Chapter 2 - THE MAN AT THE GATE
Darkness swallowed the Russo mansion.
Luca screamed.
Chloe dropped beside him.
“I’ve got you.”
“Where’s Daddy?”
“He’s here.”
Emergency lights flickered red along the walls.
Carlo’s voice thundered through the darkness.
“Lock down the house!”
Boots pounded across the floor.
Dominic burst from his office with a handgun already drawn.
His expression had changed completely.
The grieving father was gone.
The crime boss had returned.
“Chloe, upstairs.”
“What’s happening?”
“Now.”
She grabbed Luca’s hand.
A gunshot exploded outside.
Then another.
Luca cried out.
Dominic pushed them toward the staircase.
“Carlo!”
“I’ve got the west hall!”
Chloe hurried Luca upstairs.
Halfway up, another shot shattered a window.
Glass sprayed across the foyer.
Dominic pulled Chloe down behind the railing.
“Stay low.”
A dark SUV smashed through the estate’s side gate.
Masked men poured out.
“This isn’t random,” Carlo shouted.
Dominic fired twice.
One attacker dropped behind a stone planter.
Chloe had never seen real gunfire.
Movies made it look loud.
Real gunfire was worse.
It hit your chest.
Your teeth.
Your bones.
Luca was sobbing.
“Daddy!”
Dominic looked up.
That was all it took.
One attacker aimed through the broken window.
Chloe saw the weapon before Dominic did.
“Down!”
She threw herself over Luca.
The shot hit the staircase.
Dominic spun and fired.
The attacker disappeared.
“Safe room!” he shouted.
Chloe dragged Luca down the upstairs hallway.
She knew the room.
Dominic had shown it to her on her first day.
Steel door.
Reinforced walls.
Emergency phone.
She shoved Luca inside.
Then she heard Dominic shout below.
“Carlo!”
Something heavy crashed.
Chloe stopped.
Luca grabbed her sleeve.
“Don’t leave me.”
She looked at him.
“I won’t.”
A minute later, footsteps approached.
Chloe grabbed a heavy brass lamp.
The safe-room door opened.
Dominic entered.
Blood ran down his forehead.
“Daddy!”
Luca ran to him.
Dominic stumbled.
Chloe caught his arm.
“You’re hurt.”
“Not mine.”
That answer frightened her more.
Carlo entered behind him.
“We have two alive.”
Dominic’s face became stone.
“Who sent them?”
“Don’t know yet.”
Carlo held out a cell phone taken from one of the attackers.
“There’s something you need to see.”
Dominic looked at the screen.
His expression went blank.
Chloe watched the color disappear from his face.
“What is it?”
Dominic didn’t answer.
Carlo did.
“A photo.”
“Of what?”
He turned the phone.
Chloe stared.
It was Luca.
Taken that afternoon.
Through the mansion window.
Underneath it was one sentence.
THE BOY SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH HIS MOTHER.
Chloe covered her mouth.
Dominic took the phone.
His hand trembled once.
Then stopped.
“Who knew Sofia was with Luca the night she died?”
Carlo’s face tightened.
“Family.”
Dominic slowly looked toward the dark hallway.
“Exactly.”
Chloe felt cold.
“Are you saying somebody in your family wants Luca dead?”
Dominic looked at his son.
“No.”
His voice was calm.
May you like
Too calm.
“I’m saying somebody already tried once.”
