18

When I got to my room, I waited until Nero walked in and then closed the door.

All I could hear was screaming from downstairs and worried that it was my fault I sat down on the edge of my bed and looked down sadly.

I wanted to get involved, like I always did with my cousins, but I didn't even know what they were arguing about...

Nero must have been just as concerned about the situation as I was because he was pacing nervously, all the while glancing at the door through which, unfortunately, the argument could still be heard.

I hated it when families fought.

Since I didn't want to listen under any circumstances, I took a deep breath and stood at my large window, where I suddenly saw someone in the darkness on the beach and held my breath in amazement.

My room was pitch black except for the sparse moonlight, so I wasn't sure if that person could see me, but it still sent a chill down my spine.

I glanced down at the patio where I saw one of our security guards who seemed busy fiddling with his cell phone.

Very reassuring!

My eyes fell on the dark figure whose face I couldn't make out, but who was staring straight at me at that moment.

"What the...."

My pulse quickened with fear and suddenly I didn't give a shit what the problem was with the three of them down there. As fast as my feet would take me, I ran to my door and down the stairs where the brothers were still busy screaming wildly.

"There's someone!" I tried to get their attention, but they didn't pay me any attention, which made me incredibly angry because the fact that I was being watched almost drove me insane.

"Halloooo!", I yelled loudly between their discussion and it was Odran who looked at me questioningly first, but his eyes sparkled with anger.

"What the fuck do you want?!" he hissed at me, still heated from his discussion, when suddenly Rian grabbed his neck.

"Don't you dare speak to her in that tone!"

After that, a new discussion started between them, which made me just slap my hand on my forehead in bewilderment.

None of that could be true!

Without trying to interrupt the three of them again, I walked past them unnoticed onto the terrace and first of all turned to the security guard, who immediately put his mobile phone in his pocket, startled.

"Good evening Mrs-"

"Save that! You'd better come with me!", I said self-confidently and then ran ahead of him down the stairs, where I stared exactly in the direction where I had seen someone else from my window.

With the guard holding a submachine gun and Nero at my side, I wasn't too scared, but I was still nervous. How could I not here in the dark.

Quietly, I let my eyes wander through the darkness, hearing the rushing waves next to us, but to my confusion, there was suddenly no one to see.

Either I had really imagined it because of all the stress, or the person was already far away, and that only because the three brawlers didn't want to listen to me.

I felt the still warm sand under my feet and then, irritated, walked a few steps over myself into the darkness, until I suddenly heard a very quiet, dull noise that sounded like it had passed right by me.

Before I even had time to realize what that was, Nero suddenly started barking so loudly that I jumped violently and clutched my chest tightly in shock.

"My God, Nero!", I got upset and turned to him to watch in shock as the guard took his heart just like me, but his expression was different...

"Run," he ground between his clenched teeth and then fell sideways while I saw the blood on his hand, started shaking uncontrollably and was shocked to realize what that sound was....

Silencer...

My mind was racing, my breathing became uncontrollable and I bent down to the guard in mortal fear, but when I looked him straight in the face, heart racing, I realized that he had already succumbed to his injury.

My panicked gaze fell to Nero, who suddenly ran growling into the darkness behind me and only then did I find my way back to reality.

"Nero!!!" I screamed in desperation and hastily got up to watch him go.

I could feel my heart beating in my throat and I could hear Nero barking, but I didn't see him anymore. The smart thing would have been to sprint up the stairs, but I wasn't smart...

There was no way I would leave Nero alone, who only wanted to protect me.

Trembling all over, I bent over the security guard again and pulled his pistol out of his trousers, then boldly ran after Nero, who I heard barking louder and louder because I seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"Nero! Come here," I then whispered when I saw him in front of me and he just stared into nothing, growling.

My heart was racing so fast that I could hardly breathe and when I finally got my hands on Nero's collar, I suddenly felt very clearly that someone was standing next to me and scrutinizing me intensely.

Frightened, I took as deep a breath as I could, then cocked the safety to point it exactly where I suspected the stranger would be and lifted my face.

At first glance I saw only frightening darkness again, but then, a good distance away from me, I saw a figure dressed completely in black, who also had a dark mask on his outfit.

I swallowed hard as he tilted his head and seemed to be looking at me curiously, and then when he raised his hand as well, I realized he was making a finger gun gesture with his hand, intending to slowly shoot me...

The real pistol in my hand, I still aimed at him, but just his calm way of watching me, the feeling of being completely alone in this darkness, made my hand tremble reluctantly, whereupon he took a few steps towards me.

***

The closer the stranger got, the more violently my hand trembled and the more difficult it was for me to hold on to Nero, who wanted to tear himself away from his collar like a savage, but the guy would surely shoot him immediately without batting an eyelid, so I gritted my teeth and held the collar as tightly as I could so as not to risk my faithful companion's life.

"Don't come any closer!", I tried to yell threateningly at the stranger, but only a breath full of mortal fear came out of my mouth, while my heart was beating so painfully against my ribs that I felt pulling pains all over my body.

To my surprise, despite my unmistakable fear, he stopped and tilted his head again to look at me like a statue for a while.

The gun in my hand grew heavier and heavier the longer I aimed it directly at his head, until I suddenly jumped violently when he walked the last few meters to me and pulled a pistol from his pants. Out of sheer shock at his jerky movement, I unconsciously let go of Nero, who immediately bit the stranger in the hand, growling.

The stranger dropped his gun when Nero attacked him and hit my dog, but Nero didn't let go and tugged at his hand, growling loudly, causing the guy to scream out in pain.

Bad asshole!

Although I was in extreme shock, I also knew that I had to do something immediately, so I hurriedly ran towards the two of them, quickly bent down for his gun in the sand and, in a panic, I took a few steps away with it to recreate the scenario shocked to watch.

The guy tore himself away from Nero after a very short time and immediately started running into the darkness, while I stopped Nero from chasing him any further at the last second with a skillful grab on his collar.

"Come on!" I yelled, my voice shaking, and tucked my guns into my waistband to run back down the beach as fast as I could without even turning around.

Again and again I stumbled on the warm sand because my legs felt like jelly, but I quickly got up again and ran crying bitterly to the stairs, only to almost lose my balance a few times while running up them.

"Rian!" I yelled loudly several times, as soon as I arrived on the terrace and only when I was flooded with tears and breathlessly opened the door did all three of them stare at me in complete confusion.

"What", Rian wanted to ask a question, but the sight of me had probably left him speechless and the way he looked at me, you literally had to look at my fear of death.

I glanced down at myself, immediately saw the guard's blood on my white trousers, the two pistols that were wedged between my abdomen and the waistband of my trousers, and then I fled crying for safety into his strong arms, which he immediately protectively wrapped around my trembling body to hug me tight.

"Get John and go to the beach right away!", he instructed the other two and I could listen to his chest while sobbing, how his heartbeat kept increasing until the front door slammed behind us and he took a deep breath.

"Keeva," he hesitantly broke away from me and carefully took my face in his hands. "Calm down, everything's okay," he whispered, and in that moment, I got so angry at feeling let down by him that I caught his eye and slapped him.

"Would you have listened to me for just a second!!!" I yelled at him desperately, tearing the two guns out of my waistband to throw them on the table next to us. "Then none of this would have happened in the first place!"

He wanted to say something else, but I pushed past him crying and ran up the stairs together with Nero to slam the door so hard when I got to my room that I shocked myself at the volume.

"Ass!!!" I yelled my whole panic out of my soul and then gasped in exhaustion to half-stagger to my bed, so that I just let myself fall in tears.

"Nero," I whimpered, rolling onto my side to pat the red linens, causing him to immediately hop onto the bed and snuggle close to me.

I put my arm around him, still crying uncontrollably and then shortly afterwards felt how Nero kept nudging me lightly, as if he wanted to say.

"Hey, we made it together."