Chapter 6 - The Emergency Protocol
I screamed Emmett's name and sprinted across the blood-slicked marble floor.
I dropped to my knees beside him, pressing both of my hands firmly over the bullet wound in his stomach.
"Look at me, Emmett, stay with me!" I begged, tears finally spilling hot down my cheeks.
Emmett groaned in pain but managed to offer me a weak, reassuring smile.
"I told you I'd protect my best writer," he whispered hoarsely, his skin turning pale.
Julian was scrambling to his feet, holding his bruised ribs and searching frantically for the dropped handgun.
Before Julian could reach the weapon, the little boy from Table Nineteen, Parker, threw a heavy glass juice bottle.
The bottle struck Julian squarely in the forehead, stunning him just long enough for Emmett's private security team to burst through the doors.
Four heavily armed bodyguards tackled Julian to the ground, securing him with brutal efficiency.
Paramedics flooded into the ballroom seconds later, pushing me aside to begin life-saving measures on Emmett.
I stood there with my hands covered in his blood, trembling violently from the shock of the violence.
Nicholas slowly stood up from the floor, dusting off his ruined designer suit.
He looked at Julian being dragged away in handcuffs, then at Chloe crying on the floor, and finally at me.
Instead of checking on my safety, my brother's eyes narrowed with cold, calculating ambition.
"Julian's company stock is going to hit rock bottom tomorrow morning," Nicholas muttered to himself.
He marched over to me, grabbing my bloody wrist with an iron grip.
"Jenna, give me your phone right now," Nicholas commanded aggressively.
I stared at him in utter disbelief. "My friend is bleeding out, Nicholas!"
"He's a billionaire, he'll live," Nicholas snapped callously. "You have his login credentials for the corporate trading accounts, I know you do."
My own brother was trying to use my traumatic access to commit massive insider trading.
"If you don't give me the login, I will tell the police you conspired with Chloe to ruin the wedding," Nicholas threatened.
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I ripped my arm out of his grasp just as a booming voice echoed from the doorway.
"You won't be telling the police anything, Nicholas," a stern man in an FBI windbreaker announced.
