Beneath The Gun Fire
1206 Words
Episode 5: Beneath the Gunfire
The church echoed with the sound of the gunshot.
Liana’s scream tore through the air as Damian dropped to the floor, blood soaking through his shoulder. The bullet had missed his heart by inches.
“Damian!” she cried, rushing to his side.
Vanessa smirked from the altar, lowering her gun. “Still so dramatic, brother.”
Liana’s hands trembled as she pressed down on the wound. Damian gritted his teeth but didn’t cry out.
“You’ll be okay,” she whispered. “Stay with me.”
His hand brushed her cheek. “Don’t... let her win.”
Vanessa descended the steps with a casual grace, her heels clicking on the old stone floor.
“You always were the favorite, Damian,” she said. “But you never appreciated what we had. The Voss name. The power. I did.”
Liana stood, shielding Damian’s body with her own. “What do you want, Vanessa?”
Vanessa tilted her head, amused. “What I’ve always wanted. The legacy. And you, Liana, are the last missing piece.”
Celeste, tied and gagged behind her, struggled violently in her chair. Her eyes screamed warnings.
“Let my mother go!” Liana shouted.
“Oh, I will,” Vanessa said. “After you sign this.”
She pulled out a thin black folder and dropped it at Liana’s feet. “An agreement. Marriage. To the heir I’ve chosen. A fake one, of course. But legal. Once the Easton name merges with mine, I’ll have full access to the last half of my inheritance. Your family has been the thorn in my side for too long.”
“I’d rather die,” Liana spat.
Vanessa smiled, calm and cold. “That can be arranged.”
Behind her, the man with the crown tattoo stepped into the light. His face was hard, silent. Loyal. Vanessa’s shadow.
Damian coughed, his voice weak but sharp. “You’ll never get away with this.”
Vanessa knelt beside him. “But I already have. I’ve covered my tracks. And when the church burns tonight... well, let’s just say you all died tragically in a fire.”
She stood, turning to her bodyguard. “Tie the girl.”
“No,” Damian rasped.
Liana’s heart thundered.
Then suddenly—gunfire exploded from the back of the church.
Vanessa screamed as glass shattered and armed men in black stormed the building.
“DOWN!” one of them shouted.
The bodyguard reached for his weapon—but a tranquilizer dart caught him in the neck. He collapsed, twitching.
Vanessa lunged for her gun—
A shot rang out.
Blood splattered the wall behind her as she fell.
Liana froze.
“Damian?” she whispered.
But he hadn’t fired.
A tall woman in black lowered her weapon, stepping forward.
Dark suit. Blonde braid. Eyes of steel.
“You must be Liana Easton,” she said. “I’m Agent Mira Kline. Damian called in a favor.”
Liana’s knees buckled with relief.
---
An hour later, the chaos had cleared. Vanessa was alive, but unconscious and in custody. The building hadn’t burned.
Celeste was untied and taken to safety.
Liana sat beside Damian as a medic tended to his wound.
“I told you I wouldn’t let her touch you,” he said weakly.
“You scared me,” she whispered. “You’re always trying to protect everyone.”
He gave a crooked smile. “It’s a flaw.”
She laughed through her tears. “No. It’s not.”
He reached up, brushing a tear from her cheek.
“Thank you,” she said. “For everything.”
Their fingers entwined, and the moment stretched between them—charged, breathless.
But before she could speak again, Agent Kline returned.
“I need to speak to you both,” she said. “There’s more.”
---
Back at the estate, Kline laid the final cards on the table.
“Vanessa was working with someone higher,” she explained. “The man with the crown tattoo wasn’t just muscle—he was a courier for a larger organization. One that’s been laundering the Voss fortune for decades.”
Damian’s brow furrowed. “A crime syndicate?”
“Not exactly. It’s a corporate shell—legal on the surface, but rotten underneath. Your father tried to break ties with them. That’s why he died.”
Liana leaned forward. “And my mother?”
“She discovered the paper trail. They took her to silence her—but not kill her. She was a bargaining chip.”
Celeste, listening from the couch, nodded slowly. “They kept me alive in case Damian tried to go public. I was the insurance.”
Kline sighed. “Vanessa made a deal with them. If she inherited the full estate, she’d let them control the holdings again. But with her out of the picture, the contract is broken.”
Damian stood. “So it’s over.”
Kline hesitated. “For now. But there’s something else.”
She handed Damian a small thumb drive.
“This is the complete ledger. Names. Transfers. Even the secret trust that Vanessa created… in Liana’s name.”
Liana blinked. “In my name?”
“She forged your identity,” Kline said. “To make the marriage contract seem legitimate.”
“But why me?”
Kline’s eyes softened. “Because your father was a Voss.”
Silence crashed like a wave.
“What?” Liana breathed.
Celeste closed her eyes. “I was going to tell you… after everything. Your real father—his name was Gregory Voss. Damian and Vanessa’s uncle.”
Liana felt like the ground had dropped beneath her.
“I’m... one of them?”
Damian stepped closer. “Not like them. Never like them.”
Liana shook her head. “Everything makes sense now. Why she wanted me. Why she hated me.”
“She saw you as a threat,” Celeste said softly. “A legitimate heir.”
Kline nodded. “Which means the estate—everything—is yours.”
---
That night, Liana sat alone in the garden, watching the stars.
Everything had changed.
Her blood. Her past. Her name.
She heard footsteps and turned to find Damian behind her, arm still in a sling.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “No. But I will be.”
He sat beside her.
“Do you regret saving me?” she asked.
He looked at her like she was the only star in the sky.
“Never.”
They sat in silence.
Then Liana said, “What now?”
Damian shrugged. “You own one of the largest fortunes in the country. And a mansion with thirty-seven bedrooms.”
She smiled weakly. “That’s not what I meant.”
He met her gaze.
“I don’t know what comes next, Liana. But if you’ll let me, I’d like to figure it out with you.”
Her heart thudded.
“I’d like that.”
And then he kissed her—soft, hesitant, like a man who didn’t know how to love, but was learning.
And for the first time in a long, long while...
Liana felt safe.
---
To Be Continued.
- Writer
