Chapter 7 - Turning the Lens
When I reached the second-floor nursery wing, the door was already kicked open.
Inside, Mrs. Vance was tied to a chair, gagged with heavy tape, her eyes wide with terror.
A second gunman was standing near the cribs, holding a large duffel bag, reaching down to grab Elias by his blanket. Elias was screaming, his small hands beating uselessly against the man’s chest.
"Put your hands where I can see them!" I screamed from the doorway, raising the heavy pistol with both hands.
The gunman turned, startled. He saw a plus-size woman in a torn emerald gown holding a weapon with military precision, her eyes burning with lethal intent.
"Get out of my way, lady," he growled, reaching for his hip holster.
"Touch him again and I swear to God you won't leave this room alive," I barked, my voice echoing off the plaster walls.
He drew his gun. I pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The bullet shattered his shoulder. He yelled out, dropping to his knees, his gun clattering to the pine floor.
I rushed forward, kicked his weapon across the room, and slammed the heavy oak door shut, throwing the brass bolt lock into place.
I dropped the gun, rushed to the cribs, and pulled all three crying toddlers into my lap. I wrapped my arms around them, rocking back and forth on the floor while humming those four wandering notes my grandmother had taught me.
Within seconds, their desperate screams dissolved into soft, trembling hiccups.
"Mama," Camille sobbed, burying her tear-stained face into my neck. "Mama."
"I'm here, baby," I wept, kissing her forehead, holding Elias and Theo tightly against my chest. "I'm right here."
Ten minutes later, the front doors downstairs were kicked off their hinges with explosive force.
Heavy boots slammed up the stairs. Shouting, swearing, and the sounds of physical violence filled the halls as Antoine’s men cleared the remaining intruders.
The nursery door handle rattled violently.
"Della!" Antoine’s panicked voice roared from the hallway. "Della! Open the door!"
I stood up, holding Camille while Elias and Theo held onto my skirt. I pulled back the brass bolt and opened the door.
Antoine stood in the threshold. His suit coat was gone, his white shirt torn and stained with soot and blood, his face pale with sheer terror.
When he saw me standing there—holding his children, alive, safe, and unbroken—he dropped his gun to the floor.
He took two massive strides across the room and pulled all four of us into his arms.
He held us so tightly I could feel the violent, ragged pounding of his heart against my cheek. He buried his face in my hair, his chest heaving with heavy, shuddering gasps.
"I thought I lost you," he choked out, tears breaking through his cold mafia mask. "God help me, Della... I thought I lost you all."
"We're safe, Antoine," I whispered, holding his head against my shoulder. "I saved them. But now... it’s time to destroy Victor."
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I reached into my torn bodice and pulled out the small, sealed envelope containing the second micro-SD card—the one I had retrieved from the hidden camera’s recording box five minutes before the attack.
"He tried to steal his own tapes," I said, a dark smile touching my lips. "He forgot that I know how to watch the monitors."
