Chapter 4 - The Siege of Providence
The rain turned into a fierce storm as midnight approached, black clouds swallowing the moon, lightning flashing across the sky every few minutes.
Inside the estate, the lights were dimmed, but nobody was sleeping.
Jude had moved Audrey and Brinley into the safe room tucked behind the library wall—a reinforced concrete space equipped with independent air filtration, security monitors, and heavy steel locks.
"Stay inside until I come get you," Jude told Audrey, holding the heavy steel door open.
Brinley was sitting on a small cot inside, clutching a new stuffed bunny Jude had bought for her two days ago, her eyes sleepy. "Are you going to fight the bad men, Mr. Jude?"
Jude looked down at the little girl. He reached out his hand and patted her soft hair gently.
"No, sweetheart," Jude said softly. "I'm just going to tell them to leave."
He pulled the steel door shut, the heavy locks clicking into place with a thunderous sound.
Ten minutes later, the security monitors in Jude's study showed three dark SUVs mounting the curb outside the main iron gates. Using the passcodes Tristan had provided, the gates swung open smoothly, allowing the vehicles to roll quietly up the long stone driveway.
Twelve armed men dressed in dark tactical gear stepped out into the pouring rain, led by Lorenzo Moretti—a ruthless, ambitious Underboss from Boston who had been trying to expand his territory into Providence for a decade.
Lorenzo walked up the front steps, raising a heavy iron crowbar to smash the lock on the front oak doors.
Before the crowbar could make contact, the heavy doors swung open from the inside.
Jude Mercer stood in the grand foyer alone. He wore his black suit jacket, his hands resting casually in his pockets, completely unarmed. Behind him, standing along the upper balcony, were eight of his top security men, their weapons trained silently on the doorway below.
Lorenzo skidded to a halt, his men instantly raising their rifles.
"Mercer," Lorenzo sneered, wiping the rain from his eyes. "You should have checked your gate codes. Your little rat contractor sold you out."
"Tristan Wells is currently sitting in a concrete cell downstairs waiting for the FBI, Lorenzo," Jude said, his voice echoing calmly across the marble floor. "And your Cayman bank accounts were frozen thirty minutes ago by a court order I personally facilitated."
Lorenzo’s face darkened with rage. "You lie!"
"Check your phone," Jude suggested smoothly.
One of Lorenzo's lieutenants pulled out a satellite phone, checked the screen, and whispered frantically into Lorenzo's ear. Lorenzo’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief as the reality of the trap set in.
"You set this up," Lorenzo growled, his hand tightening around his pistol. "You knew we were coming."
"I always know," Jude said, taking a slow step forward down the marble steps. "You came to my house expecting to find a man trapped by his debt. Instead, you found a man who has nothing left to lose—and everything to protect."
"Kill him!" Lorenzo screamed.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Gunfire erupted through the grand foyer, deafening and bright. The heavy crystal chandelier above shattered into thousands of sparkling pieces, raining down onto the marble floor like ice.
Jude didn't flinch. He dropped behind the solid stone pillar as his men on the balcony opened fire, their suppressive shots forcing Lorenzo’s crew back out onto the front porch.
The battle was short, brutal, and precise. Within three minutes, seven of Lorenzo’s men were disarmed and pinned to the wet grass outside, while Lorenzo himself was slammed face-down onto the rain-slicked steps by Reggie Shaw, a heavy boot pressing into the back of his neck.
Jude walked out onto the porch, stepping over the broken glass and shell casings, his dark coat soaked by the falling rain. He stood over Lorenzo, looking down at his defeated rival with cold, absolute authority.
"This is my city, Lorenzo," Jude said, his voice cutting through the thunder rolling across the sky. "If you or any of your people ever set foot in Providence again, I won't call the federal authorities. Do you understand me?"
"I... I understand," Lorenzo choked out from the stone steps, trembling under Reggie's weight.
"Get them out of my sight," Jude ordered flatly.
As Reggie and the security detail cleared the driveway, loading the captured men into police vans that were already pulling up the street with silently flashing blue lights, Jude stood alone in the rain, looking up at the grand, stone house.
May you like
The house was no longer a prison. The dark windows were no longer empty.
He turned and walked back inside, stepping through the shattered glass in the foyer, heading straight toward the library to open the heavy steel door.
