Chapter 7 - The Siege of Vance Manor
The panic room was silent, lined with surveillance monitors displaying high-definition feeds of the entire property.
I sat on the reinforced floor with Lily gathered in my lap, her hands over her ears as the dull, rhythmic thuds of distant gunfire echoed through the mansion's concrete foundations. On the monitors, I watched an army of shadows move through the estate gardens.
Don Moretti’s men were armed with submachine guns, moving in three tactical teams toward the grand front entrance. They assumed they had the element of surprise.
They were wrong.
The courtyard floodlights snapped on with the blinding intensity of a miniature sun. The automated perimeter defenses—remotely operated by Gabriel’s inner guard—tore through the lead vehicles before the men inside could even deploy.
Then I saw Gabriel.
He moved through the marble colonnade not like a mob boss in an expensive suit, but like a phantom born of smoke and lead. He didn't take cover; he controlled the terrain. Every round fired from his rifle was deliberate, dropping Moretti’s high-priced mercenaries before they could cross the fountain courtyard.
On the third camera, I saw Vanessa.
She had managed to slip her guards during the chaos—likely using a hidden servant staircase she knew from her months living here. She appeared on the second-floor mezzanine, her designer gown torn at the hem, her hair wild with panic. In her hand, she clutched a chrome semiautomatic pistol.
She was running straight toward the master wing. Toward Lily and me.
My heart stopped. She wasn't trying to escape. She wanted to eliminate the witnesses before Gabriel wiped out her father’s crew.
"Lily, stay behind this bench," I whispered, my voice trembling with an adrenaline surge I had never felt before in my life.
"Mommy?" Lily cried, her big eyes wide with terror.
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"Stay down, sweetheart. Mommy will be right back."
I grabbed the heavy steel fire extinguisher mounted to the wall inside the panic room airlock. I stepped through the first door, leaving the inner safe door locked, and waited in the shadow of the closet entryway.
