With more enemies lining up to kill him than he can count, a playboy billionaire must hire the only woman capable of keeping him alive, even if she hates his guts.
Gabriel Gerard's life is full of gorgeous women, expensive cars, and infinite wealth...
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The prison guards near the station at the center of the floor were beginning to move and groan. They were waking up. Gabriel and Olivia exchanged glances as they silently wove their way to the stairs. With Olivia safely ahead of him, he pulled the firearms off the two guards lying closest to the stairway. One of them jerked but still couldn't sit up or say anything before Gabriel plunged into the dark stairwell.
"Here." He held one of the pistols out to Olivia, who looked at it with distaste. "Just take it. This is not the time to be an idealist. We have no idea who or what is waiting for us up there."
"After learning more about your family and Bri's, it is the what that I'm more concerned with." Olivia took the gun and replaced one of her throwing knives. "How hard is it to activate the nuclear protection system?"
"It is mostly punching codes into the computer system and then pressing an Are-you-really-sure-that-you-want-to-shut-down-the-entire-building, big, red button." Gabriel led the way up the stairs. "The good news is that it is meant to be implemented quickly in case of an emergency so it should only take me a minute once we're up there."
"And no one can override it?"
"Ash can, but it will still take at least an hour to go in and shut it all down."
"Is that enough time for them to get out of the city?"
"It's going to have to be."
They climbed the rest of the stairs in silence only pausing to listen for anyone coming. The closer they got to the top, the louder the buzz of activity got. They hadn't noticed going down how far into the prison they had descended. Now it seemed to be taking forever to get back out. Gabriel pushed the thoughts of Bri getting captured from his mind as he focused on what he could do to prevent that. He knew that Olivia was worried about her cousin but that she wouldn't let it distract her from their mission. They couldn't fail. It wasn't an option.
Gabriel's legs burned, and he realized that all of the poison still wasn't out of his system. Adrenaline kept him going, and he had to hope that it was going to be enough to get him through this and for Olivia and him to get away. She wasn't breathing as hard as him, so she had a better chance than he did.
When they reached the top, the hallway to the secret door was empty. The door was shut, but voices could be heard on the other side.
"It sounds like they're all awake now," Gabriel whispered as they crept up to the door. "Let me see if I can put them back to sleep. Consopio." He felt nothing when he cast the spell. The noise and movement continued on the other side of the door. "The anti-magic technology must be back on."
"Guess we're going to have to do this my way." Olivia held up one of her knives.
"When I open this, stand back and let them come to us." He stated the obvious. He couldn't help it. He didn't like the idea of being shot at. Again. "There is another entrance to the prison, and we can hope that President Alexander and my mother are at that one."
