Chapter 3 - The Siege of the EstateThe blast rattled the heavy glass windows of the master suite, sending a deep, guttural vibration echoing through the floorboards.
Nora jumped out of her chair, her heart plummeting into her stomach.
Dominic was moving before the echoes of the explosion had even faded. Ignoring the blinding agony in his right shoulder, he swung his broad legs off the bed, his face pale but carved from sheer, ruthless determination.
"Dominic! You can't get up!" Nora cried, rushing to his side, trying to push him back down. "Your shoulder—"
"Quiet!" Dominic snapped, his left arm clamping around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest as he reached beneath his pillow.
When his hand emerged, it held a sleek, heavy black semi-automatic pistol.
The bedroom door burst open. Leo rushed inside, a tactical assault rifle held across his chest, his face stained with soot and sweat.
"Vance's men breached the front gate!" Leo reported rapidly. "They used a magnetic breaching charge on the iron doors! They have at least twenty men coming up the main driveway!"
Dominic didn't flinch. His grip on Nora remained firm, shielding her body with his massive frame. "Where are my perimeter guards?"
"Engaging them in the lower gardens," Leo said. "We have ten minutes before they reach the main house. We need to move you to the panic cellar under the wine vault."
"No," Dominic said coldly. "If I hide in a hole, Vance takes the estate. We stand and fight."
"Dominic, you can barely stand!" Nora shouted, her hands pressing against his bare chest, feeling the frantic, powerful rhythm of his heartbeat. "If your wound reopens, you'll bleed to death in minutes!"
Dominic looked down at her. In the dim light of the room, surrounded by the growing sounds of gunfire outside, his icy gray eyes held a fierce, intoxicating heat.
"Then make sure it doesn't reopen, Hayes," Dominic growled.
He looked at Leo. "Get her to the safe room below the kitchen. Now."
"No!" Nora barked, her stubbornness flaring with absolute fury. "I'm not leaving you! You need medical support, and if you get shot again, who's going to patch you up? Leo?!"
Leo looked at Nora, then at Dominic, a faint, disbelieving smirk touching his lips. "She's got a point, Boss. And she's too stubborn to listen anyway."
Dominic let out a low, dark curse, but there was no time to argue.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Automatic gunfire erupted on the grand staircase directly outside the master suite. Shouts, crashing glass, and the smell of cordite smoke began pouring under the heavy oak doors.
"They're on the second floor!" Leo yelled, taking cover behind a thick mahogany wardrobe and raising his rifle.
Dominic pulled Nora behind the heavy marble pillar near the head of the bed. He pressed his back against the stone, his left arm raised, pointing his pistol at the entrance.
"Stay behind me," Dominic ordered, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying command. "If anyone comes through that door who isn't wearing a Rossi crest, you stay down."
The heavy oak doors were blown off their hinges with a deafening CRACK.
Three men in dark tactical gear burst into the room, their weapons raised.
Dominic didn't hesitate. BANG! BANG! BANG!
With terrifying, mechanical precision, operating entirely with his non-dominant left hand, Dominic dropped two of the attackers before they could clear the doorway. Leo’s rifle roared beside him, taking down the third.
Smoke filled the bedroom, thick and choking.
Nora crouched low behind Dominic, her ears ringing, her hands clamped over her head. But even amidst the sheer terror of the firefight, she couldn't take her eyes off the man standing in front of her.
Dominic was a monster of war. Despite his fever, despite the blood beginning to soak through his white bandages from the sheer strain of recoil, he moved with lethal, predatory grace. He wasn't just surviving; he was hunting.
"Vance!" Dominic’s voice boomed through the shattered doorway, echoing down the long, marble hallway like thunder. "Is that all you brought?! You come into my house to kill me, and you send boys?!"
A cruel, mocking laugh answered him from the hallway.
A tall, lean man stepped into the smoky doorway. He had slicked-back black hair, a sharp suit covered in a tactical vest, and a cruel scar running from his ear to his collarbone. Julian Vance.
"Hello, Dominic," Vance sneered, holding a heavy revolver. "You look terrible. The rumors were true—you're rotting alive in your own bed."
Vance’s eyes shifted past Dominic, landing directly on Nora crouching behind the marble pillar. A slow, sickening grin spread across his face.
"And who is this?" Vance drawled. "A new little plaything? I thought you didn't let anyone get close to you, Boss."
Dominic’s entire posture shifted. The cold, tactical calculation vanished, replaced by an absolute, primordial fury.
"If you look at her again, Vance," Dominic whispered, his voice so quiet and deadly the air seemed to stop moving, "I will cut your eyes out of your head."
"You won't get the chance," Vance spat, raising his revolver.
Before Vance could pull the trigger, Nora acted on pure, unadulterated instinct.
She reached out, grabbed a heavy, solid bronze statue of a gargoyle resting on the pedestal beside her, and hurled it with all her strength directly at Vance’s face.
The heavy bronze struck Vance squarely across the jaw with a sickening CRUNCH.
Vance stumbled backward, roaring in pain, his shot wildly clipping the ceiling plaster above them.
"Now, Dominic!" Nora screamed.
Dominic lunged forward like a striking cobra. He closed the distance, his left hand clamping onto Vance’s throat, driving the traitorous lieutenant backward out of the bedroom and slamming him violently into the marble balustrade of the grand staircase.
Vance gasped for air, dropping his revolver as Dominic’s fingers dug into his windpipe.
"You took my territory," Dominic growled into Vance’s bleeding face, his voice carrying the chill of the grave. "You shot me in the back. And then you threatened my nurse."
Dominic raised his heavy pistol, pressing the cold steel barrel directly beneath Vance’s jaw.
"Dominic, wait!" Leo called out, rushing out of the bedroom. "We need him alive to locate the rest of his cell!"
Dominic hesitated, his gray eyes burning with pure murder.
Nora stepped out of the bedroom, her face pale, covered in plaster dust, but her gaze locked onto Dominic.
"Dominic," Nora said softly, her voice cutting through the adrenaline and smoke. "Don't. Not like this."
Dominic looked over his shoulder at her. He saw the quiet plea in her green eyes—not fear of him, but a desire to pull him back from the abyss.
Dominic let out a low, ragged breath. He swung his pistol down, driving the heavy steel butt of the gun directly into Vance’s temple.
Vance went instantly limp, collapsing like a sack of stones onto the marble floor.
Outside, the heavy roar of armored vehicles echoed up the driveway. Dozens of Rossi syndicate enforcers—the loyalist reinforcements Leo had summoned—burst through the front doors below, securing the ground floor and taking Vance's remaining men into custody.
The siege was over.
Dominic stood at the top of the stairs, gasping for air. The sheer physical exertion finally took its toll—his knees buckled, and he swayed dangerously toward the edge of the balustrade.
"Dominic!" Nora cried out, sprinting across the landing.
She caught him just before he hit the floor, her smaller frame absorbing his massive weight as they both sank onto the marble steps.
Blood was pouring through his fresh bandages, staining her jacket and hands crimson once again.
"I told you..." Nora sobbed, her strength failing as she pressed her hands desperately against his shoulder wound, tears finally breaking through her tough exterior. "I told you your wound would reopen... you stubborn, idiot man..."
Dominic leaned his head back against her shoulder, his face pale as death, but a soft, breathtaking smile touched his blood-stained lips.
He reached up with a trembling left hand, his thumb gently brushing a tear off her cheek.
"I kept you safe, Hayes..." Dominic whispered hoarsely, his eyes fluttering shut. "That's... all that matters..."
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His hand fell limply to his side as he slipped into unconsciousness.
"Dominic! Dominic, stay with me!" Nora screamed, her voice echoing through the ruined mansion as she began frantically performing chest compressions. "Don't you dare die on me! You still owe me my rent!"
