The bomb.
It detonated near the tables, where the wine bottles and gifts were stacked. A wall of flame swallowed half the beach, blasting men into the air, tearing flesh from bone. Glass shattered. A scream then a dozen filled the air as chaos erupted.
"Elena!" Dominic roared, instinct taking over. He grabbed her, pulling her down into the sand, shielding her with his body as shards of wood and steel rained down. Heat seared his back, ears ringing, the taste of smoke choking him.
The music had died. All that remained was fire and screams.
Half of his men—gone in a heartbeat.
The blast still echoed. The air was fire and ringing ears.
"Guns up!" Tobias screamed, coughing, blood down his cheek.
Cracks of gunfire tore through the smoke.
"Shoot! Shoot!"
Everyone fired blindly. The night lit with muzzle flashes, bullets slicing the smoke like lightning. Men screamed as stray shots cut them down.
"Half the line is gone!" someone shouted, voice breaking.
Dominic's eyes cut through the chaos. His chest froze. The men he had trusted most, the ones who had fought closest to him burned, torn apart, bodies scattered in the sand.
But the ones he doubted? Emilio. Carlo. Even Josh . They stood on the other side, untouched. Guns raised, but their eyes too calm for men caught in hell.
Not now, Dominic told himself, rage simmering. He had no time to process betrayal. Only time to survive.
"Push forward! Don't let them close in!" he roared.
The smoke shifted.
Figures emerged black-clad, rifles steady, surrounding from the shoreline. Hundreds . Maybe more.
"We're surrounded!" Tobias yelled. His gun clicked empty. He grabbed another from a fallen soldier, firing wildly.
Dominic's heart pounded like war drums. His men ,his real men were cut in half. The rest were dropping fast. Blood turned the sand black under the firelight.
A bullet whizzed past Dominic's ear. He turned, shot two figures breaking from the smoke. Another charged with a blade Domnic slammed his elbow into the man's throat, spun his pistol, put a bullet through his skull.
Elena crouched behind an overturned table ,pistol in hand heart beating not with fear, but fury. Every shot was for the child inside her, for Dominic bleeding through the chaos. When her clip clicked empty, she grabbed a fallen knife , if she had to to die protecting those she loves then so be it "Dom!" Tobias shouted, ducking as a spray of bullets tore through the air. "We can't hold this!"
"We hold!" Dominic snarled. His eyes burned red with fury. "We hold, or we die here!"
The enemy pushed harder, closing in, cutting down men one by one. Screams drowned under gunfire.
Then
A sharp whistle split the night.
Gunfire erupted from the cliffs. Muzzle flashes from above, precise, deadly. Men dropped in rows, throats burst open, skulls shattered.
The sand shook again another wave of gunfire, another blast ripping through the air.
"Down! Down!" Tobias shoved two men behind the wreckage of the stage just as it collapsed under bullets.
Dominic's reinforcements pressed in hard, their rifles barking, blades flashing in the smoke. They carved bodies down like reapers but for every enemy that fell, two more surged forward.
"Fuck there's too many!" one of his men screamed, spraying rounds until his clip clicked empty. He didn't get a chance to reload; a shot tore through his throat, blood gushing over the sand.
"Elena, stay low!" Dominic growled, firing until his pistol clicked dry. He snatched up a rifle from a fallen enemy, snapping it up to his shoulder without pause, cutting three men down. His jaw clenched as he scanned the battlefield.
Despite the reinforcements, the field looked wrong his men were still falling. Bodies piled in the smoke, screams drowned under gunfire. The attackers had come all out, well-armed, disciplined. Whoever was behind this wasn't just trying to scare him. They were trying to erase him.
"We can't hold like this, Dom!" Tobias spat blood, reloading with trembling hands. "They're not breaking,they're closing in!"
Dominic's chest burned. Every instinct screamed betrayal, but there was no room for rage now only survival. He barked orders, moving his soldiers into tighter formation, his secret army bleeding as they fought to hold the line.
And in the chaos no one saw him.
Jay slipped through the smoke. Silent. Careful. Arms broken .The firelight flickered over his back before it swallowed him whole. No one noticed their eyes were too busy on the bullets, on the blood.
By the time Tobias glanced over his shoulder, Jay was gone.
"Dom! We're losing ground!" another man shouted. "We can't keep this up!"
Dominic's rifle thundered again, face streaked with blood and sweat. He didn't even realize how many of his own had vanished until the line buckled.
The enemy surged closer, their numbers swallowing the beach.
"Fall back!" Dominic roared. His voice was raw, breaking, but still commanding. "Push toward the rocks! NOW!"
Dominic reloaded, back turned for only a heartbeat when a shadow lunged from behind one of his own men, blade raised.
"Dominic!"
The knife never reached him. Elena locked in a struggle, grappling with a man twice her size, her blade slick with blood. She shoved him off, chest heaving, when she caught sight of another soldier raising a knife behind Dominic.
"Dominic !"
Without thinking, she lunged gun firing once, twice the traitor crumpled at Dominic's back. But before she could steady herself, another enemy soldier's boot slammed into her stomach. The air whooshed out of her; she staggered, clutching her middle.
Dominic's eyes cut to her sharp, worried but she forced a strained smile. "I'm fine. Keep fighting."
She wasn't. A tremor wracked her body, and suddenly her scream split the battleground.
"Dom… my water—"
Her voice broke as her knees hit the ground.