Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 294

Chapter 294

“Julian.” Marcus’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. “Are you listening to me? The annulment is happening tomorrow. There is nothing you can do to stop it. My advice to you is to focus on damage control. Protect your assets. Prepare for the financial fallout. And for God’s sake, do not do anything that could make this situation worse than it already is.”

The call ended, and I sat there in the silence of the apartment, my phone clutched in my hand, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. Tomorrow. The annulment was happening tomorrow. My marriage, my reputation, my carefully constructed life, all of it was crumbling around me, and the only thing that could possibly salvage any of it was the footage that Scarlett was supposed to be retrieving right now.

I pushed myself off the couch and headed for the door. I needed air. I needed to think. I needed to do something other than sit here and wait for my life to finish imploding.

The door swung open, and I stopped.

All six members of the security team were sprawled across the floor like discarded dolls, their eyes closed, their chests rising and falling with the slow, steady rhythm of deep unconsciousness. No blood. No signs of struggle. Just six highly trained professionals laid out like they’d been hit with a tranquilizer dart.

The dread hit me before my brain could fully process what I was seeing. Someone had gotten past my security. Someone had neutralized six armed men without making enough noise to alert me through the apartment door. And that someone, whoever they were, had done it with a precision that spoke of professional training and intimate knowledge of my operation.

I stepped back into the apartment and slammed the door, my hands already moving to engage the deadbolt. The room. I had a room on the far end of the hallway, reinforced door, separate security system, enough supplies to last a week if necessary. If I could get there before whoever had taken out my guards realized I was awake and mobile, I could lock myself in and call for backup and wait this out until reinforcements arrived.

I made it three steps before something struck the back of my neck.

The pain was immediate and blinding, a white-hot explosion that radiated down my spine and turned my legs to water. I felt my knees buckle beneath me, felt the floor rushing up to meet my face, and then I was on my back staring up at the ceiling with a body that refused to respond to any of the commands my brain was frantically sending it.

My vision dimmed at the edges, the world shrinking to a narrow tunnel of fuzzy light, and as the darkness crept in from all sides, I saw a figure step into my field of view. Red hair. A dress that clung to curves I would have recognized anywhere. Eyes that looked down at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read through the fog of pain and encroaching unconsciousness.

“Scarlett?” The name came out as a whisper, barely audible, the last syllable fading before it reached my lips.

And then the darkness swallowed me whole.

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