Chapter 8 - The Breach
The radio tumbled from my hand, clattering across the floorboards as the second gunman pinned my shoulders to the heavy desk. His grip was like iron, his dark eyes glinting maliciously beneath his hood in the red glow of the emergency lights.
"Found her," he grunted, pressing the cold, cylindrical barrel of his silenced pistol directly against the side of my neck. "Smart little maid. But not smart enough."
Terror, hot and sharp, exploded through my veins. But right behind the terror came a fierce, blinding instinct to survive—to get back to Mia, to protect the life we had just built.
Before the gunman could pull the trigger, I brought my heavy leather heel down with all the force in my body directly onto his instep.
"Gah!" he hissed in pain, his weight shifting slightly.
I grabbed a heavy bronze desk lamp resting beside my hand and swung it backward with everything I had. The heavy metal base slammed directly into the side of his face.
The man stumbled back, cursing bloodily, his grip slipping from my coat.
I didn't hesitate. I shoved him hard into a stack of heavy wooden chairs, turning and sprinting out of the archive room as fast as my legs could carry me, screaming into the dimly lit corridor:
"ALESSANDRO!"
The first gunman was fifty feet down the hallway. He turned, raising his weapon toward me.
THUD-THUD!
Two suppressed shots whizzed past my ear, embedding themselves into the plaster wall behind me with sharp, popping cracks.
I dove behind a stone pillar just as the heavy oak doors at the end of the grand corridor blew open with a deafening crash.
A dark shadow exploded into the hallway.
It was Nero.
The massive Doberman charged down the polished floor like a black missile, his teeth bared, letting out a terrifying sound that shook the very glass in the windows.
Right behind the dog came Don Alessandro Conti.
He wasn't wearing his suit jacket. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his dark eyes burning with an absolute, apocalyptic rage that terrified me far more than the gunmen had. In his right hand, he held a sleek black tactical pistol.
"GET BEHIND ME!" Alessandro roared, his voice echoing like thunder through the long hallway.
Nero launched himself through the air, slamming into the first gunman, bringing the man down to the floor in a flurry of screams and thrashing limbs.
The second gunman rushed out of the archive room, raising his weapon toward Alessandro.
Alessandro didn't even slow his stride. He raised his arm with icy, surgical precision.
BANG! BANG!
Two loud, unsuppressed gunshots tore through the hallway air. The second gunman collapsed instantly to the floor, motionless.
Alessandro reached my stone pillar in two long strides, grabbing my waist with his left arm, pulling me fiercely against his chest, shielding my body with his own as Dom and four heavily armed estate guards swept past us, securing the hall and pulling Nero off the wounded intruder.
"Are you hit?" Alessandro demanded, his hands framing my face, his gray eyes searching every inch of my skin with frantic, terrifying intensity. "Nora! Look at me! Are you hurt?"
"I... I'm okay," I gasped, trembling violently in his arms, my face buried in his warm neck, smelling rain, gunpowder, and his dark cologne. "Mia... is Mia safe?"
"Mia is secure in the safe room with Dom's men," Alessandro breathed, his grip on my waist tightening until I could barely breathe, his heart pounding violently against his ribs. "She is unharmed. I swear it to you."
He rested his forehead against mine, his hot breath brushing over my lips. "You foolish, brave woman... you fought them off alone."
"They were coming for the shipping files," I whispered, holding onto his shirt sleeves. "They said Moretti sent them."
Alessandro stood tall, keeping one arm wrapped securely around my shoulders, holding me close against his hip as Dom walked back toward us, wiping a blood smear from his hand.
"The perimeter is clear, Don Alessandro," Dom reported grimly. "Three intruders down. They bypassed the north gate using Greta's old security codes."
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Alessandro looked down at the dead intruder lying near the archive door, his face turning into a mask of pure, absolute vengeance.
"Call the captains," Alessandro ordered, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying growl that chilled my very blood. "Mobilize every soldier in the syndicate. Tonight, we wipe the Moretti family off the map."
