Chapter 7 - The Attack on Bellandi House
Two weeks later, the peaceful bubble Grace had helped build was shattered.
Victor Moretti had learned through his informants that Adrian Bellandi was dropping his guard—that he was spending his evenings at home, dismantling his illegal operations on the docks, and preparing to transition Bellandi Coastal Systems into a fully legitimate engineering firm.
To Moretti, a mob boss who ruled through fear, Adrian's transformation looked like weakness.
It was a stormy Tuesday night. The rain pounded against the windows of the estate in heavy sheets.
At 11:00 PM, the power to Bellandi House was cut.
The lights plunged into total darkness. Emergency backup generators clicked on two seconds later, illuminating the hallways with dim, red tactical lights.
Alarms blared across the house.
In the kitchen, Grace was finishing a batch of midnight cinnamon rolls when the red lights flashed.
Before she could react, the heavy oak kitchen doors burst open.
Adrian ran into the room. He wore tactical body armor over a dark shirt, holding an automatic rifle in his hands. Two of his senior security guards stood behind him.
"Grace!" Adrian shouted, grabbing her by her shoulders. "Where are the kids?!"
"Upstairs in Noah’s room! They were watching a movie!" Grace said, her heart hammering against her ribs. "Adrian, what’s happening?!"
"Moretti’s men breached the river gate," Adrian said, his eyes fierce and lethal. "They know I’m going legitimate. They think they can take this house."
He pulled a heavy keycard from his vest and pressed it into Grace’s hands.
"Take the children to the subterranean panic room behind my study," Adrian commanded, looking into her eyes with desperate intensity. "The door is eight-inch reinforced steel. Once you are inside, lock it from the console. Do not open it for anyone except me."
"Adrian..." Grace choked out, grabbing his tactical vest. "Don't go out there."
Adrian reached up, grabbed her face in his large hands, and pressed a deep, fierce, desperate kiss onto her lips.
It was hard, hot, and thick with three weeks of unexpressed passion. Grace melted against him, her fingers clutching his shoulders as she kissed him back with everything she had.
When he pulled back, his breath was heavy, his eyes burning into hers.
"I have something to live for now, Grace," Adrian whispered fiercely against her mouth. "I’m coming back to you. Now go!"
Grace didn't hesitate. She ran upstairs through the red-lit corridors.
She found Noah, Lily, and Sophie huddled under a blanket in Noah's room, terrified by the sound of thunder and blaring alarms.
"Grace!" Sophie cried, running into her arms.
"I’m here, baby," Grace said, scooping Sophie up with one arm and grabbing Lily’s hand with the other. "Noah, stay close to me! We're going to a safe room!"
As they reached the main staircase, the heavy glass windows of the front foyer exploded inward.
Four armed men in tactical gear burst into the lower hall, firing silenced weapons at Adrian's guards.
"Upstairs! Check the bedrooms!" a harsh voice barked from below.
"Run!" Grace whispered to the children, ushering them down the secret back service hallway toward Adrian's study.
They reached the heavy steel door behind the bookshelf. Grace slammed the keycard into the scanner. The heavy steel door slid open with a mechanical hiss.
She pushed Noah, Lily, and Sophie inside the brightly lit, concrete-reinforced room.
"Get under the bench, kids! Stay down!" Grace ordered.
Before she could step inside herself, a heavy hand grabbed Grace by her thick hair from behind, yanked her backward out of the doorway, and slammed her hard against the study floorboards.
Grace gasped as pain shot through her back.
Standing over her was a tall, scarred mercenary wearing a tactical vest, holding a suppressed pistol.
"Well, well," the man sneered, staring down at her generous curves with a sickening grin. "Looks like Bellandi got himself a fat new nanny."
In the safe room, Sophie screamed. "GRACE!"
"Lock the door, Noah!" Grace screamed at the top of her lungs, grabbing a heavy brass desk lamp from the floor beside her and swinging it with all her strength.
CRACK!
The heavy lamp hit the mercenary directly across the side of his face. He stumbled backward, cursing, blood spurting from his broken nose.
He raised his gun, his eyes wild with rage. "You bitch—"
A shadow blurred through the doorway.
Before the mercenary could pull the trigger, Adrian appeared behind him like an avenging demon.
He grabbed the man’s gun arm, snapping it backward with a sickening crunch. He drove a heavy combat knife beneath the man's ribs, dropping him instantly to the floor.
Adrian didn't look at the dead man. He dropped his knife and fell to his knees beside Grace.
"Grace! Grace, are you hurt?!" Adrian panicked, his massive hands trembling as he checked her head, her face, her body for injuries.
Grace sat up, breathless, wiping a streak of blood from her elbow. "I'm okay... I'm okay! The kids are in the room!"
Adrian pulled her into his arms, crushing her against his body so hard she could barely breathe. He buried his face in her hair, trembling violently.
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"I saw him grab you on the camera feed..." Adrian choked out, his voice raw with pure terror. "I thought... God, Grace, I thought I lost you..."
Grace wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his jaw, his cheek, his forehead. "You didn't lose me, Adrian. I'm right here. I'm right here."
