Chapter 4 - The Strike in the Storm
Red emergency lights flashed in the hallway outside the nursery. The piercing wail of the estate’s security breach alarm echoed through the high ceilings.
Instantly, the emotional warmth in the room vanished, replaced by cold, deadly adrenaline. Gabriel’s hand dropped from Emma’s face, his posture snapping into that of a seasoned commander.
"Stay here," Gabriel commanded, his voice turning to steel.
The door burst open, and Marco, his security chief, rushed in with his firearm drawn, his face pale.
"Don Gabriel! They breached the south perimeter!" Marco yelled over the siren. "It’s Valenti’s men! A convoy rammed the rear gates during the thunderburst. They’re inside the ground floor!"
"Traitor in the guard house?" Gabriel demanded, stepping in front of Emma and the girls.
"Jonathan Hail," Marco spit out with bitter rage. "Your lawyer... he opened the security override from the gate control room. He sold us out to Valenti."
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure fury. Jonathan. The man who had convinced him to install the cameras. The man who knew every layout of the house.
"Take Emma and the girls to the panic room behind my office," Gabriel ordered Marco. "Now!"
"No, Don Gabriel! My duty is to protect you—"
"Your duty is to protect my daughters!" Gabriel roared, pulling a sleek black semi-automatic pistol from a hidden holster inside his suit jacket. "Move!"
Gabriel turned to Emma. She was terrified, her face pale, holding both Sophia and Lily tightly in her arms.
"Emma," Gabriel said, gripping her shoulder firmly. "Look at me."
Emma raised her eyes to his.
"Trust Marco. Get to the safe room. I will end this."
"Gabriel... please be careful," Emma cried out, her voice laced with raw, undeniable worry for him.
Gabriel gave her a tight, fierce nod, then turned and charged out into the hallway toward the grand staircase.
Gunfire erupted from the foyer below—sharp, deafening cracks echoing through the marble halls.
Marco led Emma and the children down a side corridor toward Gabriel’s top-floor office. Emma held both toddlers tightly against her chest, her arms aching, but her fear for their safety gave her superhuman strength.
Suddenly, a loud blast shattered the door at the end of the hallway. Two heavy-set men in dark tactical gear burst through, holding assault rifles.
"Target acquired!" one of them yelled.
Marco pushed Emma behind a heavy stone pillar. "Get inside the office!" he shouted, turning and firing three quick shots, dropping the first attacker. But the second attacker fired back, hitting Marco in the shoulder. Marco collapsed against the wall, groaning in pain.
The second gunman stepped over Marco, raising his weapon, aiming directly at Emma, who was cornered against the office door.
Sophia screamed in horror. Lily hid her face in Emma’s neck.
Emma looked at the armed mercenary. Every instinct in her body screamed to surrender, to curl into a ball. But then she felt the small, fragile bodies of the two little girls clinging to her.
She looked at the killer approaching them.
"Touch them," Emma said, her voice dropping into a fierce, terrifying growl she didn't know she possessed, "and I swear to God you won't survive this room."
The mercenary sneered, stepping closer. "Out of the way, fat girl."
He raised his gun to strike her with the butt of the rifle.
Emma didn't flinch. As he swung, she grabbed a heavy bronze statue of a horse from a nearby pedestal and swung it with all the force of her body, slamming it directly into the side of the gunman’s helmet.
The blow dazed him, sending him stumbling backward.
Before he could recover, a single, thunderous gunshot echoed through the hallway.
A bullet hole appeared in the center of the mercenary's chest. He collapsed to the floor, lifeless.
Standing at the end of the hallway was Gabriel. His dark suit was splattered with blood, his eyes burning with a terrifying, demonic rage. He sprinted down the corridor like a predator, sliding to his knees beside Emma.
"Are you hit? Are you hurt?" Gabriel demanded, his hands frantically checking Emma’s shoulders, her arms, her face.
"I'm okay... I'm okay," Emma sobbed, the adrenaline draining from her body as she collapsed against his chest, still shielding the crying children. "The girls are safe. They're safe, Gabriel."
Gabriel wrapped his arms around all three of them, pulling them into an absolute, unbreakable embrace on the blood-stained carpet.
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"It's over," Gabriel growled softly, kissing Emma’s hair, her forehead, her cheeks. "It's over. I've got you. Nobody will ever touch you again."
Behind them, the estate fell silent as Gabriel’s loyal guards swept the remaining rooms, eliminating the last of Valenti’s men.
