Page 190 of Fall Before Her Throne

In one breath, she was shaking her head.

In the next, her SUV exploded.

The heat flared through the entire street. Instinctively, I reached for Leona to pull her close to my chest, to shield her, only to find that Max and Caspian had already done the same. Time slowed and sped up at once.

“Josephine!” Leona screamed again.

The mayor lay on the ground, flat on her back, surrounded by her security. She sat up slowly, blood trickling from a cut on the side of her head. One of her staff batted cinders from the shirt she wore. The flames from the ball of wreckage that used to be her SUV cast flickering shadows across the mayor’s face. Civilians were crying, screaming, and terrified.

But the mayor was alive.

It only took thirty seconds before people turned in our direction.

Fingers pointed.

The mayor’s security pointed their guns at us. Ryuji had just pushed Leona to the ground when a bullet landed in his shoulder. He shouted in pain.

Chaos erupted.

“Don’t shoot them back!” I shouted at my brothers. “Get her out of here!”

We scrambled to our feet and backtracked to the safety of the stairwell, but there was none to be found. Another group of mercenaries was there, waiting. I fired three shots at the same time Wynn fired four. Ciel wrapped his garrotte around the closest one and dropped him to the ground. Ryuji and Leona headed toward the hallway, while Ryuji pressed a hand to his shoulder to stem the bleeding.

This was the crossroads.

We could run together as a family and get out of here. We didn’t have to proceed with this. If we pushed hard enough, we could get back to our vehicle.

We didn’t have to separate.

I could come up with something different. I could find another pl⁠—

“Obi,” Max said beside me as he reloaded his rifle. He dropped the emptied magazine to the floor. “Now is the time.”

I knew it was.

I just didn’t want to make the call.

I didn’t want to let go.

My teeth gritted until finally I made a choice. “Leona, you have to go.”

Wynn fired more bullets toward the mercenaries bearing down on us. The mayor’s security yelled at us from the street, just outside the door.

Her eyes went wide.

“We’ll lead them away,” I said. “A distraction. It’ll give you enough time to escape.”

Ryuji’s lips pressed together while fear flashed in his eyes. Blood pooled over his fingertips. “Go, hanii.”

She gritted her teeth.

“I trust you,” I whispered. “Trust me. Trust your men.”

She swallowed, eyes flicking around to each of us.

“Go.”

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