Chapter 4: Robbing the Mansion & Crossbow Lessons

That night at midnight, Luke, Bella, and Nova’s dad were out at an expensive club, drinking champagne to celebrate stealing Nova’s "diamond mine" contract after borrowing fifty million dollars from Boss Razor.

They left the big city mansion completely empty.

A black pickup truck pulled up quietly outside the mansion’s back garden gate. Cyrus turned off the headlights and looked over at Nova, who was wearing a cute black hoodie and sneakers.

"The guards out front are asleep," Cyrus whispered, opening her door and lifting her down from the high truck seat by her waist. "Are you sure you want to go inside? What are we taking?"

"Everything," Nova smiled, her eyes shining in the dark. "Wait right here by the gate and keep watch for ten minutes. My mom paid for this whole house, and I’m not leaving those three rats a single spoon."

Nova used her old key to unlock the back kitchen door and stepped inside the dark mansion.

As soon as she was alone, she held up her hand with her mom’s diamond ring and touched the big stainless-steel fridge.

Take it, she thought.

Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, the huge fridge vanished off the floor and appeared neatly inside the giant warehouse in her mind!

Nova grinned and started running from room to room like a happy little tornado.

In the kitchen and basement pantry, she touched the freezers full of steaks, the racks of expensive red wine, the bags of rice, the microwave, the pots and pans, and even the dining table where Luke had tried to trick her that morning. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! All gone!

In the living room, she took the leather sofas, the giant flat-screen TV, the crystal lamps, and the carpets off the floor.

Then she ran upstairs to her dad’s office and Bella’s bedroom.

She knew her dad’s safe code by heart—it was Bella’s birthday. Nova opened the heavy wall safe and found twenty gold bars, five million dollars in cash stacks, and her mom’s box of diamond jewelry that Bella had stolen. With one tap of her finger, the whole safe was sucked completely dry.

Before leaving, she walked into Bella’s giant closet and swept all of Bella’s designer handbags, fur coats, and shoes into a trash pile corner of her magic space so she could burn them later. She didn't even leave them a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom!

When Nova ran back out to the garden gate five minutes later without carrying a single bag, Cyrus looked surprised.

"Did you get what you wanted?" Cyrus asked, opening the truck door for her.

"Every last bit," Nova giggled, buckling her seatbelt. "Step on the gas, Mr. Bodyguard. Let’s go home to Ocean-Cliff Farm!"

An hour later, they drove up the winding road to Ocean-Cliff Farm.

It was the best place in the world to survive the apocalypse. The farm sat high on top of a giant rock cliff overlooking the blue sea. Three sides were steep rock drops down to the ocean waves, and there was only one narrow road leading in from the front!

Even better, Cyrus’s best friend from the army—a loud, funny construction boss named Jett Frost—was already waiting for them at the gate with fifty heavy trucks, bulldozers, and a hundred loyal ex-soldier workers.

"Boss Cyrus! Is this the pretty rich boss lady you told me about?" Jett grinned, waving a blueprint roll. "Give me forty-five days and twenty million dollars, Miss Nova, and I will build you a thirty-foot steel wall with high-voltage electric wires around the front cliff, an underground bunker with three feet of concrete, solar power roofs, and ten heated glass greenhouses!"

"I'll give you thirty million if you finish in forty days," Nova said, handing Jett a check right through the window.

"Yes, ma'am! Boys, turn on the floodlights and start digging!" Jett cheered.

While Jett’s crew started building the giant outer wall half a mile down the road, Cyrus brought Nova into the cozy two-story stone farmhouse at the top of the cliff.

Out on the back grass overlooking the moonlit ocean, Cyrus set up three straw targets and opened a long black velvet case.

Inside sat a shiny, custom-made golden crossbow and a black high-voltage stun baton.

"You told me earlier you don't like blood getting on your hands," Cyrus said softly, picking up the golden crossbow. "This crossbow has an automatic string puller. It shoots silent steel arrows—or exploding arrows—from two hundred yards away. No monster will ever get close enough to bleed on your dress."

Nova’s heart warmed. He had remembered every single thing about her.

She took the golden crossbow, but when she tried to aim at the target, the tip wobbled a little.

"Like this," Cyrus said quietly.

He stepped right up behind her on the dark grass.

Nova’s breath hitched as Cyrus’s wide, hard chest pressed flush against her back. He reached both long arms around her shoulders, covering her small hands on the crossbow grip with his rough, warm palms.

He was so close that his chin rested right beside her temple, and every time he breathed out, his warm breath brushed against the sensitive skin of her neck and ear.

"Spread your feet a little, princess," Cyrus murmured right against her ear, nudging her ankle gently with his boot. "Lean your back against my chest so the kick doesn't push you over. Good girl. Now look right through the glass sight... and pull the trigger."

Nova could barely see the target because her heart was pounding so loud in her ears. She felt wrapped up in a wall of warm muscle and cedarwood scent.

She pulled the trigger.

Thwip—BOOM!

Fifty yards away, the exploding arrow hit the exact center of the straw target, blowing it into burning pieces!

"I hit it!" Nova gasped, turning around in the circle of his arms with a huge smile.

Because Cyrus hadn't stepped back yet, turning around put her nose-to-nose with him—her hands resting right on his hard stomach while his arms were still locked around her waist.

The smile slowly faded into something much hotter as Cyrus looked down at her in the moonlight.

"You're a fast learner," Cyrus whispered, his thumb brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear and lingering on her warm cheek. "Keep shooting like that, and nobody will ever hurt you again."