Chapter 269 Slow Motion
Dakota's P.O.V.
Everything seems to move in slow motion. One moment, I'm standing frozen in the doorway of Valentina and Galdino's bedroom. Then, next, I'm being pushed out of the way as Benny goes to Shannon's side, where she's lying, bleeding on the floor. I look at Nikolas as he turns and points his gun at me with a sickly smile. Before he can get a shot off, I spin and kick the gun out of his hand while Galdino and Ari lunge for him.
"Get off me. You can't do this; I own all of you!" Nikolas yells. I kneel beside Shannon and hear Sarah calling for an ambulance. She was shot in her abdomen, so she's still alive for now, but she needs to get to the hospital.
"Take him to the negotiation room before the police get here and keep him quiet. Sarah, meet the EMTs at the door and bring them here. Shannon, hang on, sweetheart, we're right here. You're going to be okay." I look at Benny, and he looks grief-stricken. I know he and Shannon have been taking it slow, but it's no secret how much he loves her.
"She can't die, Dakota. I can't lose her," Benny whispers as he holds his hands over her wound.
"You're not going to lose her. How did she and Nikolas end up in here?" I ask, looking around.
"When Sarah and I got up here, Nikolas was pulling Shannon down the hallway. He saw us and shoved her into this room. He shot her before we could reach them. Why would he shoot her, though? She's not related to either family," Xavier says. That's a good question, but we'll figure that out later. Sarah brings the EMTs up, and Benny and I get out of the way.
"Miss Kondrati, being called here, is becoming a regular occurrence. It appears that bad people are coming out of the woodwork and are targeting you and people associated with you." I look at the detective who was here earlier and keep my face straight.
"It comes with the territory. When you have money and power, people want it for themselves." I'm not lying; it's why Nikolas, Raul, and everyone else keep attacking us.
"What happened here?" Xavier and I tell the detective everything that we want him to know, leaving out the part about Nikolas being in the negotiation room. We said we heard a gunshot, and when we got here, Shannon was shot, but the gunman was gone, so we never saw who it was. Until I decide what to do, I don't want anyone outside of our little circle to know anything about Nikolas' betrayal.
"So no one saw who shot Shannon? Why not? How did someone get all the way up to the second floor and out again without being seen?" The detective asks. I shrug and look around.
"That's a good question. I think it's about time I hire some more security because way too many people are getting into the compound. At least we got the kids back home safe. I just wish we had gotten to Raul first so he could have been brought to justice." We told the detective that when we got to the house, Raul was already dead. There is no proof I was in there because I was very careful not to touch anything other than the door handle, and I'm not giving up my knife without a warrant. Honestly, I think the police would be happy if the families just killed each other. That's why I doubt they will make much effort to look for who shot Shannon or who killed Raul.