Chapter 3 - Breach at the Estate
The automated security lights across the estate flickered and died, plunging the grand foyer into sudden, heavy shadow. Emergency red auxiliary beacons clicked on overhead, casting a bloody glow across the marble floors.
"Stay here," Dante ordered, drawing a heavy automatic pistol from his shoulder holster with fluid, practiced ease.
"Not a chance," Ruby said, grabbing a heavy brass fireplace poker from the hearth. "I’m not sitting duck while your corporate enemies sort out their disputes."
Dante didn't argue. He grabbed her arm, pulling her low behind a massive stone pillar as a volley of suppressed rounds chewed through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors at the front entrance. Shards of crystal rained down like jagged hail.
Frank Calder materialized from the corridor, blood dripping from a shallow graze on his temple. "Boss! They bypassed the perimeter sensors. It’s not an external hit—the electronic override codes came from the terminal in Marcus’s private office."
"Where is Marcus?" Dante demanded, his voice chillingly calm.
"Gone," Frank panted, reloading his weapon. "He cleaned out the server vaults ten minutes ago and headed for the private docks. But that's not all. They didn't just come to hit the house, Dante. They came for the boy. The rival syndicate knows Leo’s medical records; they know he's the sole heir."
Ruby’s breath hitched. She thought of Leo sleeping upstairs in the east wing. The estate's internal panic room was located on the ground floor, but the hallway leading to it was currently exposed to the main foyer where the mercenaries were spraying blind fire.
"We can't go through the hall," Ruby whispered quickly. "When I was brought in through the service entrance this morning, I noticed the old dumbwaiter shaft behind the kitchen pantry. It runs from the basement straight up to the second-floor nursery."
Dante looked at her, surprise flickering across his hardened features. "That shaft hasn't been used in thirty years. It's narrow."
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"I'm small enough," Ruby said fiercely. "And so is Leo. Cover me."
Before Dante could object, Ruby scrambled low across the floor, darting through the swinging mahogany doors into the sprawling industrial kitchen.
