Chapter 5 - The Siege at Calloway Manor
The air in the basement was thick with the smell of damp stone, old oak barrels, and aged wine.
Damian led Maya through the labyrinth of arched brick corridors deep beneath the mansion's main foundation. Emergency battery-powered wall sconces cast flickering amber shadows against the damp walls.
They reached a heavy iron door hidden behind a rack of dusty vintage port. Damian pulled a key from his neck chain, inserted it into the lock, and turned it with a heavy mechanical clack.
"Inside," Damian instructed, pushing the door open to reveal a narrow stone tunnel equipped with small guide lights that ran toward the cliffside. "Follow the path until you reach the iron ladder. At the bottom is a small boat slip. Silas’s second-in-command, Hector, is waiting there with a reinforced motorboat. He’ll take you across the bay to a safehouse in Newport."
Maya stood at the threshold of the dark tunnel, refusing to step inside. She looked up at Damian, her eyes glistening with unshed tears in the dim amber light.
"Damian, come with us," she pleaded, reaching out to touch his face. Her fingers brushed against his jawline. "Julian brought dozens of men. You don't have to die for this house!"
"I'm not dying for a house, Maya," Damian said gently, capturing her hand in his and pressing it against his chest. "I'm stopping a threat that would spend the rest of its life hunting you down. If Julian escapes tonight, he will spend every dollar he has to eliminate you and Lily so you can't testify against his supply ring."
He leaned down, his eyes locking onto hers with an intensity that made her breath catch.
"I spent forty years living in the cold, Maya," Damian whispered softly. "I didn't know what I was living for until you brought warmth into this place. Go to the safehouse. Wait for me."
Before she could answer, Damian leaned down and gently kissed her forehead, pressing his lips against her skin for three lingering seconds. He then looked down at Lily, who opened her sleepy eyes and reached out her small hand, touching Damian's silvering temple.
"Be a good girl for your mommy, Lily," Damian said softly.
"Will you come draw more potatoes later?" Lily asked innocently.
A rare, beautiful smile broke across Damian’s hard face. "I promise."
Damian gently pushed Maya into the tunnel and pulled the heavy iron door shut. The lock clicked into place with a definitive, final weight.
Damian turned back toward the dark basement corridor.
He picked up his submachine gun, checked the sight, and walked back toward the main cellar stairs.
Above him, the sound of heavy boots echoed through the floorboards. Glass was shattering, doors were being kicked off their hinges, and the sharp crackle of gunfire echoed through the upper halls as Silas and his remaining guards made their stand in the grand foyer.
Damian reached the top of the basement stairs and stepped back out into the main house.
The grand library was in ruins. Antique tables were flipped, leather chairs torn, and smoke hung thick in the air from flashbang grenades. Two dead mercenaries lay near the grand fireplace, while Silas was crouched behind a heavy mahogany desk, bleeding from a shoulder wound as he fired his sidearm toward the courtyard doors.
"Boss!" Silas yelled over the roar of the wind and gunfire. "Julian’s team broke through the glass conservatory! Vincent Hale is with him! They brought twelve men from the Providence mob!"
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Damian stepped out into the center of the library, completely exposed, his submachine gun raised.
"Let them come," Damian said, his voice echoing through the vast, ruined room like thunder over the Atlantic. "This is where the Calloway family ends its debts."
