Lots of gunshots.

I sat up in bed and looked around, even though the sound was coming from the front gate. There was no one in my bedroom. I was alone. My heart raced a million miles an hour. Anxiety like I’d never known hit me so hard. Fear. Pure fear hit me. “Fender…” I got out of bed and tripped to the floor. I got to my feet and turned on the lamp so I could see two inches in front of my face. I dashed to the windows and opened the curtains.

The gate was broken down.

Dead men were on the ground.

Three black SUVs drove up the roundabout to the house.

“Oh my god…”

Did they come because Fender wasn’t here?

Or did they come because they assumed he would be here?

Or…was he dead? “Oh god…”

The door flew open, and I screamed.

“It’s me.” Gilbert rushed to me, holding a handgun. “Come on.” He spoke in loud whispers and waved me toward him.

I ran to him and took his hand. “What’s happening?”

“Be quiet. We have to make it to the safe room. That’s where the staff hides.” He hurried me out the door and peeked down the hallway before he pulled me with him.

I was breathing so hard, I thought I would pass out. I let him drag me along in the dark, heading to the stairs.

Three men were running up, all dressed in black.

Gilbert yanked me back. “Shit.” He moved quicker, hurrying down the hallway and taking a right.

“Where’s the room?”

“Bottom floor.”

Oh no…

We ran as quietly as we could.

“Not here.” A voice drifted out from where we had just escaped. The sounds of doors being thrown open, furniture being pushed aside were so loud, it was as if they were right behind us. “Bitch, we’ll find you.”

They were there for me.

Gilbert took me to another set of stairs, one that the staff used, but it was blocked by guys at the bottom. “Fuck.” He tugged me again, pulling me into a random room where he left the door open. He quickly ushered me around behind the bed, and we both ducked down.

“Did they kill everyone else?”

“They’re already in the safe room.” He held his gun at the ready, ready to turn and shoot someone when they came looking.

Despite my terror, my breathing paused to look at the side of his face, to look at him in a way I never had before. “You came for me…”

He pressed his forefinger to his lips to hush me.

The sounds of the house being ripped apart were audible. Plates shattering. Glass breaking. Men yelling to one another.

Sitting there in the dark and listening to it all made the experience so much worse.