“Stay down,” his voice breathed against my ear, so faint it was almost a thought. “Don’t move, no matter what you hear.“
He released me, and before I could even turn my head, he vanished into the darkness of the room. He didn’t walk; he moved like a phantom, shifting through the shadows with lethal grace, entirely invisible.
The door opened wider. The assassin stepped into the room, their boots making absolutely no sound on the hardwood floor. They raised their weapon, aiming it directly at the center of the bed, where the silhouette of blankets looked like a sleeping couple.
Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.
Three muffled shots tore through the silence, ripping into the mattress, and feathers exploded into the air, drifting like snow in the moonlight.
In that exact microsecond, before the assassin could realize the bed was empty, a shadow materialized directly behind them. Arnav rose from the darkness like a demon born from the night.
With blinding speed, his left hand shot forward, clamping around the assassin’s wrist and forcing the weapon upward. A muffled shot fired into the ceiling. Simultaneously, Arnav’s right elbow drove viciously into the attacker’s throat. A sickening gasp left the assassin as their windpipe collapsed.
But this wasn’t a common thief. The assassin recovered instantly, using their momentum to drive a heavy tactical boot into Arnav’s ribs. Arnav took the blow, grunting softly, but he didn’t break his grip. He twisted the assassin’s wrist with a sickening crack, forcing the gun to drop to the floor.
The two men engaged in a brutal, silent tango of death in the center of our bridal suite. No words were spoken. Only the heavy, ragged breathing and the dull thuds of flesh striking flesh echoed through the room. I pressed myself harder against the bedframe, my hands over my ears, watching the violent silhouettes dance in the moonlight.
Arnav was a master of close-quarters combat, but the assassin was heavy and wearing reinforced armor. The attacker managed to slip a hand into their tactical vest, pulling out a wicked, serrated combat knife. The blade caught the moonlight, flashing silver.
The assassin slashed wildly. Arnav dodged backward, but the tip of the blade tore through his white wedding shirt, leaving a dark, rapidly widening stain of crimson across his chest.
“Arnav!” the scream died in my throat.
