Chapter 4 - THE FRONT GATE AMBUSH
Glass shattered across the foyer as the shockwave hit the back quarters.
Alarms wailed instantly, piercing the Chicago night with blinding red emergency strobes.
Luca’s hand dropped from my face.
In a fraction of a second, the gentle employer vanished.
The mafia boss emerged.
His hand slid beneath his jacket, drawing a heavy Beretta with practiced, lethal speed.
“Stay under this table!” Luca roared over the deafening sirens.
“Don't move a muscle, Emma!”
“Luca!” I screamed as he sprinted toward the main hallway.
Heavy boots pounded against the hardwood floors outside.
Gunshots cracked through the estate like thunderclaps.
Pop-pop-pop.
Silence followed, broken only by the hiss of a sprinkler system activating overhead.
My hands covered my head as water mixed with soot began to drip from the ceiling vents.
Footsteps approached the kitchen entrance with terrifying speed.
Shadows flickered against the tiled wall.
Someone was coming.
Someone wearing heavy tactical boots.
I curled into a tighter ball beneath the prep table, my nails digging into my palms until skin broke.
A tall silhouette blocked the doorway.
A gloved hand gripped a suppressed automatic pistol.
The intruder scanned the kitchen, boots stepping onto the slick, wet floor.
My heart hammered so loudly I was certain the man could hear it.
*Thump. Thump. Thump.*
The silhouette crouched, peering directly beneath the metal table.
Cold blue eyes locked onto mine through the darkness.
A sickening grin spread across the masked man's face.
He raised the barrel of the gun directly toward my forehead.
“Found the little maid,” a raspy voice hissed.
I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact.
Suddenly, a heavy thud echoed behind the intruder.
A powerful arm wrapped around the masked man's throat in a vicious chokehold.
Bones cracked with a sickening snap.
The intruder slumped forward, collapsing lifelessly onto the kitchen floor.
Luca stood above the body, wiping blood from his knuckles.
His shirt was torn at the shoulder, a shallow graze bleeding darkly across his white fabric.
“You okay?” Luca panted, his chest heaving.
I nodded frantically, unable to speak, my voice trapped in my throat.
Luca grabbed my arm and hoisted me to my feet with terrifying strength.
“We have to move,” he said, scanning the dark corridor.
“They breached the perimeter. Bellini sent an extraction team.”
“Extraction for what?” I gasped, stumbling beside him.
“For the document Anthony gave me,” Luca snarled, pushing open a hidden panel behind the pantry shelving.
“And for anyone who saw it.”
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We plunged into total darkness inside the secret concrete tunnel.
The heavy panel clicked shut behind us, cutting off the alarms and plunging us into absolute, suffocating mystery.
