Chapter 8 - DARKNESS IN THE WAREHOUSEPitch blackness swallowed the room.
The single overhead bulb exploded in a shower of white sparks.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Chaos erupted instantly.
Shouts echoed off the concrete walls.
I felt myself being shoved violently to the side as the guard holding me lost his grip.
I hit the floor hard, rolling behind a concrete pillar just as bullets ricocheted off the stone inches from my head.
“Secure the perimeter!” someone yelled in the dark.
It wasn't Viktor’s men.
It was Daniel’s voice.
Flashes of muzzle fire lit up the warehouse like strobe lights.
I covered my head, curling into a tight ball as the deafening roar of automatic weapons filled the air.
Then, silence returned as abruptly as it had broken.
Only the sound of heavy rain hitting the roof remained.
“Vance!” Gabriel’s voice cut through the dark.
A flashlight beam cut across the warehouse floor.
Then another.
Then the backup emergency lights clicked on, casting an eerie red glow over the room.
Viktor Vance was nowhere to be seen.
His guards were scattered across the floor, disarmed and unconscious.
Gabriel walked out from the shadows, his hands steady, his eyes scanning every corner of the room.
He spotted me behind the pillar and hurried over.
“Hannah! Are you hurt?”
He dropped to one knee, pulling me up by my arms.
“I’m... I’m okay,” I breathed, trembling uncontrollably.
“Just shaken up.”
Gabriel pulled me into a fierce, protective embrace.
For a second, the mafia boss facade vanished completely.
“I told you not to come alone,” I whispered against his shoulder.
“I didn't come alone,” Gabriel said, pulling back with a grim smile.
He pointed up toward the steel rafters.
Daniel and three other armed men were lowering themselves down on ropes.
“Daniel tracked the GPS on my watch the moment you gave the signal,” Gabriel explained.
“The red door. Brilliant thinking.”
“It was the only thing I could think of,” I admitted, leaning against the concrete pillar for support.
“Where is Viktor?” Gabriel asked, looking around the room.
“He ran toward the back exit,” I pointed toward a rusted side door leading to the docks.
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Daniel, secure the area. Search the docks.”
“On it, Boss,” Daniel barked, motioning his men toward the exit.
Gabriel turned back to me.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going home, Hannah.”
Back at the DeLuca estate, the atmosphere was entirely different.
The mansion was brightly lit.
Sophie was waiting in the foyer.
When she saw us walk through the front doors, she didn't sign anything.
She just ran across the marble floor and threw her arms around Gabriel’s waist, then turned and hugged me so hard I nearly lost my balance.
Are you okay? she signed rapidly, looking up at me with wide, worried eyes.
I’m fine, sweetheart, I signed back, smiling through my exhaustion.
Bad people gone?
Gone, Gabriel answered aloud, gently resting his hand on her head.
“Go to bed, Sophie. Mrs. Gable is waiting for you.”
Sophie nodded, kissed her father’s cheek, and walked upstairs with Mrs. Gable.
Gabriel watched her go until she disappeared around the corner.
Then he turned to me.
“You saved my life tonight, Hannah.”
“You saved mine first,” I reminded him.
Gabriel walked over to the mahogany desk in his study, unlocked the top drawer, and pulled out the green folder we had fought so hard to protect.
He opened it.
He pulled out a single sheet of paper.
His face turned completely white.
“What is it?” I asked, stepping closer.
Gabriel handed the paper to me.
It was a bank transfer receipt dated four years ago.
From Viktor Vance’s corporate account.
May you like
To the doctor who had signed Sophie’s mother’s death certificate.
[CLIFFHANGER: AS HANNAH READS THE DOCUMENT, THE HOUSE PHONE RINGS—A DIRECT CALL FROM ISABELLA MARCONI WITH A TERRIFYING ULTIMATUM.]
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