Chapter 9 - the leak in the house
Before Adrien could inspect the pendant, the estate's external security alarms shrieked through the house.
Marco ran back into the room, his phone in hand. "Boss, the gate cameras just went black. Three tactical vans just pulled up the driveway. Professional hit squad."
Julian’s face went white. "Marcus... he put a tracker in my coat!"
Adrien grabbed Julian by the collar and shoved him toward Marco. "Get him and Lena down to the cellar escape tunnel. Now!"
"Adrien, I'm not leaving you!" Lena shouted, grabbing his arm. Her fear had turned into pure, fiery defiance. "They want the pendant. If I run, they’ll bring the whole building down on you!"
"You run because you're a Viscari," Adrien said fiercely, his hand cupping the side of her face. "And we don't die in dark rooms."
He shoved her toward Marco. Marco pulled Lena down the servant staircase just as automatic gunfire shattered the front parlor windows below. Glass rained onto the hardwood floors.
Adrien moved like a phantom through the darkened second-floor corridor, firing two controlled shots through the balustrade, dropping two masked gunmen advancing up the grand stairs. He threw a smoke grenade into the foyer, turning the grand hall into a blind maze.
In the cellar below, Marco kicked open the rusted iron gate of the old bootlegger tunnel. Julian stumbled ahead of them into the damp darkness.
Lena looked back through the iron bars just as a figure emerged from the cellar stairs behind them.
It wasn't a mercenary.
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It was Marcus Blake, his dark suit covered in rain, holding a silenced pistol. Standing beside him was Vincent Rossi—Adrien’s chief financial advisor and one of his most trusted men.
"End of the road, Lena," Marcus sneered, leveling the gun at Marco's head. "Hand over the pendant, or your protector dies first."
