Chapter 4 - the breach at midnight
Silas Moretti’s face drained of color, but he recovered his composure with alarming speed, letting out a dry, bitter laugh.
"Leo Rossi was a low-level worker who poked his nose where it didn't belong, Damon!" Silas sneered, discarding his polite mask completely. "Your father built this shipping empire on power and force! You became soft when you took over, trying to turn our syndicate into a legitimate corporate enterprise!"
"My father built a business, Silas," Damon growled, his gray-blue eyes flashing with lethal fury. "You turned it into a blood trade."
Before Damon could take a step forward, the heavy glass windows of the library exploded inward in a shower of sharp fragments.
Red laser sight dots cut through the darkness as four heavily armed mercenaries in dark tactical gear dropped down from the balcony above, raising suppressed automatic rifles.
Dante Russo stepped through the shattered window frame, pointing his sidearm directly at Damon’s chest.
"I'm sorry, Boss," Dante said, his voice cold and emotionless. "Silas pays better."
Damon didn't flinch. He stood tall in his black suit, his towering frame unyielding despite the six weapons pointed at his heart.
"You brought mercenaries into my home, Dante?" Damon asked softly.
"We came for the key to Vault Fourteen, Damon," Silas spat, stepping behind Dante. "Hand over the key and tell us where the maid and her child are hiding, or we tear this house apart room by room."
Damon’s jaw set into a hard, dangerous line. A dark, terrifying smile touched his lips beneath his thick beard.
"You made a mistake coming into my house, Silas," Damon whispered.
In a single fluid motion, Damon reached under his black suit jacket, pulled his heavy tactical sidearm, and fired two precise rounds into the ceiling chandeliers.
The massive crystal fixtures plummeted to the marble floor, plunging the library into total darkness as the electric lines severed in a burst of blinding sparks.
Gunfire erupted through the darkness, but Damon moved like a silent predator. He cleared the room in three fast strides, taking down two mercenaries in hand-to-hand combat before bursting through the library doors into the corridor.
He sprinted up the grand staircase toward the third-floor guest suite, his heart pounding with a fierce, protective urgency.
He reached the master suite doors just as two of Silas’s mercenaries were preparing to breach the lock with a tactical charge.
Damon fired two controlled bursts, dropping both mercenaries onto the carpet.
He kicked the suite door open. Inside, Alina stood near the bed, holding Mia tightly against her chest, her dark eyes wide with terror as she held a heavy brass candlestick as a weapon.
Damon stepped into the room, closing the heavy steel-reinforced door behind him and throwing the deadbolt lock.
"Damon!" Alina gasped, running to his side. "Are you alright?"
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"I'm fine," Damon wheezed softly, wiping a speck of dust from his forehead. He looked down at three-year-old Mia, who looked up at him with wide, fearless eyes.
"We are leaving through the private subterranean tunnel," Damon said, taking Alina’s hand into his large, warm grip. "We are going to Vault Fourteen tonight."
