Chapter 236 Drop The Gun Savannah The gun was heavier than I expected. Not just in weight, but in meaning—like the moment I wrapped my hands around it, something irreversible settled into my bones. My fingers trembled around the barrel as I lifted it, both palms slick with sweat, my arms shaking from more than fear. I had never held a gun before. Never imagined I would. And yet there I was, standing in the middle of a room soaked in blood and grief, pointing death at a man who had already lost everything. My eyes refused to leave Mom. She stood a few feet away, frozen, her face streaked with tears, her chest rising and falling like she was barely holding herself together. Julius knelt on the floor beside Chloe’s body, his head bowed, his shoulders shaking violently as he clutched her to him. Chloe—my sister—lay motionless, her blood dark against the marble, her limbs straightened in a way that made my stomach churn every time I looked at her.I wasn’t stupid enough to believe grief would stop Julius. Men like him didn’t break quietly. They shattered—and they took everyone around them with them. “Savannah…” Mom whispered, her voice trembling as she took a cautious step toward me. “Sweetheart, please.” She reached for the gun slowly, like it might explode if she startled me. Her fingers wrapped around my hands, warm and familiar, grounding me in a way nothing else could. I felt her shaking through the contact, felt her fear and desperation bleeding into mine. “Put it down,” she begged. “Please.” I swallowed hard, my throat burning as tears pressed behind my eyes. I slowly lowered the gun, my gaze still locked on Julius, watching every slight movement, every tense shift of his body. When I finally let go, the gun fell onto the sofa beside me with a dull thud that echoed far too loudly in the suffocating silence. “I wasn’t going to shoot,” I whispered hoarsely. “I don’t even know how to use a gun, Mom.” That was the truth. I could barely process the fact that I had just held one, that my hands still felt numb from the weight of it. I had never been this close to violence before. Never this close to death.Mom broke then. Her knees gave out as she collapsed against me, her sobs tearing out of her chest, raw and unrestrained. I wrapped my arms around her instinctively, holding her upright as her tears soaked into my blouse. “Your sister is dead,” she cried. “My baby is gone. She’s never coming back.” I froze. I let her cry because I didn’t know what else to do. Because the world felt like it had already ended, and I was afraid that if I moved, if I spoke, I would fall apart completely. The air in the room felt colder. Heavier. Too still. That was when I heard voices upstairs. Alyssa. Jace. Emily. Emily cried so loudly everyone in the house heard her. Their voices were muffled, distant, unaware—or maybe desperately trying to be unaware—of the carnage below. Life was still happening above us while death sat at our feet down here. And that was when something clicked. My heart lurched violently as I pulled away from Mom and scanned the room, dread crawling up my spine. “No,” I breathed. I rushed toward the front door, my eyes locking onto the empty space beside the grandfather clock. “He was right there,” I said sharply, pointing. “The guard. Where did he go?” Mom sniffed, turning toward me, confusion etched into her grief-stricken face. “What?” “The other guard,” I insisted, my voice rising. “He was standing right there.” Her brows knit together slowly, realization dawning. “I saw him too.” A chill settled deep in my bones. How did a trained man disappear from a house like this without anyone noticing? “How could he—” Mom turned suddenly. “Julius, do you know—” Her words cut off in a strangled scream. I spun around. Julius was standing, holding two guns—one in each hand. The one I had dropped. And the one Jace had left behind.His eyes were hollow. Not wild. Not angry. Just empty. And that terrified me more than anything else. “Julius!” Mom cried. “What are you doing? Haven’t you done enough? Our daughter is dead! Haven't you learnt anything?!” He didn’t respond. Didn’t even seem to hear her. He just raised the gun and pointed it at her. Time stopped. “What are you doing?” I stammered, my body moving back on instinct alone. “You know,” he said calmly, almost conversationally, “when I realized you were still seeing my brother after I married you and tried to make you happy, I bought a gun.” My breath hitched painfully. Mom didn’t look surprised. She just stood there, staring at him. “You wanted to kill me?” she asked quietly. “Then why didn’t you?” “I almost did,” he said with a hollow chuckle. “But then you told me you were pregnant with Alyssa.” My stomach twisted violently. “I thought she was mine,” he continued. “The timing matched. Everything rhymed. She looked like me. And I loved her like she was.” “Julius…” Mom whispered. “Don’t lie to me,” he snapped, his voice suddenly sharp as he aimed the gun more deliberately. “Who is Alyssa’s real father?” The sound that left me wasn’t even human. It was a sharp, broken gasp that tore from my chest. Mom closed her eyes. “Answer me!” he screamed. “Is it me—or is it Jace?” “She’s Jace’s,” Mom sobbed. “Jace is her father.” The world tilted violently. Julius staggered backward, his breathing uneven, his chest heaving. “So it’s true.” Mom tries to reach for him. “Julius, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just… I just couldn't stop loving Jace. I'd loved him all my life. It wasn't easy for me to open my heart to you—” “But it was easy for you to deceive me!” He screams. “It was easy for you to lie to me! For all these years, Flora! You were never truthful! Tell me, what is so bad about me? Am I not good enough?!” Mom cried, shaking her head. “It's not that, Julius. It was never about that!” “Then what was it about?! And don't you dare tell me that it was about who the heart loves because we both know you could have taught your heart to love me if you really wanted to!” “I tried!” She cried! “I tried to love you! Heaven knows I did! But every time I tried, the more it pushed me to Jace. I'm sorry but I'll never stop loving him!” He flinched like someone had practically slapped him across the face. “Is that so?” Mom held his gaze, eyes glassy with tears. “Yes. I'm sorry, Julius. But you never should have forced me to marry you.” He nodded slowly. “I'm afraid you're right. Now I realize my biggest mistake in life was falling in love with you.” “I never asked you to fall in love with me. That's all on you.” I heard him suck in a breath. “Wow. So that's what I get? After all my love?” Mom stepped toward him, tears streaming down her face. “I never meant to hurt you—” “You deceived me!” he roared. “For years!” Then his lips curved into a smile that made my blood run cold. “I’ll kill you,” he said softly. “Then her. Then I’ll go upstairs and finish the rest.” “No!” Mom screamed, stepping in front of the stairs. “You’ll have to kill me first!” “Gladly.” “Drop the gun, Julius.” Roman’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade. He stood in the doorway, his posture rigid, his eyes sharp as they took in the guns, the tension, me. His gaze flicked to mine for a split second, and something dark and pained flashed there. Shame burned through me. He'd given me a gun to protect myself and somehow, I'd foolishly let a deranged, evil man get control of it. How could I have been so stupid and careless? “The police are on their way,” Roman said evenly. “Perfect,” Julius sneered. “I’ll make sure they have more bodies to collect.” I didn’t think. I just moved. I crossed the distance between us and slammed into Julius with my side with everything I had. The impact knocked us both to the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of me. One of the guns skidded across the floor, sliding toward the stairs and coming to a stop near Mom’s feet. But Julius still had one. “Savannah!” Roman screamed. I lunged for it immediately, my hands scrambling over his as we struggled on the floor. He was strong—far stronger than I expected—and his weight pinned part of me down as he fought to keep control of the gun. “You stupid girl!” he snarled. “I should’ve killed you first!” I dragged the gun sideways with everything in me, forcing the barrel away from Mom. My arms burned, my muscles screaming as I tried to redirect it, my fingers slipping dangerously close to the trigger. “Stop!” I screamed. Pain exploded in my abdomen as Julius drove his elbow into my stomach. I cried out, my grip loosening as I recoiled instinctively, clutching my belly as nausea and a series of painful cramps surged through me. For a split second, the pain stole everything—my breath, my strength, my resolve.Then I saw Mom. She stood frozen at the base of the stairs, her hands over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut. I lunged again. I grabbed the gun with both hands, my fingers brushing Julius’s on the trigger as I fought to twist it away, to point it anywhere but at her. We were tangled on the floor, bodies straining, Julius’s finger was still tight on the trigger as he fought me inch by inch. And in the heat of the struggle, the gun went off. The sound was deafening. Once. Twice. For a moment, I thought I had saved her. But then the victory was short-lived when I heard mom scream. I turned in the direction she was looking at. And my world literally stopped. Roman was standing too close. Blood bloomed across his immaculate white shirt—first at his chest, then lower, spreading fast across his abdomen. He staggered, his knees buckling as he collapsed to the floor.My hands were still on the gun. My finger was still on the trigger. And the realization hit me like a blade through my chest. I had turned it. I had pulled it. And Roman lay bleeding on the floor because of me. I shot him twice.