Ariella stood still in the doorway, her mother pressed tightly against her. Armed guards blocked the only way out, their faces showing both amusement and confidence.
They believed they had won.
They thought Ariella, Leo, and Carter had walked into a trap with no way out.
They were mistaken.
Leo shifted, his stance firm and steady. He stepped in front of Ariella and her mother, his gun aimed at the closest guard. Carter stood beside him, weapon drawn as well.
The lead guard sneered. "You should have stayed dead, Isabelle."
Ariella felt rage surge within her.
She held her mother's frail body tighter. Eleanor Devereux had been imprisoned for thirty years, starved, treated like a ghost, forgotten.
Ariella wouldn't let these men take any more from her. She was ready to fight to the last if that was what it will take to get her mother out of there and experience life anew.
Leo's voice was cold as ice. "Step aside, or we'll take you down."
The guard laughed. "You're outnumbered."
