Rejecting My Ruthless Billionaire Fiancé

The rain hammered down on Summit Mountain Cemetery, slashing through the pines, soaking through Aurora's black trench coat. She stood motionless, a tall, lean figure with sharp cheekbones and pale grey eyes that held no warmth. Water dripped from the brim of her baseball cap onto the white lily she'd placed at Vera Mercer's gravestone.

She crouched and wiped a streak of mud from the carved letters of her mother's name. The stone was freezing under her bare fingers.

Her hand stilled.

A dull, heavy thud sounded through the storm. A silenced gunshot, then another. And they were coming closer, fast.

Aurora straightened, her body coiling tight. Her gaze cut through the rain, locking onto the dense pine forest to her left.

A massive, dark figure crashed through the wet bushes. The sharp stench of blood hit her nose before the man hit the ground. He stumbled, dropped heavily onto one knee in the mud, less than three feet from Vera's headstone.

A thick spray of his blood splattered across the clean white edge of the grave.

Aurora's eyes went flat and cold.

The man forced his head up. Blood poured from a gash on his forehead, blinding him. Through blurred vision, Damian could only make out a slender silhouette in a baseball cap. A harsh, grating warning tore from his throat as he reached for his pistol, but his fingers spasmed. Too much blood loss.

The bushes behind him exploded. Six killers in black tactical vests poured out, forming a tight semi-circle that trapped Damian and Aurora against the graves. The lead killer raised his weapon, the long suppressor aimed dead center. He flicked his chin, signaling his men to eliminate the girl along with the target.

Aurora didn't even look at them.

She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a sterile wipe, and crouched down. She began wiping the fresh blood off her mother's gravestone with slow, deliberate strokes.

The lead killer's jaw tightened. He pulled the trigger.

The bullet ripped through the rain, aimed at Aurora's back.

She didn't turn. Tracking the sound of displaced air, she tilted her body sideways at a sharp angle. The bullet scorched past her ear, singeing a stray lock of dark hair before burying itself in the mud.

Damian's pupils shrank. His instincts screamed one word. Not civilian.

Aurora dropped the dirty wipe into a puddle. She stood and turned. Beneath the shadow of her cap, her face was blank, but her eyes carried a flat, suffocating intent to kill.

Her right hand slipped into her coat. When it emerged, three thin silver needles rested between her fingers, coated with a fast-acting paralytic.

The lead killer sensed the shift. He opened his mouth to shout.

Aurora lunged. Mud erupted under her boots as she closed the distance in a heartbeat. Her left hand slapped the barrel of his gun upward. Her right drove forward. The needles sank deep into the pressure points on his neck.

He didn't scream. His eyes