Chapter 3

Glass shards sprayed across my field of vision, striking the trim panel inside the car door.

The ear-splitting shatter echoed through the underground black market parking lot, mixed with the dull thud of something heavy slamming into metal.

"Ambush! Protect the boss!"

A bodyguard's furious shout came from outside the car.

Several black vans came barreling in, pinning our car into a corner.

The door was wrenched open, and the James family, Vincent Graves's mortal enemies, poured out with a pack of thugs radiating menace.

"Vincent Graves, today's the day you die!"

The man in front held a cold black handgun, the muzzle aimed straight at the back seat.

Vincent's face turned instantly grim, and he reflexively moved to draw his gun.

But Lavinia Fox, tucked in his arms, let out a shrill, high-pitched scream and clung tight to his right arm.

"Vincent! I'm so scared! Save me!"

Lavinia's body shook violently, dragging Vincent's body over to one side.

In the split second the man pulled the trigger, Vincent made a move that turned my blood to ice.

Instead of pushing Lavinia away, he twisted sharply, grabbed my shoulder, and shoved me straight out the car door.

His strength was enormous, and, completely unprepared, I met the fired bullet head-on.

"Bang!"

The muffled gunshot exploded in my ears.

The bullet grazed my shoulder, kicking up a spray of blood.

If I hadn't instinctively twisted my body the instant I was shoved out, that bullet would already have gone right through my heart.

I hit the muddy ground hard, and a searing pain tore through the wound.

Blood mixed with the cold rain and spread across the concrete.

Vincent, meanwhile, was already holding Lavinia, using the car for cover as he rolled behind a nearby stone pillar.

Anxiously checking Lavinia's face, he shouted at me where I lay in the mud.

"Adeline Harding! What are you just lying there for? Use those damned skills of yours and take them out!"

His voice carried the tone of a command he took entirely for granted.

He was certain I had the kind of luck that turned disaster into safety, certain I could still stand in front of him like an invincible war god, the way I had countless times before.

But he had no idea the Immunity Tokens the System had given me had already been used up saving him.

The heavy blood loss made my vision black out in waves.

I looked down and saw that my legs had turned into semi-transparent gray phantoms.

Fine grains of sand kept flaking away in the rain, scattering on the wind.

Listening to Vincent's almost shameless orders, the scene of our first meeting rose in my mind.

Back then, to keep from dragging me down, he was willing to have three of his own ribs broken and still fought to push me out of harm's way.

The split between the present and the past reached its peak in that instant.

I let out a bitter laugh and, using the last of my strength, crawled hand and foot into an abandoned sedan with its door hanging wide open.

With my blood-smeared hands, I locked the door tight.

The bodyguards outside finally reached the scene and subdued the attackers. Vincent came striding toward the car I was in.

He yanked open the badly warped door.