swallowed hard and raised my hands.

“I’m pregnant,” I blurted.

His expression changed, and he lowered his gun. Then, his body jerked as red bloomed across his chest. I screamed as blood splattered my face, and the man collapsed toward me. I scrambled backward, and his head landed just short of my heels.

“Oh my god.”

My father rushed over and seized my arm.

“Kaylani,” he barked.

I looked up at him, then down at the body.

“Kaylani?” He shook my arm.

“Yeah?”

He ripped the gun from the dead man’s grip and shoved it into my hand.

“Come on.” He pulled hard, and I stumbled to my feet. “Stay low.”

Father was focused and deadly in a way that made my blood run cold. I crouched down, following behind him while he fired at the men around us. There was no way to tell friend from foe.

Bullets struck the wall, and plaster sprayed in every direction. I instinctively threw an arm over my head, the gun still clutched in my hand.

Out of nowhere, Sven appeared and joined us behind an overturned table.

“All the exits are blocked, sir.”

Sven leaned in close so his voice carried over the noise while my father fired two more shots at targets I couldn’t see.