Chapter 5 - The Siege of the Estate
The power cut instantly plunged the thirty-room mansion into pitch blackness, save for the pale moonlight streaming through the grand arch windows. Red emergency backup lights flickered to life along the baseboards, casting long, crimson shadows across the marble floors.
Adrian moved through the dark halls like a phantom. He had lived in this house for twenty years; he knew every corner, every squeaking floorboard, every angle of cover. In his hands, he held a silenced assault rifle, his mind clear and deadly.
Down in the main foyer, the grand oak doors were blown inward by a breaching charge. Dust and wood splinters filled the air as six heavily armed mercenaries dressed in tactical gear poured into the house.
"Spread out!" the mercenary leader barked in a low voice. "Find the woman and the kid! Vance wants them alive! Kill Moretti on sight!"
Hidden on the second-floor balcony above them, Adrian listened. A cold, predatory smile touched his lips. They came for Sofia. Vance thought he could use her as leverage. He had underestimated how far Adrian would go to protect the only light that had entered his dark world in three years.
Adrian fired three controlled bursts from the shadows.
Three mercenaries dropped instantly before the remaining men even realized where the shots were coming from. Panic erupted in the foyer as the intruders scrambled for cover behind the marble pillars.
"He’s on the balcony!" a mercenary screamed, blind-firing upward.
Adrian rolled back into the darkness of the corridor, dropping an flashbang grenade over the railing. A blinding burst of white light and a deafening boom echoed through the foyer, disorienting the remaining attackers. Adrian moved in with ruthless efficiency, eliminating the threat in less than two minutes.
Silence returned to the grand hall, broken only by the heavy thump of falling snow against the high windows outside.
Adrian checked the perimeter, his radio buzzing to life. "Boss, this is Mateo. We cleared the driveway. The rest of Vance's team is retreating in two vans. But boss... one of their vehicles bypassed us! They’re heading toward the lake house behind the property!"
Adrian’s blood ran cold. The lake house was where the auxiliary power generator and the safe room ventilation systems were controlled.
He didn't wait for backup. Adrian ran down the grand staircase and sprinted through the kitchen wing toward the rear estate doors, stepping out into the freezing night air.
The snow was falling heavily now, blanketing the manicured gardens in white. Near the lake house, a dark figure was crouched near the generator box, setting a timed explosive designed to trigger the fire suppression system inside the main house—a system that would flood the library safe room with deadly carbon dioxide gas.
Adrian raised his rifle. "Freeze."
The figure turned slowly, raising his hands. The moonlight caught the man's face, revealing not a mercenary, but a familiar face in a tactical vest—Charles Bennett's younger assistant, Lucas, whom Adrian had hired six months ago.
"Lucas?" Adrian said, his voice dropping in disbelief.
"I’m sorry, Don Moretti," Lucas stammered, trembling in the cold. "Vance has my sister. He told me if I didn't open the southern gate and disable the safe room vents, he would kill her! I had no choice!"
"There is always a choice," Adrian said softly, his heart heavy with the bitter pain of betrayal. "You put a three-year-old child's life in danger."
"Please, Don Moretti! Don't shoot!" Lucas begged, dropping to his knees in the snow. "I can give you Vance! I know where he’s hiding tonight! He’s at the old grain silo near the docks—he’s waiting for his men to bring you the widow!"
Adrian stared at the young man for a long, agonizing moment. In the old days, he would have ended Lucas's life without a second thought. Treason was punished by death in his world.
But as he looked at Lucas, he thought of Emma, sitting in the dark safe room, hugging her rag doll. He thought of the endless cycle of violence that had stolen his own family and Sofia's husband.
Adrian lowered his rifle slightly. "Remove the charge from the generator."
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Lucas blinked away tears. "S-Sir?"
"Remove the charge," Adrian repeated coldly. "Then you are going to call Dominick Vance. You are going to tell him the operation was a success... and that Don Moretti is coming to meet him."
