Chapter 5 - The Fight for the Threshold
With a sudden, explosive roar, Julian lunged forward, hurling the heavy iron wrench directly at the lead enforcer's chest.
The enforcer dodged instinctively, the heavy tool grazing his shoulder and shattering a ceramic lamp against the wall behind him. But the distraction was all Julian needed. He closed the distance in a heartbeat, driving his shoulder straight into the enforcer’s midsection and tackling him backward through the broken doorway out onto the porch.
The second enforcer drew a heavy-duty tactical flashlight from his belt and swung it viciously toward Julian’s head.
“Julian, watch out!” I screamed, grabbing a heavy wooden chair from the card table and smashing it down across the second enforcer’s back just as he swung.
The wood splintered into a dozen pieces, breaking the impact, but the enforcer stumbled forward, turning his angry glare away from Julian and locking his dark eyes directly onto me.
“You old bint,” the enforcer growled, his face twisting into a malicious snarl as he reached out, grabbing my wrist with a iron grip that sent a shockwave of pain shooting up my arm.
He wrenched my arm behind my back, using me as a human shield just as Julian scrambled back up the porch steps, his fists raised and ready to strike.
“Back off, Moretti! One step closer and I snap her wrist right now!” the enforcer yelled, pressing his forearm hard against my spine.
Julian froze, panting heavily, his eyes darting from the enforcer’s grip on my arm to the lead enforcer, who was slowly picking himself up off the gravel driveway with a bloody lip.
“Let her go,” Julian warned, his voice dropping into a register so dark and lethal it made even the enforcers hesitate. “If you touch her again, I swear to God I won't stop until you're both breathing through tubes.”
“Drop the act, Moretti,” the lead enforcer wheezed, wiping blood from his mouth as he stepped back onto the porch. He reached into his suit pocket, pulled out a small electronic key fob, and clicked it twice.
From the dark alleyway behind their parked sedan, the rear door of a black utility van slowly slid open.
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Inside the back of the van sat a row of glowing monitors and a portable medical bassinet covered by a dark thermal blanket—the exact bassinet Julian had left locked inside his bedroom just thirty minutes ago.
My breath caught in my throat. They hadn't just forged paperwork; while we were driving out here, someone had broken into our house and taken her.
