Chapter 5 - The Perimeter Breach
The crimson light pulsed rhythmically against the polished mahogany desk, casting long, frantic shadows across the room.
Dominic’s hand swept across the keyboard with practiced speed, bringing up the estate’s exterior security feed. The high-definition cameras mounted along the stone perimeter wall showed a convoy of three unmarked black SUVs ramming directly through the main iron gates, their headlights cutting blinding streaks through the morning fog.
“They found us,” Emma whispered, her breath catching in her throat.
“They didn't just find us,” Dominic said, his voice dropping into a lethal, icy calm. He pressed an intercom button on his console. “Ethan. Status.”
Static hissed through the speaker before Ethan’s voice cracked through, punctuated by the sharp, concussive pop of automatic gunfire in the background.
“We’re taking heavy fire at the north courtyard! They’ve breached the outer wall—it’s Richard’s private security detail! They knew the patrol rotations!”
Dominic’s jaw tightened so hard a muscle ticked in his cheek. Richard Kane. The cousin who had spent two years playing the loyal family member while quietly consolidating power over the Harbor City docks.
“Lock down the main house,” Dominic ordered, his fingers flying across the controls to activate the blast shutters over the ground-floor windows. “Get the staff into the subterranean safe room.”
“What about you?” Ethan shouted over the sound of breaking glass. “And the girl?”
Dominic looked up from the monitors. His eyes met Emma’s. There was no fear in her expression now—only a grim, resolute survival instinct that mirrored his own.
“We’re not going to the safe room,” Dominic said quietly. He unlocked the lower drawer of his desk, pulling out a heavy, matte-black Sig Sauer pistol and laying it across the mahogany surface next to the silver key. He looked at Emma, sliding the weapon across the wood toward her. “Can you shoot?”
Emma stared at the gun, then looked up at the man who commanded half of Harbor City from a wheelchair.
“I can learn,” she said, her voice steady.
May you like
Dominic nodded once, a spark of dangerous approval igniting in his dark eyes. “Good. Because Richard is about to find out that losing the ability to stand doesn't mean losing the ability to kill.”
The heavy steel door of the underground office shuddered as the first explosive charge detonated against the outer hallway wall.
