Page 96 of Billionaire’s Heartbreak

They weren't our friends. Their eyes were hard, filled with a hatred I couldn't understand. They didn't know me. I didn't know them. Yet they looked at me as if they had every reason in the world to want me dead.

I barely had time to process it.

Kai moved first.

One second, he was beside me. The next, he was in front of me. The gun slipped from my hand, and my legs weakened.

A flash of panic ripped through me. Then Kai's arm hooked around my waist, pulling me against him while his other hand lifted his gun.

The first shot exploded through the hallway, followed by another, then another. The sound was deafening as the men fired back. There was no warning. No demands. No last chance to surrender.

Just bullets.

Kai turned his body, shielding me as much as he could while firing over my shoulder. I ducked instinctively. My ears rang, and my heart slammed against my ribs. One of the men dropped. Then another.

Kai didn't stop until the hallway went silent.

“Elevator.”

He dragged me backward toward the lift, keeping his gun trained on the bodies. We stumbled inside as the doors began to close and then sealed us away from the hallway.

For several seconds, neither of us moved. I stood against the wall, trying to remember how to breathe. My hands were shaking, and my legs felt weak.

I forced myself upright and took a slow breath. Then another. The elevator hummed around us. Kai didn't relax. He stood in front of me, gun still raised, eyes fixed on the doors.

Then—

Ding.

The elevator stopped. Kai immediately raised both guns. The doors opened, and he fired.

I flinched. “Kai!”

The hallway was empty. Smoke drifted lazily through the air. Nothing moved.

“I thought I saw something,” he said, lowering his guns slightly.

“Spooky.”

He looked at me as though I was crazy.

“What?”

“You know this is a haunted building, right?” I shrugged. “It has a reputation.”

“Are you serious?”

“Unfortunately.”

I was supposed to believe in science, not paranormal woo-woo stuff. But I really didn’t know how else to explain this phenomenon. Unless it was another security systems Dannie had installed.

The elevator moved again. Painfully slowly. Kai's raised his gun.

This time, when the doors opened, he didn't immediately shoot.

A shadow moved across the hallway—human-shaped, fast. It came toward us, then vanished.

Kai stared after it. “Fuck.”