Chapter 6 - The Breach
The sound of gunfire downstairs wasn't a distant pop. It echoed through the reinforced walls of the mansion like thunder in a cave.
Julian bolted upright from the floor, crying out in terror, while Leo scrambled blindly across the rug, throwing his small arms around my legs and burying his face in my skirt.
"Mommy! What's that loud noise?!" Leo screamed over the wailing sirens.
Dominic didn't panic. In a fraction of a second, the vulnerable man who had just confessed his fears vanished, replaced entirely by the cold, calculated commander of an empire.
He drew a heavy, suppressed automatic pistol from a concealed holster beneath his sweater with terrifying speed.
"Clara, take the boys into the panic room behind the master closet," Dominic ordered, his voice dropping into an absolute, lethal command. "Lock the steel door from the inside. Do not open it for anyone—not even if you hear my voice—until the red light on the keypad turns solid green."
"And you?" I gasped, grabbing his arm as he turned toward the door. "Dominic, there's an army out there!"
"Let them come," he said, a dark, dangerous smile touching his lips as he pressed a swift, hard kiss against my forehead. "This is my house. Nobody touches my family."
He wrenched open the nursery door and sprinted down the hallway toward the grand staircase just as a heavy explosion rocked the west wing of the mansion. Glass shattered in the gallery below. Shouts, boots stomping on marble, and the relentless rat-a-tat-tat of submachine gun fire filled the air.
"Mommy! Come on!" Julian cried, pulling frantically at my hand.
I snapped out of my paralysis. Scooping Leo up into my arms and grabbing Julian’s small hand, I sprinted down the corridor toward our bedroom suite.
The master closet smelled of cedar and expensive wool. I slammed my hand against the biometric scanner disguised behind a sliding cedar panel. A soft beep chimed, and the heavy, six-inch-thick steel vault door hissed open.
"Get inside! Quick, babies, get inside!" I urged, practically shoving them into the reinforced concrete panic room lined with emergency supplies, bunk beds, and monitors showing live security feeds from around the estate.
I punched the internal lock button. The heavy steel door sealed shut with a massive, satisfying thud that locked out the horrors of the world outside.
My hands shook violently as I turned to the wall-mounted security monitors.
Camera one: The main foyer. Three men in black tactical gear bearing the double-crescent insignia of the Vance syndicate were advancing up the grand staircase, firing automatic weapons into the chandelier.
Camera two: The east hallway. Two of Dominic’s guards lay motionless on the marble floor, pools of dark blood spreading beneath them.
Camera three: The courtyard.
My breath caught in my throat.
There, standing in the middle of the courtyard amidst smoking debris and broken stone, was Victor Vance himself. Dressed in an immaculate grey trench coat, holding a cigar in one hand and a satellite phone in the other, he looked like a gentleman attending a Sunday polo match while his dogs tore apart a fox.
And on the monitor next to it—Camera four: The main study.
Dominic was cornered.
Two of Vance’s elite mercenaries had him pinned behind the mahogany desk. Dominic’s pistol was empty; I could see the slide locked back. He was bleeding from a shrapnel gash across his left temple, a thin stream of crimson cutting down his cheek through the stubble.
"No..." I breathed, pressing my palms against the cold screen. "No, Dominic, please..."
On screen, one of the mercenaries stepped out from behind a marble pillar, raising his rifle directly toward Dominic’s chest.
"Mr. Vain says hello," the mercenary sneered, his voice audible through the intercom audio feed.
My heart stopped. The world narrowed down to a single point of absolute, blinding clarity.
I wasn't a helpless girl running from shadows anymore. I was a Vain. And in this house, nobody slaughtered my family while I watched.
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I hit the emergency manual override release on the panic room wall.
The heavy steel door hissed and swung open.
