Chapter 6 - The Breach at Midnight
The quiet night shattered into pure chaos.
High-pitched security sirens began wailing across the estate, their red emergency lights flashing rhythmically against the rain-slicked glass of the library windows.
Damian didn't hesitate for a single second.
In one fluid motion, he pulled a sleek black Sig Sauer pistol from a hidden drawer beneath his desk, racked the slide with a crisp clack, and shoved me behind his back.
"Leo!" Damian barked, his voice instantly snapping back into the commanding tone of a tactical commander. "Where is my mother?!"
"Marco is moving her to the panic room in the sub-basement!" Leo shouted over the sound of automatic gunfire echoing from the front courtyard. "It's Moretti! He brought at least thirty guys! They bypassed the river gates with speedboats!"
The heavy glass windows of the library exploded inward in a shower of razor-sharp shards.
I screamed, dropping to the floor, covering my head as wood fragments and glass rained down around us.
Two men in black tactical gear slammed through the shattered window frame, their assault rifles raised, aiming directly at Damian.
Damian fired three rapid shots.
The double-tap was precise, brutal, and terrifyingly fast. Both attackers collapsed onto the hardwood floor before they could even pull their triggers.
Damian grabbed me by the arm, dragging me off the floor with incredible force. "Leo! Hold the staircase! I'm taking Clara to the sub-basement!"
"Go, Boss! I've got the hall!" Leo yelled, turning toward the hallway and opening fire on two more intruders charging up the stairs.
Damian led me through a hidden door hidden behind a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. We ducked into a narrow, dimly lit stone stairwell that led down into the foundations of the mansion.
My heart was hammering so fast I felt dizzy. Gunshots, muffled explosions, and shouting echoed through the stone walls from the floors above us.
"Damian!" I gasped as we sprinted down the winding stairs. "What about your mother?! Is she safe?!"
"The sub-basement is a reinforced bunker built into the bedrock," Damian said, his grip tight around my hand as he guided me through the dark. "Once the steel door locks, not even a missile can breach it. We just need to—"
He froze at the bottom of the stairs.
Sitting in the dim light of the emergency torches at the entrance of the sub-basement stood three men.
Two held heavy shotguns pointed directly at us.
Standing in the center, wearing a sharp grey suit covered in rain, was a tall man with slicked-back black hair, a thin mustache, and eyes as cold as a snake.
Don Salvatore Moretti.
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Beside him, tied to a metal chair with a gag over her mouth, was Rosa.
"Good evening, Damian," Salvatore smiled, his gold tooth glittering in the faint light. "You really should invest in better security for your water gates. Your father always was too cheap for proper sonar."
