Page 34 of Beautiful Villain
Gianni
The monitors flickered.One camera blinked out.Then another.
One by one, the feeds went dark until the house disappeared into silence and shadow.
That wasn’t an accident.
My houses were built to survive incompetence, weather, and arrogance—especially arrogance.Power lines were redundant.Systems were isolated.Fail-safes layered over fail-safes.Cameras didn’t fail unless someone made them fail.
Which meant this wasn’t merely a glitch.
We’ve been made.
The thought arrived fully formed, calm and immediate.But I didn’t panic.Panic was for men who…feared fear itself.That was not me.
Enzo was beside me within seconds, already confirming what my instincts had flagged the moment the feed stuttered.
“Two unknown vehicles slowed at the perimeter,” he said quietly.“Did a loop.Then pulled away.”
I felt irritation first—sharp, immediate.Then the colder calculation slid into place and shut everything else down.
I reached for my gun out of habit.Weight right.Slide clean.Chamber loaded.Exactly as it should be.
“Any idea who they were?”I asked.
My attention stayed on my phone as I called IT, already anticipating the answer.If this was a system failure, I’d know in minutes.If it wasn’t?—
Then someone wanted me blind.And no one did that without a reason.
“Wake everyone,” I said quietly.“Minimal noise.”
Enzo didn’t hesitate.He pivoted immediately, already relaying the order as he moved.
“And I want two men outside Mikayla’s room,” I added.“Now.”
His jaw tightened—not in disagreement, but recognition.He nodded once and went.
The house responded at once with controlled motion.We didn’t do chaos or panic in our world.Doors opened without sound.Men moved with purpose, footsteps measured and precise as they took their positions.It was the kind of efficiency that came from years of training and didn’t announce itself unless you knew how to listen for it.
Whatever was coming, we’d be ready.
Glass shattered.
The sound ripped up from downstairs—sharp, violent, impossible to mistake.For half a second, the house went still, like it was holding its breath.
Then I moved.I stepped into the hall at a controlled pace that didn’t match the surge of adrenaline tearing through me.Running created chaos I didn’t need.
My hand settled on my weapon as I advanced, every sense narrowing, every thought stripped down to angles, distances, exits.Whatever had just broken through my house hadn’t done it by accident.And it hadn’t come quietly.
Mikayla stood barefoot in her doorway, her robe pulled tight at her waist, dark hair loose and falling around her shoulders.She was too still, too aware—eyes already focused despite the hour.This wasn’t someone dragged awake by noise.
She’d felt it.The same way I had.
“What’s going on?”she asked.
Her voice was steady.There was no tremble or sense of panic, for which I was grateful.I couldn’t deal with a hysterical woman at the same time that I was trying to defend my home.
I didn’t soften the truth.But I wasn’t going to offer comfort I couldn’t guarantee.
