Chapter 6 - Under Siege
“Get down!” Dominic roared, tackling Clara to the floor as a second explosion rocked the front gates of the estate.
The kitchen lights died, plunging the mansion into darkness, save for the eerie orange glow of flames outside. The screech of tires and the rapid pop-pop-pop of automatic gunfire echoed from the driveway.
Clara’s ears were ringing. She felt the heavy weight of Dominic shielding her body with his own, his suit covered in shattered glass.
“Noah!” Clara screamed, panic seizing her chest. “Where is Noah?!”
Dominic was already on his feet, pulling a heavy Glock from a hidden holster at his waist. His face was a mask of cold, lethal focus. The businessman was gone; the mob boss had fully awakened.
“He’s in the panic room attached to the playroom,” Dominic said rapidly, pulling Clara up by her arm. “Stay behind me. Do not let go of my belt.”
They moved through the dark corridors. The mansion, usually so pristine and quiet, was now a war zone. Guards in tactical gear rushed past them, returning fire through shattered windows. The smell of sulfur and burning rubber choked the air.
“They panicked when Hargrove stopped responding,” Dominic muttered as they crouched behind a marble pillar in the main hall. “The Morettis know I’ll wipe their bloodline off the map for what they did to Elena. This is a desperate hit.”
Bullets chipped away at the marble above their heads, raining white dust over them.
Clara was terrified, but the thought of little Noah alone in the dark fueled a surge of adrenaline. They made it to the East Corridor. The heavy wooden doors of the playroom had been blown off their hinges.
Dominic swept the room with his gun. It was empty. He rushed to the back wall and pushed aside a heavy bookshelf, revealing a steel door. He punched in a code on the keypad. A red light flashed. Access Denied.
Dominic cursed violently. “The blast damaged the electrical grid. The biometric scanner is fried.”
Clara pushed past him, pounding her fists against the cold steel. “Noah! Noah, sweetie, are you in there?!”
For a moment, there was only the sound of gunfire outside. Then, a small, muffled voice came through the heavy steel. “C-Clara?”
Tears sprang to Clara’s eyes. It was only his second word in two years, and it was her name. “Yes, baby! I’m here. Your dad is here.”
“Dad?” Noah’s voice trembled.
Dominic dropped to his knees, pressing his face to the door. “I’m here, buddy. I’m right here. I’m going to get you out.”
“It’s dark,” Noah whimpered.
“I know, I know,” Dominic said, his voice cracking with a desperation Clara had never heard from him. He turned to her, his eyes wild. “The manual override is in the security hub in the basement. I have to go down there. But the main hall is swarming with Moretti’s men.”
“Go,” Clara said fiercely, pressing herself against the steel door to stay close to Noah. “I’ll stay with him. I won’t leave him.”
Dominic hesitated, looking at this brave, broken girl who had walked into his nightmare and refused to flinch. He reached out, cupping her cheek with a rough, calloused hand. “If anyone comes through those playroom doors,” Dominic said softly, handing her a spare pistol from his ankle holster. “You point it at their chest, and you don’t stop pulling the trigger until it clicks empty. Understand?”
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Clara took the heavy, cold metal in her trembling hands. She nodded.
Dominic stood up, his eyes burning with a promise of violence for anyone who stood in his way. He vanished into the dark hallway, leaving Clara alone in the shadows, guarding a boy she had known for less than a week, but whom she was now willing to die for.
