Chapter 2

At two in the morning, a gunshot jolted me awake.

When I burst into the vault, Erin was standing barefoot in a strappy nightgown, surrounded by bullets and brass parts strewn across the floor.

In her hand was the antique revolver my father had left me.

The ivory grip had split, and the barrel was badly warped.

"Diana, I'm sorry."

Erin was a little pale, but she didn't put the gun down.

"I was just looking for a spare magazine. I didn't know the hammer on this old relic was stuck. The second I pulled it, the gun went off and blew apart."

I snatched what was left of the gun out of her hand.

My father had been shot by an assassin. Clutching this gun, he'd fought to stay alive all night, waiting for me.

That same day, Horst had taken two bullets covering Erin's escape. I'd brought most of the medical team to him instead, and I hadn't been able to save my father.

Ever since then, that gun had been off-limits to everyone.

"I warned you never to come through that door!"

Only after I screamed did I realize I was shaking all over.

Erin shrugged, looking like she couldn't care less.

"Guns blow up on the battlefield all the time. How was I supposed to know it was that fragile?"

"Get out."

"Diana, don't be so dramatic..."

"I said get out!"

I raised the gun and aimed it at her.

Erin clearly hadn't expected me to be ready to kill her. She stumbled back.

Her heel came down on a sharp shard. She cried out and fell to the floor.

Horst came running with the guards when he heard the noise.

The second he saw the blood on the floor, he pushed my gun down and scooped Erin up into his arms.

"Did it hit an artery?"

Erin wrapped her arms around his neck, bit her lip, and shook her head.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have touched the old Don's things. Diana has every right to be angry."

Horst frowned as he checked the bottom of her foot.

The year my outpost was ambushed and I took a bullet in the calf, he'd carried me to the ER with that same grim look.

I'd been in so much pain that I was drenched in cold sweat. He'd pressed down on the wound to stop the bleeding and spoken into my ear.

"Hold on. I'm here. Nobody in the whole South District gets to take your life."

His voice had that same fierce urgency now.

But this time, he was protecting another woman.

"To the medical wing. Get a surgeon on standby."

As he carried her past me, he finally noticed my palm was bleeding where the broken grip had cut it.

Horst hesitated for a moment.

"Is it deep? Do you want to come see the doctor too?"

I stared at Erin, pale in his arms.

"The gun my father left me is ruined.

"It can never be fixed."

Horst's arms went stiff around Erin, and he glanced back at the wreckage on the floor.

But then Erin sobbed in pain, and his hesitation vanished.

"It's just a beat-up old gun. Tomorrow I'll have the factory make you ten exact copies from the blueprints."

"You can't replace something my father left me."

"Then what do you want?"

His voice turned cold, impatient, and final.

"Erin's bleeding. You want me to drop her right now so I can stand here with you rehashing old grudges over a pile of scrap metal?"

A pile of scrap metal.

I looked down. Blood dripped from my fingertips onto the warped grip.

Erin curled against his chest and said, all sweetness and understanding, "Horst, stay and calm Diana down. I can get stitches on my own."

Horst carried her out in long strides, without a trace of warmth on his face.

"She's not that fragile."

The vault's alloy door slammed shut.

Standing amid the bullets and parts scattered across the floor, I called the old gunsmith who used to care for my father's guns.

The old man looked at the scans I sent him and was silent for a long time.

"The barrel's completely melted, and the core parts inside haven't been made in years. There's no chance of fixing it.

"I'm so sorry, Donna."

I crouched and gathered the parts, one by one, into a dustproof case.

My phone screen suddenly lit up.

A neutral faction in New York had confirmed that it would grant me sanctuary.

Its cold glow fell across my bloodless face.

This time, I didn't hesitate for even half a second. I tapped confirm.