Chapter 7 - The Breach
The peace lasted until two o'clock on Friday morning.
Nora was asleep in her bedroom when the deafening sound of an explosion rocked the estate.
The floor shook violently. Glass shattered in the hallway outside. Red emergency lights began flashing beneath her bedroom door, accompanied by the piercing blare of security sirens and the sudden, rhythmic rattle of heavy gunfire downstairs.
Nora sat up instantly, her heart slamming against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Before she could leap out of bed, her bedroom door was kicked open.
Silas burst into the room. He was wearing black tactical gear, a heavy rifle slung across his chest, his face dark with cold, deadly focus.
“Silas!” Nora cried out, sliding off the bed.
He sprinted across the room, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her behind a heavy mahogany wardrobe just as a volley of bullets shattered the bedroom windows, raining glass down onto the rug.
“Moretti bought one of my gate guards,” Silas growled out, his voice razor-sharp over the roar of gunfire below. “They bypassed the perimeter sensors!”
“How many are there?” Nora asked, her voice trembling despite her best efforts.
“Too many,” Silas said, turning his head to look at her.
He reached into his tactical vest, pulling out a small, sleek black pistol and pressing it into her hands. He wrapped her fingers firmly around the grip.
“Safety is off,” Silas instructed rapidly, pointing to a small lever near the trigger. “Point and pull. Don't hesitate. If anyone who isn't me or Viktor opens that door, shoot them.”
Nora looked at the heavy steel weapon in her hands, her heart pounding frantically. “Silas, no! I can't leave you!”
Silas took her face in both of his broad hands, kissing her lips with a sudden, fierce, hungry intensity that took the breath straight out of her lungs.
It was a kiss filled with raw desperation, unspoken promises, and lethal passion.
He pulled back, his icy blue eyes burning into hers. “I’m taking you to the safe room down the secret corridor. Viktor is waiting there. You stay inside until I come get you.”
“Promise me you’ll come back,” Nora demanded, tears spilling over her lashes. “Promise me!”
“I built this fortress to keep you safe, Nora,” Silas whispered softly, kissing her forehead. “I’m not dying tonight.”
He grabbed her hand, leading her rapidly out of the room down a hidden stone passage concealed behind a bookshelf in the study.
At the end of the narrow corridor stood Viktor, holding an automatic shotgun, blood running down his scar from a grazing bullet wound.
“Boss!” Viktor barked out. “Moretti himself is in the main hall! He’s brought twenty hitters!”
“Get her inside the vault, Viktor,” Silas commanded, shoving Nora gently into the reinforced steel room. “Lock it from the inside.”
“Silas!” Nora screamed as the heavy steel vault door began to swing shut.
Silas stood in the narrow stone corridor, racking the slide of his tactical rifle, offering her one final, cool, dark smile.
May you like
“I’ll see you for breakfast, Doctor Caldwell,” Silas said smoothly.
The heavy steel door slammed shut with a deafening hydraulic hiss, locking them inside the dark, concrete room.
