While My Husband Cheated I Married His Powerful Brother novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Chapter 54 Learning to Kill

The cold light stopped blinding her.

Veyra blinked. Her eyes adjusted. And then she gasped.

The room was not a room. It was a vault. A fortress. A cathedral of weapons.

Three walls stretched from floor to ceiling, lined with racks and shelves and glass cases. Guns of every shape and size. Pistols. Revolvers. Submachine guns. Assault rifles. Shotguns. Things she could not name and had never seen before.

The fourth wall was dominated by a long metal table. And on that table, resting on foam padding like a museum exhibit, was a sniper rifle.

It was black. Sleek. Deadly. The scope was long. The barrel was longer. It looked like something out of a movie.

Veyra’s mouth fell open.

"This is an armory," she whispered.

Li Wei stood beside her, his arms crossed, his face calm. "Yes."

"This is not a collection. This is an arsenal."

"The Thorne family takes security seriously."

Veyra shook her head. She walked to the nearest wall. Her fingers hovered over the glass case. Inside was a row of gleaming pistols. Silver. Black. Compact. Large.

"How many guns are in here?"

"I don’t know the exact number. Over a hundred."

Veyra turned to stare at him. "A hundred?"

"The bodyguards need weapons for rotation and training. Plus backups. Plus specialty weapons for specific situations." Li Wei shrugged. "A hundred is enough for daily needs."

Veyra’s brain could not process the number. She had grown up in apartments where the most dangerous thing in the house was a kitchen knife. And now she was standing in a room with enough firepower to start a small war.

She followed Li Wei further into the room.

The walls seemed to close in around her.

Not in a bad way. In an overwhelming way. Everywhere she looked, there were guns. Racks of rifles. Shelves of ammunition. Glass cases displaying pistols like jewelry.

"You said over a hundred bodyguards," Veyra said. "That’s enough for rotation and training?"

Li Wei nodded. "The estate has three shifts of guards. Day shift. Evening shift. Night shift. Each shift needs weapons. Plus training weapons for the range. Plus backups in case of malfunction."

"That’s... a lot of guns."

"It’s a lot of responsibility."

Veyra looked at him. His face was serious. He was not showing off. He was explaining. Teaching.

She followed him to the long table in the center of the room.

The sniper rifle lay there. Silent. Deadly. The black metal seemed to absorb the light.

Veyra stared at it. Her fingers itched to touch it.

Li Wei gestured to the walls. "For self-defense, I recommend focusing on pistols and submachine pistols. They’re compact. Easy to carry. Effective at close range."

Veyra nodded. But her eyes kept drifting back to the sniper rifle.

She had seen Dorian with one. At the lake. He had been ready to take the shot. To end the kidnapper from two hundred meters away.

She wanted to learn how to do that.

"What about sniping?" she asked.

Li Wei’s eyebrows rose. "Sniping?"

"I want to learn."

Li Wei was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Sniping has a very high skill ceiling. It requires years of practice. Patience. Discipline. It’s not something you learn in a few sessions."

He paused.

"Also, sniping is designed for killing. Not for self-defense. You can’t carry a sniper rifle in your purse."

Veyra frowned. "I know that. But I still want to learn."

Li Wei shook his head. "Mrs. Thorne—"

"Just the basics. I’m not asking to become an assassin. I just want to understand how it works. How to aim. How to account for wind and distance."

Li Wei studied her face. He seemed to be looking for something. Determination, maybe. Or foolishness.

"Mr. Thorne would not approve," he said.

"Mr. Thorne doesn’t have to know."

Li Wei’s jaw tightened. He did not respond.

Veyra turned back to the sniper rifle. She ran her finger along the edge of the table. She did not touch the gun. But she wanted to.

She made a secret resolution. She would learn how to shoot a sniper rifle. Someday. Somehow.

Li Wei cleared his throat.

"Before you start planning your career as a sniper, you need to learn the basics." He gestured to the glass cases on the wall. "Choose a handgun. One that suits you."

Veyra blinked. "How do I choose?"

"What do you need it for?"

"Self-defense. Protection. I want something I can carry easily. Something that’s not too heavy or too big."

Li Wei nodded. "Follow me."

He walked to a glass case on the far wall. He pressed his thumb to a scanner. The lock clicked. He opened the case and carefully removed three handguns. He carried them to the long table and set them down in a row.

"These are suitable for your needs," he said. "Try them. See how they feel."

The first gun was silver. Compact. Sleek. The grip was textured. The barrel was short.

The second gun was black. Larger. Heavier. The grip was thicker. The barrel was longer.

The third gun was also black. But smaller. Lighter. The grip fit perfectly in her palm.

Veyra picked up the third gun. She wrapped her fingers around the grip. The weight was comfortable. Not too heavy. Not too light. The texture was rough but not uncomfortable.

She raised it. Aimed at the far wall. The sight lined up naturally.

"This one," she said.

Li Wei looked at the gun in her hand. He nodded.

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