"I CAUGHT THE CHAIRMAN’S FIANCÉE BURNING HIS DAUGHTER’S HAIR WITH A CURLING IRON. I SCREAMED AND SHOVED HER AWAY, THINKING MY LIFE WAS OVER. THEN HE WALKED IN—AND DID THE UNTHINKABLE.

Arthur stood like a wall between me and the gun, his body completely blocking Eleanor’s line of sight.

“Eleanor,” Arthur said, his voice flat and calm. “Your husband and son are in federal custody. Your daughter is facing twenty years in prison. Put the gun down before you make this worse for yourself.”

Eleanor laughed—a bitter, unhinged sound that echoed off the high ceilings of the study.

“Worse?” Eleanor shrieked, her hand shaking as she tightened her grip on the pistol. “My family is ruined! Our accounts are frozen, our reputation is destroyed, and my children are behind bars! All because of you... and that pathetic little housekeeper standing behind you!”

She aimed the barrel slightly to the side, trying to line up a shot at me.

“You think you won?” Eleanor spat. “If my family goes down, Arthur, you don't get to live happily ever after with your dead wife’s memory or your new little charity case!”

“Eleanor, listen to me,” I called out from behind Arthur, trying to buy time. “The police know where you are. Marcus is downstairs—”

“Marcus is currently dealing with two of my men in the driveway,” Eleanor sneered. “You’re alone up here.”

Arthur slowly took a half-step forward, his dark eyes locked onto Eleanor’s trembling hand.

“You want revenge, Eleanor?” Arthur asked quietly. “Shoot me. But let Sarah walk. She has nothing to do with this.”

“No, Arthur!” I gasped, grabbing his shirt from behind. “No!”

Eleanor’s eyes glinted with malicious pleasure. “How romantic. The great Chairman dying for his new love. Just like Clara.”

She squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

The shot echoed loudly in the enclosed study.

In that split second, Arthur lunged forward, throwing his broad shoulder into Eleanor’s chest just as the bullet tore through his upper left shoulder. Blood erupted across his crisp white shirt.

Eleanor stumbled back, slamming against the doorframe, but she raised the gun again to finish him.

“LEAVE MY DADDY ALONE!”

A fierce, high-pitched scream filled the hallway.

Bella burst into the room, holding a heavy bronze bookend from the sunroom. With all her tiny strength, she slammed the bronze block directly against Eleanor’s knee.

Eleanor shrieked in pain, her leg buckling beneath her.

I didn't waste a second. I lunged forward, tackling Eleanor to the ground, slamming her wrist against the floorboards until the gun went skidding across the room.

Marcus burst into the study a second later, his own weapon drawn, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead. He saw the scene, instantly pinned Eleanor to the floor, and handcuffed her behind her back.

“Boss!” Marcus shouted, looking over at Arthur.

Arthur was kneeling on the floor, clutching his bleeding shoulder, his face pale but a triumphant smile on his lips.

Bella threw herself into her father’s arms, weeping frantically. “Daddy! Daddy!”

Arthur wrapped his good right arm around his daughter, pulling her tight against his chest. He looked up at me as I knelt beside them, tears streaming down my face.

“I’m okay, Sarah,” Arthur wheezed, his dark eyes shining with intense, fierce warmth. “I’m okay.”

I pulled off my green sweater, pressing it firmly against his shoulder wound to stop the bleeding.

Arthur reached up with his blood-stained hand, gently taking my face in his palm, pulling me down until our foreheads rested against each other.