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Chapter 9 - Blood on the Marble

"She's an imposter!" Vance roared, his composure crumbling into primal terror. "A deranged vagrant plucked from the gutter by the Kane family! Guards! Remove them!"

Before the private museum security could even react, the Great Hall plunged into pitch-black darkness.

The chandeliers died. The emergency generators hummed, casting eerie, blood-red emergency lights across the towering Roman statues.

*Pop! Pop! Pop!*

Suppressed gunfire shattered the silence. Screams erupted as the city's elite dropped to the floor, crawling over broken crystal and spilled champagne.

"Take her!" Grigori’s voice barked from the shadows. "Kill the girl!"

Adrian reacted with terrifying, instantaneous speed. He drew his twin custom pistols, spinning Evangeline behind a thick marble column just as a hail of bullets chipped the stone into dust.

"Marco! Flank the eastern stairs!" Adrian commanded into his comm-link, firing three blind shots into the darkness. A heavy thud and a scream confirmed a hit.

"Adrian, behind you!" Evangeline cried out.

A mercenary in black tactical gear lunged from the shadows, his combat knife aimed straight for Adrian’s exposed throat. Adrian was already turning, but the angle was impossible—

Suddenly, Evangeline moved.

Years of street brawls over food and territory had honed her survival reflexes to an edge sharper than any soldier's. She didn't scream; she didn't cower. She snatched a heavy bronze gala award from a nearby display pedestal and swung it with devastating, bone-splintering force straight into the mercenary's kneecap.

The man howled, collapsing to his knees. Without missing a beat, Adrian put a bullet between his eyes.

Adrian looked down at Evangeline, his eyes burning with fierce admiration. "Remind me never to get on your bad side, Little Wren."

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"Save the compliments," she said, her chest heaving, her eyes blazing with cold fire. "Vance is running toward the rear loading docks."

"Then let's go collect your debt," Adrian said, racking the slide of his pistol.

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