A bullet's shriek ripped through the car window, glass shrapnel exploding like a miniature storm, raining down upon us. Before I could even scream, a shadow, swift as black lightning, lunged, pinning me fiercely beneath him. The icy echo of gunshots still vibrated in the air as my new bodyguard's voice, low and strangely calm, reached my ear: "Sniper outside, Miss Isabella. Don't move."
The air was thick with the acrid stench of gunpowder and shattered glass, a sweet, metallic tang that prickled my nostrils. Pinned beneath him, I peered through the jagged hole in the window. At the end of the red carpet, a phalanx of men in black uniforms—Walker Group's "new employees"—stood ramrod straight, like hungry wolves ready to pounce. The sheer, over-the-top grandeur of it all made me want to vomit.
The true "star" arrived fashionably late. A漆黑 Maybach glided to a smooth halt. The door opened, and out stepped Sebastian White, my damn ex-fiancé. A predator's smile played on his lips, an expression that once I mistook for tenderness, but now held only stark, predatory threat.
"Marry me, Isabella." He wasted no words, dropping a bomb that chilled me to the bone. "Otherwise, watch your Skyfall Group crumble under the Adams family's assault."
To hell with that! Fury blazed in my chest. A family alliance? That was just a drunken joke between our fathers! Did he truly believe I was still a mere puppet, dancing to his tune? I shoved the bodyguard aside, ignoring his attempt to hold me back. "Sebastian, this engagement was a farce from the start! Get lost!"
He merely offered a dismissive, sneering laugh and waved a hand. A hulking brute, like an enraged beast, lunged at my bodyguard. My pupils constricted. Could this new guy, fresh on the job, actually stand a chance against him?
Yet, before the brute could even land a blow, I saw only a blur of dark lightning. Too fast for the eye to follow. *Thump!* A muffled impact, and the aggressor, who'd charged with such ferocity, recoiled as if he'd slammed into an invisible wall, flying backward to crash onto the red carpet. He coughed up a spray of blood, twitched twice, then went still.
Sebastian's cigar clattered to the ground. The predatory arrogance on his face, for the first time, was utterly shattered, replaced by a flicker of shock, then raw disbelief. He bent to retrieve it, took a long, slow drag, and his sneer deepened, but a sliver of venomous malice flickered in his eyes.
"You think he can protect you? Isabella, I'm giving you three days." His voice turned even more sinister, like a viper's hiss. "Three days to either accept, or the Walker Group will personally bury your Skyfall. Don't say I didn't warn you then."
My heart plummeted into an icy abyss. This man didn't just want my company; he wanted to destroy my entire family. Who *is* he, truly? And this bodyguard by my side, a newcomer who'd just displayed such impossible strength… who is *he*? In these three days, how am I supposed to turn this around?
Elijah, a mere security guard, panics after offending a heiress. While she investigates him and wealthy rivals threaten him, he fears exposure. Tasked with protecting CEO Isabella, his childhood sweetheart, he uncovers his family's massacre—and now, unmatched, he begins his path of revenge.
