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We reached the family wing seconds later. The doors were open, the nannies were looking scared and the children were crying. The three women all rushed to grab them.

The sound that came from Runa when she gathered her little one against her chest nearly broke me. Layla dropped to her knees, pulling Aleksander into her arms and checking him over frantically, her hands moving over his face and arms.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, Mama."

"Did you hear anything?"

"It was loud."

"I know, baby. I know."

Sorcha gathered hers close, kissing the top of a small head repeatedly. I stood there watching them and suddenly understood something else about these men. Why they were insane about protection. Why Viking couldn't simply shrug and trust that nothing would happen. It was because this was their reality, enemies didn't knock, they didn't announce themselves, they found whatever mattered most and aimed there.

A hand pressed lightly against my back. Turning my head, I see Nico, "We need to move."

This time nobody argued, with the children gathered between us, we headed toward the safe room. Then Colt stopped, his fingers pressed to the earpiece hidden beneath his hair. Everyone froze as he listened, his expression hardened.

"What?" Layla demanded.

He lifted one finger, a few more seconds. Then, "Outside team swept the grounds. Shooter isn't there." My stomach dropped.

"How the hell does someone just disappear?" Sorcha demanded.

"They're still searching. Tracking teams are moving beyond the perimeter now." His eyes moved toward Layla. "But whoever fired appears to have withdrawn."

There is a deathly Silence. Nobody relaxed, not even slightly because that bullet had come within inches of killing Roman Dragic's mate. This wasn't random, someone had aimed, someone had known exactly where the women would be. If she hadn’t moved at the last moment the bullet would have got her.

Layla seemed to realize the same thing, her face went pale. Just then Ashen’s phone rang, I see him pull it out and then straighten automatically.

"Boss?" A pause.

"We've had a security breach at the mansion." Another pause, even from several feet away, I heard the change in Roman's voice through the phone.

"What happened?"

The guard looked at Layla, then at the child clinging to her. His jaw tightened.

"A shot was fired through the family-room window." Silence. The kind of silence that made every hair on my arms rise. Then Roman asked one question.

"Who was hit?"

"No one, sir."

A collective breath moved through the room. "The bullet missed Layla by approximately three inches."

Another silence, worse than the first. When Roman spoke again, his voice was so cold that my stomach tightened.

"Lock down the mansion."

"Already underway."

"The children?"

"Secure."

"The women?"