Page 255 of Wrong Marriage. Right Groom
“Hello?” My voice cracked immediately, betraying me. “Rafael?”
But before any answer can come—
The hotel room door exploded inward with a deafening crack that split the air like a gunshot.
Wood splintered violently against the frame.
For half a second, my brain simply refused to process what I was seeing.
Then everything hit at once.
I flinched so hard the phone slipped from my fingers and clattered onto the floor, the sound swallowed almost immediately by the chaos that poured into the room.
Standing in the shattered doorway was a man who shared Rafael’s sharp bone structure and dark, aristocratic features—yet the resemblance wasn’t exact.
Even so, I knew him at once. This was Bruno, Rafael’s brother.
And he did not look like a man coming to talk.
He looked like something far worse.
His eyes locked onto me instantly—burning, sharp, unrestrained hatred.
His lips curled into a slow, vicious sneer that made my stomach drop before I even understood why.
Behind him—
More men.
Black suits. Heavy boots. No hesitation in their movements.
They flooded into the room like a disciplined wave of darkness, each one carrying a heavy axe that caught the artificial light in dull, threatening flashes.
My breath stopped completely.
I scrambled backward across the bed until my spine slammed into the headboard, my hands gripping the sheets like they were the only solid thing left in the world.
My eyes darted wildly from face to face.
How?
How were they here?
This wasn’t possible.
This was a secured hotel.
Staff. Cameras. Protocols. There should have been barriers, questions, delays—anything.
Unless...
Money. Fear. Power.
Or all three, used to strip every layer of security until nothing remained.
My throat tightened painfully.
And then the worst thought of all—
