Chapter 3 - Shadows at the GateThe peaceful atmosphere of the estate shattered in an instant. Red warning lights began flashing silently along the high cornices of the hallway, casting long, bloody reflections across the marble walls.
From the central staircase, Levi came sprinting up three steps at a time, a drawn tactical pistol in his hand, his face pale and set in grim lines.
"Dom! We’ve got a problem," Levi barked, sliding to a halt in front of Diamond’s chair. "It’s Marco Vance. He brought four SUVs packed with heavy hitters. They just rammed the front security gate."
Diamond’s expression hardened instantly, every trace of his earlier quiet contemplation vanishing behind the terrifying mask of a mob boss. Marco Vance was his primary rival—a ruthless, power-hungry captain who had been slowly carving away at the Kelly territory ever since Diamond was shot. Vance had clearly decided that a crippled boss inside a quiet mansion was an easy target for a total takeover.
"How many?" Diamond asked, his voice dropping into a low, deadly register.
"At least fifteen men. Heavy automatic weapons," Levi reported, clicking his radio. "Our perimeter guards are holding the driveway, but Vance is pushing hard toward the front entrance. We need to move you to the reinforced basement panic room now."
During the sudden chaos, Caprice had managed to push herself up from the floor, standing frozen against the wall. She watched the armed men, her heart hammering against her ribs, but her instincts kept her rooted to the spot.
Levi glanced over at her, his brows pulling together in frustration. "Who is this? Get her down to the staff quarters!"
"No," Diamond interjected sharply, his eyes fixing on Caprice. He saw the genuine fear finally dawning in her eyes—not fear of him, but of the violence storming his gates. Yet, despite the color draining from her face, she hadn't lost her head. She was standing still, waiting. "She comes with us. The staff quarters aren't reinforced."
"Dom, we don't have time to escort the cleaning staff—"
"I said she comes with us, Levi!" Diamond roared, an explosive authority breaking through his voice that made even Levi flinch.
Downstairs, the heavy oak front doors shattered with a deafening boom as automatic gunfire erupted, shaking the foundation of the estate. Glass exploded on the floor below, accompanied by shouts, cursing, and the heavy thud of tactical boots entering the grand foyer.
"They're inside!" Levi yelled, raising his weapon toward the staircase as two Kelly guards fell back up the stairs, firing suppressive bursts down into the dark foyer.
"Move!" Diamond commanded. He grabbed the joystick of his heavy electric wheelchair, spinning it toward the private elevator at the end of the east corridor. "Caprice, stay behind my chair. Levi, cover the stairwell!"
Caprice didn't hesitate. She scrambled behind Diamond's wheelchair, staying low to the ground as the sound of gunfire echoed through the high ceilings. The smell of spent gunpowder and ozone quickly replaced the scent of sandalwood and lavender.
They reached the heavy steel doors of the private elevator. Diamond jammed his thumb against the biometric scanner. The light flashed red.
"Damn it!" Diamond hissed. "The primary power grid was cut. The backup generators haven't kicked in for the lifts yet."
"They're coming up the east stairs!" one of the guards shouted from down the hall before a burst of automatic fire cut him down. The guard fell heavily onto the polished floor, blood pooling out over the clean marble Caprice had scrubbed just hours before.
Vance’s men were sweeping the floor, taking out Diamond’s security piece by piece.
"We won't make it to the panic room," Levi said, his face dripping with sweat as he fired three quick shots down the hall, dropping an advancing gunman. "Dom, we have to fall back into your private study. The door is reinforced steel."
"Get inside!" Diamond ordered.
They scrambled back into the large study. Levi slammed the thick oak-and-steel door shut, throwing two heavy iron deadbolts into place just as a hail of bullets hammered against the outside of the wood. The door creaked under the impact, but the reinforced core held.
Inside, the room was plunged into near darkness, illuminated only by the flashes of lightning outside the floor-to-ceiling windows and the faint red emergency lights along the baseboards.
Caprice was breathing heavily, her back pressed against the mahogany desk, her hands gripping the edge so hard her fingers turned numb.
Diamond maneuvered his chair into the center of the room, calmly pulling open a hidden drawer in the side of his heavy desk. He reached inside and pulled out a heavy, matte-black semi-automatic pistol. He racked the slide with practiced ease, the metallic click crisp and definitive in the room.
He looked over at Caprice. She was trembling, but her eyes were fixed on him.
"Scared?" Diamond asked softly, his voice devoid of mock or cruelty.
"Yes," she whispered truthfully. "Are we going to die?"
Diamond looked at the steel door as heavy blows began pounding against it from the hallway. Marco Vance’s men were using a heavy breaching ram. The frame groaned.
"Not tonight," Diamond said, his jaw setting into concrete. He looked at Levi. "Levi, the secret service passage behind the bookshelf. It leads down to the underground garage. You take her and get out."
Levi blinked, astonished. "Dom, no! I’m not leaving you here alone in a chair with one handgun while Vance has a full squad outside that door!"
"I am the target, Levi!" Diamond commanded, his voice dark and absolute. "Vance wants my head so he can claim the family council seats. If you stay, we both die. Take the girl, get to the garage, and bring the heavy reinforcements from the downtown armory back here to flank them."
"Diamond, I can't leave you!" Levi argued, his voice cracking.
"That is an order, Lieutenant!" Diamond barked, turning his dark, fierce gaze onto his second-in-command. "Move!"
Levi gritted his teeth, a profound conflict tearing across his face. Finally, he nodded, stepping toward the large bookshelf and pulling a concealed brass lever. The wall groaned as a section of the library swung inward, revealing a narrow, dark concrete stairwell.
"Come on!" Levi grabbed Caprice’s arm.
Caprice hesitated. She looked back at Diamond, who sat alone in the center of the dark room, his wheelchair positioned directly facing the failing steel door, his gun raised with steady, unshakeable hands. A solitary man waiting to face an army.
"Go, Caprice," Diamond said, not turning his head, his eyes locked on the door. "Your mother needs you."
Those four words struck Caprice like a physical blow. In the middle of an armed siege, facing certain death, he wasn't thinking about his lost empire or his crippled legs. He was thinking about her mother’s care.
"No," Caprice said suddenly.
Levi froze, tugging at her arm. "Lady, what the hell are you doing? Move!"
Caprice ripped her arm free from Levi's grip. She looked around the dark room, her eyes landing on a heavy industrial glass vase sitting on a marble pedestal near the window, and then at the control panel for the study's heavy floor-to-ceiling blackout blinds.
"You can't shoot them all if they come through that door at once," Caprice said, her voice shaking but resolute as she stepped toward the window panel. "They have night-vision gear on their helmets—I saw the green lenses when they came up the stairs."
Diamond narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing?"
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"Giving you the only advantage you have," she replied.
Caprice slammed her hand down on the manual override button for the exterior floodlights, while simultaneously hitting the master switch for the study’s internal lights.
