Chapter 7 - The Lion's Wrath
Midnight came and went. The storm outside raged on, ripping branches from the old maples in the garden.
Clara couldn't sleep. She walked through the grand living room wearing a long plush robe, Titan pacing steadily at her side, his heavy paws clicking against the polished hardwood floors.
Suddenly, the lights in the main house flickered three times and died completely.
The estate was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
A second later, the backup generators failed to kick in. The sharp, deafening sound of automatic gunfire echoed from the front gates, followed by the deep, terrifying blast of an explosive breaching the perimeter wall!
BOOM!
Clara froze. Titan instantly slammed his body in front of her, a low, ferocious rumble vibrating through his chest.
The front doors were blown inward with a heavy metallic crash. Shouts, boots pounding against marble, and the sharp crack of silenced handguns echoed through the foyer.
Victor Marcone hadn't fled for the border.
Knowing he was losing the war, the desperate, crazed mob boss had launched a suicide strike on Dante's home, intending to burn the estate to the ground and slaughter everyone inside before Dante could return!
"Clear the ground floor!" a raspy, brutal voice shouted from the dark foyer. "Find the girl! Marcone wants her head on a spike before Vance gets back!"
Clara’s blood ran cold. She didn't panic. Spending weeks beside Dante had taught her one thing: fear was useless; action was survival.
"Titan, with me," she whispered softly in the dark.
She slipped through the side servant passage—a narrow, hidden corridor she had learned back when she worked as a maid. She navigated the dark passage silently, reaching Dante's private security control room in the basement.
Inside, two of Dante's guards lay unconscious on the floor, disabled by an insider sabotage—a traitor among the night watch who had disabled the primary security grid!
Standing by the master control console was the traitor: a young guard named Miller whom Dante had hired three months ago. He was jamming the emergency radio frequencies to prevent the estate from calling Dante's convoy for backup!
"Miller!" Clara called out, her voice ringing sharp in the dark room.
The traitor spun around, drawing his weapon—
"TAKE HIM!" Clara roared.
Titan exploded from the shadows like an angry black mountain! All 150 pounds of muscle and teeth slammed into Miller before he could squeeze the trigger. The guard screamed as Titan pinned him to the concrete floor, crushing his gun hand beneath his massive paws, neutralizing him instantly!
Clara rushed to the master console. She grabbed the emergency satellite radio—a direct, encrypted line to Dante's vehicle—and smashed the override button.
"Dante!" she screamed into the microphone over the sound of gunfire echoing down the basement stairs. "Dante, it's a trap! They're inside the house! Marcone is inside the house!"
Three hundred miles away on the north pier, Dante Vance was standing over a captured warehouse when his satellite phone buzzed. Hearing Clara’s frantic voice through the speaker, the world around him turned to pure, unadulterated fire.
Dante didn't issue an order. He didn't speak a word.
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He turned, jumped into his armored vehicle, slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and tore through the rainy city streets at 120 miles per hour, followed by twenty cars of heavily armed enforcers.
Marcone had crossed the ultimate line. And Dante Vance was coming back to tear the world apart.
