Chapter 157

#24

The windows explode inward with a sound I will never unhear – a concussive roar that eats every other noise in the room.

I’m on the floor before I’ve made the decision to move, some buried instinct that Eli has been drilling into me for weeks taking over before my conscious brain can catch up.

“Get to the wall!” Eli’s voice comes from somewhere to my right. “Away from the windows, everyone move!”

I am pressed against the cold hardwood with my hands over my head, feeling the vibration of every shot in my teeth. Beside me, Chloe is a silent, shaking heap, and Tyler is scrambling toward the underside of the table. I look up, squinting through the haze of plaster dust, and for the first time in my eighteen years, the curtain of my father’s carefully constructed world is ripped wide open.

He reaches into the hidden holster beneath the table and pulls out a sleek, matte-black handgun. He stands, his face a mask of cold, lethal efficiency, and returns fire towar