Chapter 6 - Shadows in the Smoke
A sharp, hissing sound tore through the festive room, followed instantly by blinding, sulfurous white smoke.
Screams ripped through the air as women in evening gowns tumbled over chairs. Men shouted, drinks shattered on the hardwood, and the thick, blinding fog rolled like a tidal wave across the ceiling, choking the crystal chandeliers.
"Serena!" Matthias’s voice cried out in the confusion, but I dropped low to the ground instantly.
Basic trauma protocol: *Smoke rises. Protect the airway. Protect the child.*
I pressed my silk scarf over my nose and mouth, curling one arm defensively around my belly. The smoke burned my eyes, but I knew the layout of this estate better than any of them. I had supervised its interior renovations two summers ago.
I scrambled toward the secondary service corridor behind the dining room buffet.
Heavy, tactical boots pounded across the floor nearby.
"Find Dre!" a harsh voice barked with Eastern European cadence through the gloom. "Take the keys. Anyone who resists is collateral."
A loud gunshot cracked like thunder.
The grand crystal chandelier above the foyer shrieked as its support chain snapped, crashing to the marble floor in a catastrophic explosion of glass and iron.
Panic became deafening.
Suddenly, a hand clamped onto my shoulder. I twisted, ready to drive my heel into their knee, but Logan’s voice cut through the dark. "It’s me. Down here. Move!"
He hauled me through the narrow service door, kicking the bolt closed just as a volley of suppressed gunfire ripped through the drywall above our heads, showering our hair with white plaster dust.
We tumbled into the butler's pantry, breathing heavily in the dim light of the emergency exit signs.
"Matthias ran toward the basement," Logan wheezed, his shirt torn at the collar. "He left you behind, Serena. He bolted the second that canister popped."
My heart pounded, but there were no tears left for Matthias. "He's not running to hide. He's running to the vault. He told me the passkeys to the offshore funds are down there."
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"Then that’s where they’re heading," Logan said, his jaw tight. "And if they get those keys, they burn this entire house to the ground to erase the evidence."
***
