49

I ran after Rian up the stairs, but when he seemed calm and held the gun in front of him, my whole body was shaking and I could hardly hold the knife that was lying between my sweaty hands.

He didn't show it, but I almost had another panic attack at the thought of my father, which luckily I was able to control somewhat considering the need to get Mandy out of here.

"So, let's do it then," Rian said and hid himself slightly behind one side of the wall while I placed myself opposite him and he kicked his shoe lightly against the beams of the motion detector.

There was no sound as I originally imagined, but I suddenly heard a door open at the far end of the hall and several footsteps approaching us.

"Are you ready?" Rian whispered to me, but I immediately shook my head in the negative and looked over at him in panic.

"Not really!" I blurted out quietly, but he had already averted his eyes from me, aimed into the dark hallway in front of us and positioned himself right in the middle.

"Put your gun down!" I heard someone shout, but it wasn't Fiore. But no matter who it was, Rian didn't hesitate for a second and pulled the trigger immediately, causing me to wince violently at the loud sound of the gunshot while my heart started racing again.

"So," Rian said completely cold and walked ahead of me along the corridor, where he snatched his gun from the dead man on the ground. With slow steps and a stubborn look on my brother, I ran towards him and was convinced that he wanted to hand me the gun, but he didn't.

"You're going to kill yourself shaking uncontrollably," he said coolly, getting up again to face the door behind which Odran was probably still waiting for us.

He opened it, stepped in ahead of me and almost got hit on the head with a book by Odran, but then he immediately raised his hands defensively and turned around to face him.

"My face! It's me!" he yelled at Odran, who immediately apologized and took Rian's pistol. "Keeva is safe with Esme, but we haven't been able to locate Mandy, Chiara, or Fiore."

"And the shot?" Odran wanted to know in horror and reloaded the pistol while I stood next to Rian and looked at my two brothers.

"A henchman," Rian said and was about to turn back to me when Odran grabbed his shoulder.

"Where's papa?" the giant asked and when Rian looked down and avoided him with a cold expression on his face, Odran and I locked eyes. I shook my head almost imperceptibly and felt this ice-cold shiver that ran over my entire body.

"No!" he screamed immediately and couldn't hold back the tears that immediately formed in his eyes. "Tell me immediately that's not true!"

"Calm down!", Rian tried to speak to him, but Odran was beside himself with anger and sadness and hobbled past us into the dark hallway to take a few deep breaths.

"My heart," he said, and even though none of us would have expected it, Odran was really the one with the most feelings, because where Rian always kept them to you, I suppressed them with drugs and alcohol, but Odran was different. Sometimes he even cried during films, but no one was allowed to know that except for us.

"You have to pull yourself together now!", Rian admonished him, but when he wanted to touch his shoulder, Odran slapped his hand away and looked at us both so hatefully that my blood froze in my veins.

"Shit I have to! How can you be so cold to me?!" he yelled loudly at Rian and then wiped his tears away.

"Because now is not her time to mourn! We must -"

There was a loud bang that made me gasp in panic as I took a step back and looked around the darkened hallway.

And then another shot!

I couldn't react at all, couldn't think anymore and only felt how Rian grabbed my shoulder. I looked over at him with big eyes and a racing heart and thought I was going to die as I saw the blood on his shirt, oozing more and more from the two bullet holes.

I no longer noticed how Odran was shooting around, but concentrated with everything I had on Rian, who was staring at me with wide, clear eyes while he put his hand on his chest.

"Everything will be fine!" I screamed desperately and supported him to disappear with him into the office behind us.

"Senan!", Odran called after me and after I helped Rian onto the couch, I wanted to sit down next to him, but he shook his head, breathed heavily and handed me the pistol with his trembling hand, which I just couldn't cope with for a while looked.

"Go on," he gasped, and when I took the gun, he held both hands tightly over his bleeding wounds. "Please hurry! I don't want to widow my wife."

"That won't happen!" I said to him and immediately ran to Odran, who was staring hidden around the corner into the hallway.

"Senan?!", Mandy suddenly called me and I immediately wanted to pass Odran, who stopped me and gave me a warning look.

"If you go out there now, he will shoot you!"

"I don't care!" I retorted, feeling tears on my cheeks as I released the safety and walked past him into the hallway.

I no longer had the strength to wait. Especially since my brother was running out of time.

Let Fiore shoot me. I would take him with me to his death, knowing that all the people I loved would get out of here safe.

"There he is finally," I heard Fiore's voice and turned in his direction, where I immediately recognized that Mandy and Chiara were standing in front of him. But not only that... This lousy bastard held a pistol to the head of both of them from behind and grinned stupidly.

"Senan," Mandy breathed and wanted to approach me immediately, but Fiore shot into the wall next to her and Mandy stood trembling in front of him, beginning to cry just as uncontrollably as Chiara.

"So. And now, decide. One lives, one dies... Oh, and you should hurry. Your brother should be in the hospital in 20 minutes at the latest."

"You lousy bastard!"