"My three-year-old daughter walked through the one door nobody in billionaire Marcus Cole’s mansion was allowed to open. I thought I would lose my job before breakfast, but instead, Lily pointed at his security monitor and exposed something his own fiancée had done behind our backs. What Marcus saw on that screen made his face go completely still.

The sight of Marcus’s blood sent a wave of pure, unadulterated instinct through my veins.

I didn't turn and run. I picked up a heavy, decorative cast-iron planter from the stone ledge beside the door and swung it with all the force in my body.

CRACK.

The heavy iron planter struck the gunman directly across the side of his knee. The man let out a agonizing shriek as his leg buckled unnaturally, the gun flying from his hand and clattering across the driveway.

"You crazy bitch!" Richard Cain yelled, pulling a second small revolver from his coat pocket and pointing it straight at my head.

"Drop it, Richard!" Dev’s thunderous voice boomed from the top of the grand steps.

Dev stood at the threshold holding an automatic tactical shotgun. Beside him, three armed estate security guards descended the stairs like a strike team, their red laser sights instantly locking onto Richard Cain’s chest and the remaining henchman.

"On the ground! NOW!" Dev yelled.

The remaining masked attacker immediately threw his hands up and dropped to his knees.

Richard Cain stood frozen under the glare of three red laser sights, his hand shaking violently around the revolver. He looked at Marcus, who was bleeding heavily from his shoulder but still standing tall, his eyes burning with lethal fury.

"It's over, Richard," Marcus growled, stepping past me, ignoring his injury. "Drop the gun, or my men will leave you on this driveway."

Richard’s face contorted in defeat. The revolver slipped from his numb fingers, thudding onto the grass.

Within seconds, Dev’s team had Richard Cain and his men pinned to the stone floor in zip-ties, while the distant wail of police sirens began to echo up the estate driveway.

I rushed to Marcus’s side, my hands frantically pressing against his bleeding shoulder. "Marcus! Oh my God, Marcus, you're hit! Sit down!"

"I'm fine, Clara," Marcus rasped, leaning against the stone pillar, his hand reaching up to cover mine. His face was pale, but his eyes were completely focused on me. "Are you hurt? Did they touch you?"

"I'm fine! I'm completely fine!" Tears spilled over my eyes as I pressed my sweater against his wound to stop the bleeding. "You idiot... you took a bullet for me!"

Marcus reached up with his uninjured hand, gently cupping my cheek, his thumb brushing away my tears.

"I would take a hundred bullets for you, Clara," Marcus whispered, his voice soft, sincere, and filled with absolute truth. "You and Lily are my whole life now."

From the top of the stairs, the heavy oak doors opened slowly.

Lily stood there in her little white dress, clutching Mr. Bun tightly to her chest. She looked down at the driveway, her big brown eyes taking in the police lights now flashing through the trees.

She didn't look scared. She saw Marcus standing there, saw me holding his hand, and toddled down the stone steps as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Mister Marcus!" Lily cried out, reaching the bottom step.

Marcus immediately dropped to one knee, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, and opened his good arm to her. Lily threw her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely.

"You hurt?" she asked, looking at the blood on his shirt with a worried little pucker between her brows.

"Just a scratch, sweetie," Marcus smiled softly, kissing her cheek. "Mister Marcus is going to be just fine."