Chapter 7 - THE BLACKOUT
Emergency generators kicked in three seconds later.
Flickering amber lights illuminated the grand foyer.
Smoke drifted in through the shattered front windows.
"Ambush!" Sal yelled, drawing a service pistol from his coat.
"Get the boy!" Luca ordered, his voice cutting through the panic.
I didn't hesitate.
I scooped Leo up into my arms, pressing his face into my shoulder.
"Hold onto me tight, sweetie," I whispered.
Bullets began shattering the remaining glass panels of the front doors.
Splinters rained down like wooden shrapnel.
Mr. Bellini scrambled across the floor, crawling toward the hallway.
Vanessa screamed, clutching her head as she ducked behind a marble pillar.
Luca drew his own firearm from a shoulder holster.
He moved with terrifying, fluid precision.
Years of surviving assassination attempts had turned him into a weapon.
"Sal, take Emma and the boy down to the panic room," Luca barked, firing two precise shots toward the shattered doorway.
A muffled cry echoed from outside on the porch.
"I'm not leaving you, kid!" Sal shouted back over the gunfire.
"That's an order!" Luca roared.
Sal grabbed my elbow.
"Move, Miss Emma! Now!"
We dashed toward the back of the mansion, away from the foyer.
Footsteps echoed from the second-floor balcony.
Intruders had scaled the rear trellis.
They were already inside.
We ducked behind a heavy mahogany sideboard as a volley of submachine gun fire chewed up the wall above us.
Plaster rained down on our hair.
Leo cried out softly, burying his face in my neck.
"I've got you," I whispered, my own tears mixing with the dust.
Sal kicked open a concealed door behind the pantry.
A dark staircase descended into the foundation of the house.
The panic room.
We tumbled down the steps just as heavy boots thudded across the kitchen floor above.
Sal slammed the heavy steel door shut and spun the combination lock.
Click.
Clack.
We were locked in the vault.
Safe for the moment.
May you like
But Luca was still out there in the dark.
[CLIFFHANGER: As the heavy steel door sealed shut, the security monitor on the vault wall flickered to life—showing Luca cornered in the study by three masked gunmen.]
