Chapter Two Hundred And Seventeen

Chapter Two Hundred And Seventeen
Camille’s POV

The gunshot ripped through the hall before my mind could even register what was happening.

Theo moved faster than instinct, faster than fear, faster than the bullet itself.

“Camille!”

His arm wrapped around my waist, yanking me against him with such force my breath vanished. My heels scraped the floor as he pulled me behind his body, shifting into a shield without a second’s hesitation.

The bullet cracked into the marble pillar behind us, spraying dust into the air. If Theo hadn’t moved when he did, if he hadn’t felt the danger before the rest of us, that bullet would have gone straight into my chest.

Screams erupted. Chairs toppled. Guests dove under tables or crawled toward the walls. The orchestra dropped their instruments with sharp clatters. A child cried. Someone prayed.

Miles stood in the center of the chaos, gun raised, chest heaving, eyes wild and glowing with obsession.

“I SAID SHE COMES WITH ME!” he screamed.

The sound of his voice didn’t even sound human anymore. It sounded cracked, broken, desperate enough to tear himself apart.

Another shot fired, sharp, reckless.

Theo shoved me behind the nearest column, his palms firm on my shoulders. “Stay here,” he breathed. Not a plea, an order. Protective. Fierce.

I grabbed his arm. “Theo…”

His eyes met mine for one second. One heartbeat. Enough for me to see everything inside him. Love. Rage.
A promise he was willing to die to keep.

“I’m right here,” he said softly. “I’m not leaving you.”

Then he turned toward the threat.

Ethan and the elite guards were already sprinting down the aisle, weapons drawn but held low, waiting for Theo’s signal.

Miles saw them coming and screamed again, stumbling backward like a cornered animal. “NO! Don’t touch me! CAMILLE, COME HERE! COME TO ME!”

He fired toward the guards, missing but forcing them to scatter.

Theo stepped out from the column, shoulders squared, steps slow and deliberate, the walk of a king approaching war.

“Miles,” he said, voice cold, steady, unshakeable. “Put the gun down.”

Miles laughed, high, shaky, unhinged.
“You don’t give me orders! She belongs to me! She was mine before you!”

Theo didn’t flinch. “She was never yours.”

Something inside Miles snapped. I saw it, the moment madness swallowed whatever humanity he had left.

He lunged. Not at me. At Theo.

They met in the center of the aisle with a force that shook the arch of flowers behind them. Miles swung first, wild and sloppy. Theo blocked it easily, his jaw tight, his eyes sharp. This wasn’t a man fighting another man, this was a beast defending what mattered to him.

Miles grabbed at him, trying to shove past him, trying to reach me.
“You took everything from me!” he shouted. “EVERYTHING!”

Theo’s fist slammed into his ribs, a heavy, controlled strike meant to stop, not kill.
“You did that to yourself,” Theo answered, voice low. “And you will NOT touch her.”

Miles rammed his shoulder into Theo, knocking both of them into the arch. Flowers scattered everywhere, petals raining down like a broken blessing.

The guests cried out again, ducking lower. I pressed my hand against my mouth, feeling my heartbeat pulse against my fingertips.

Miles swung again, a harder, angrier blow. Theo dodged, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him to the ground.

But Miles didn’t stop.
He kicked.
He clawed.
He fought like a man with no reason left to live.

“LET ME GO!” he screamed. “LET ME GET TO HER!”

“You’ll never reach her,” Theo said. His voice wasn’t loud — it didn’t need to be. It carried the kind of power that ended wars.

Within seconds, Ethan and the elite guard pinned Miles down. One held his arms, another took the gun, another pressed a knee into his back.

Miles thrashed and screamed, spit flying, veins bulging against his skin.
“GET OFF ME! CAMILLE! CAMILLE!”

I covered my ears, shaking. That name, my name, sounded like a curse in his mouth.

Theo stepped back, breathing hard, chest rising and falling with fury he was barely controlling. His knuckles bled. His cheek had a scratch. But he was standing. He was alive.
And he was still between Miles and me.
Always.

I ran to him. My legs trembled but didn’t fail me.

He opened his arms before I collided with him, pulling me against his chest with a grip that spoke of pure relief.

“You’re safe,” he whispered into my hair. “I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.”

My fingers dug into his jacket, clinging. “You could’ve been shot.”

“But I wasn’t,” he said. “Not while you’re here to protect.”

I don’t know how long we held each other, but the world around us slowly came back into focus, guests whispering, guards stabilizing the hall, Miles screaming from the floor as if the devil had taken his voice.

“SHE WAS MINE!” he roared. “I LOVED YOU, CAMILLE! I LOVED YOU!”

Theo turned his head and looked at him.
Not with fear. Not with pity. Just cold finality.

“You never loved her,” Theo said. “You only wanted to own her.”

Ethan’s men hauled Miles upward. He fought so hard three men had to hold him. His hair stuck to his forehead, his shirt torn, his eyes wild with a madness that had consumed him entirely.

As they dragged him down the aisle, the hall fell silent. Every guest stared. Many cried. Some shook with shock. People who once feared Miles now looked at him with pure disbelief.

But as he reached the doors, he suddenly stopped struggling.
Stopped screaming.
Stopped moving entirely.

Then he started laughing.

Slow. Low. Deadly.

The kind of laugh that chills bone.

He tilted his head and stared straight at me.
“Camille…” he whispered, even though he was thirty feet away. “Did you really think this was the end?”

Theo stiffened.

Miles’ smile widened, cracked and broken at the edges.
“I planned something bigger.”

Cold swept through the hall.
I felt it land in my chest like ice.

Theo stepped in front of me again. “Get him out,” he ordered.

Ethan nodded sharply. “Take him now.”

Miles kept laughing as he was dragged through the doors. Laughing like a man who still held a secret. Laughing like he still had the power to burn the world down.

As the doors slammed shut behind him, the sound echoed through the hall like the warning of a blade.

Theo’s hand found mine again.
His grip was warm, alive and anchoring.

But the chill Miles left in the air did not fade. Not yet. Not until we discovered the “something bigger” he had set in motion.

And wedding or not, I knew this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.