Chapter 5 - Breach of the Gates
"Stay down!" Vincent roared, shoving me behind a heavy oak pillar as the sound of shattering glass echoed through the foyer below.
Smoke billowed up from the grand entrance. Shouts, the harsh barking of guard dogs, and the terrifying, rhythmic rat-a-tat of automatic gunfire erupted from the lower level. The Falcone family hadn't just sent scouts; they had launched a full-scale assault on the compound.
"Noah!" I screamed, remembering the boy in the garden. "Where is Noah?"
"Secured in the panic room with Mrs. Gable," Vincent snapped, pulling a heavy, suppressed pistol from a concealed holster beneath his jacket. He checked the magazine with cold, practiced precision. His face was a mask of icy fury—a man whose world had been threatened, and who was ready to slaughter anyone who stood in his way.
"You need to stay in this hallway," Vincent ordered, pressing me flat against the stone wall behind the pillar. "If anyone comes up these stairs, you shoot. Do you understand?"
"I don't know how to use a gun!" I cried, my voice trembling as the sound of gunfire grew louder, echoing up the grand staircase.
Vincent grabbed my chin with his free hand, forcing me to look directly into his fierce, unyielding eyes.
"Survival isn't about knowing how to fight, Maya," he whispered fiercely, his face inches from mine. "It's about refusing to die. Stay here."
Before I could answer, he turned and sprinted down the hallway toward the smoke-filled stairwell, vanishing into the chaos of flashing muzzle bursts and shouting men.
I crouched behind the pillar, my breath coming in ragged gasps, listening to the horrifying sounds of war echoing through the mansion I had thought was a fortress. The air smelled of cordite, burning wood, and fresh blood.
Heavy footfalls pounded up the stairs. Someone—or multiple people—had breached the main defense line.
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I flattened myself against the wall, my heart hammering violently against my ribs, as a dark, armed silhouette rounded the top of the staircase and began scanning the hallway, stepping directly toward my hiding place.
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