CHAPTER 27: A GUNSHOT?

Once out of the main exhibition area, Elara stood beside the pond, looking at the fish that swam, a small smile lingering on her lips as she watched two fish hitting each other with their mouths.

They almost seemed to be bickering, and she wondered if they were a couple.

Most of the people she knew were already gone, including Mr. Nate, Candice, and her family.

She was waiting for George to finish his meeting so they could go and celebrate her first contract signing after returning.

The thought of getting her life back together and finally being able to do something that actually made her happy—thrilled her, delighted her.

She thought about how she operated that machine gun, impressing everyone, and couldn’t help but smile wider.

She wasn’t exactly that well-versed with weapons. She just had a quick learning capability, and she learned it from back then when her grandfather actually took her to one of the exhibitions because he was made to babysit her.

To this day, her parents and brother don’t know that she once went to such a place where she almost lost her life because she played with a rifle and pointed it at a gang leader.

If not for her grandfather, who was a big shot himself, maybe she would’ve been thrown into slavery for such daring.

Most people would’ve gotten traumatized after the incident, but it was the opposite for her. That made her even more intrigued. She started actively reading and learning about them.

Then again, knowledge wasn’t the only thing needed to operate such powerful and harmful things; what was most needed was confidence.

"You like it?" She heard a familiar, cold voice behind her and turned to see who it was.

Many questions were swirling in her head, mostly about his attitude towards her, but she didn’t say anything, not yet.

"So you are so angry with me that you won’t say a word?" Daniel asked, his lazy gaze sweeping over her face, flickering between her eyes, his stance screaming nothing but pure dominance that demanded utmost respect and surrender.

"You said I caught your eyes. When did it happen?" Elara asked instead.

Daniel kept staring at her for a few seconds before he smiled.

"It happened a long time ago, but for your convenience, let’s just bring it forward and say it happened at the riding arena," he answered.

His words didn’t match his eyes.

A long time ago? Elara wondered if she had ever met him before, but didn’t seem to have an inkling about it.

"I didn’t mean to catch your attention, Mr. Macros. There has been some misunderstanding due to confused communication. I apologize for all of it. We should go our separate ways from now on and try not to cross each other," Elara said before bowing in respect.

A flicker of emotion, something no one ever witnessed in Daniel’s eyes, appeared briefly before it vanished.

"It’s too late," he stated casually, as if he wasn’t just indirectly telling her that she couldn’t get rid of him anymore.

Elara pressed her lips into a thin line in annoyance.

"What..." she exhaled sharply.

"What must I do for you to stop bothering me? I had no intention of catching your attention. I want to lead a peaceful life," Elara said.

She was about to open her mouth to speak more when Daniel stepped forward and cupped her cheeks, forcing her to look straight in his eyes.

"You have no idea of anything you are saying or about the power I wield in my heart. I told you, it happened a long time ago. There’s no going back. Nothing you can do about it."

Daniel’s eyes screamed of resilience, of a gentlemanly stubbornness that surprised Elara, briefly leaving her helpless and powerful in his hold, which was quite confusing in itself.

"You can’t force this on me. I am a married woman," Elara said.

Daniel smirked, his cold and unapproachable aura returning in full force.

"And I have every intention of removing that or every man you might harbor feelings for from your life." His words spoke less; the real war was initiated by his eyes, which looked so deadly and so manly.

Elara shook her head to snap out of the thoughts.

What the hell was her problem? This man was practically threatening lives, and she was finding it manly? Has her head gone to the gutter? She scolded herself before glaring at him and pushing him away slightly to free herself.

"Stop holing around, Mr. Macros. This is a matter of life," Elara said before she created some distance between them.

How the hell did things end like this? She wondered, schooling her expression when she saw George coming towards them with furrowed brows.

"Mr. Daniel," he nodded at the man.

"George," Daniel nodded, his expression turning aloof within a second, like he wasn’t the same man threatening to kill every man she harbored feelings for.

Could it be that this man suffered from multiple personality disorder? Or probably bipolar disorder? Did that mean he had taken me as his plaything? The thought alone made Elara shudder, and she looked away.

As she looked towards the bushes and then at the lake, her brows raised when she saw something shiny in the reflection.

She looked up at the right time and saw a man jump out of the bush.

"You had the nerve to laugh at my brother’s dead body, no? Now I’ll laugh at yours!" The man growled.

Elara looked at the man’s eyes that screamed with pain, guilt, and anger, a deadly combination, she would say.

As she saw him pointing his gun at where George was standing, her eyes widened, and without thinking twice, she jumped in the way, ready to take the blow.

Shot!

The sound of the gunshot echoed.

Everything happened so quickly that nobody had the chance to react, and Elara felt a piercing pain in her hand.

"Elara!" George shouted, rushing forward to support her.

Elara looked at her brother before her gaze met with Daniel’s cold eyes, his expression unreadable.

She miscalculated the angle. It wasn’t meant for George but Daniel.

Because if it were meant for her brother, the bullet would’ve pierced her chest. Maybe she wasn’t as good as she thought she was.

What a dumb move!

This was the last thought that went through Elara’s head before she passed out from excruciating pain.

Andrew, who was walking out with Sean and Beatrice at some distance, stopped at the sound of the gunshot and quickly rushed Beatrice inside the car.

"Sean, something has happened. Take her to my home safely. Let me see what it is," Andrew said.

Sean nodded without delay and took Beatrice away. Once they were gone, Andrew turned to the garden and walked, only to witness a few people making a man kneel before Daniel.

"The reason I laughed at your brother’s dead body was because he laughed at the dead bodies of all the girls who died in that trick explosion that they orchestrated to hide their crimes. You dared to hurt what I put my eyes on? You must suffer the same fate," Daniel said.

Andrew witnessed how some men brought what looked like gunpowder from the exhibition center.

They fed the man with gunpowder, and then, without fear in the world, Daniel himself lit the lighter and threw it at the man, setting him on fire.

The man’s painful screams echoed in the exhibition area. However, once the remaining people found out that Daniel was acting out, no one dared to step out and watch.

Daniel looked up just as Andrew thought he had seen enough and didn’t want to get involved.

The way he looked at him... It almost looked like he was warning him about something... a direct warning for something he didn’t know about.

Andrew swallowed hard and turned to leave, his gaze falling on one of the cars that stopped.

It seemed like a female had been hurt and was being rushed to the hospital urgently.

Well, it had nothing to do with him. He sighed and left.