Chapter 4 - THE SIEGE OF GREENWICH
The mansion was plunged into chaos. The sound of shattered glass and heavy gunfire echoed through the lower floors, competing with the roaring thunder outside.
Sarah clutched Ellie tightly to her chest, running through the dimly lit, red-illuminated corridors. Viktor led the way, his gun raised, sweeping every corner.
"Where is Noah?" Sarah panicked, her voice shaking. "Where is Dominic?"
"Boss is on the third floor!" Viktor shouted back. "He's securing Noah! We need to get you two to the basement panic room first!"
Suddenly, two armed men dressed in black tactical gear rounded the corner from the grand staircase. "There they are! Take them!" one of them yelled, raising a weapon.
Viktor reacted instantly. He pushed Sarah behind a heavy marble pillar and opened fire. The deafening booms of gunfire filled the narrow hallway. The two mercenaries fell to the floor, but more footsteps were rapidly approaching from the lower level.
"They've compromised the basement route!" Viktor spat, slamming a fresh magazine into his rifle. "We have to go up! To the third floor!"
Sarah didn't hesitate. She ran behind Viktor, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Ellie had her small face buried deep into Sarah's neck, crying silently but holding on with all her strength.
They reached the third floor just as heavy iron blast doors began to slide down across the stairwells—Dominic was activating the mansion's secondary lockdown protocols from his master control panel.
Viktor, Sarah, and Ellie slid beneath the closing blast door just in time.
Inside Noah's suite, Dominic stood near the center of the room. He had discarded his suit jacket, wearing a shoulder holster over his white dress shirt. His expression was stone cold, his eyes blazing with tactical focus. He was holding a heavy handgun, while two of his loyal guards stood near the reinforced windows.
Noah was awake, sitting in a wheelchair near the back of the room, looking terrified.
"Dominic!" Sarah gasped, falling to her knees from exhaustion.
Dominic immediately rushed over, helping Sarah to her feet and taking Ellie into his arms for a brief moment to comfort her. "Are you hit? Are you okay?"
"We're fine," Sarah breathed out. "Viktor got us through."
"Dad..." Noah whimpered from his wheelchair. "What's happening?"
Dominic walked over to Noah, kneeling beside his wheelchair. He placed his large hands on his son's shoulders. "Listen to me, Noah. Everything is going to be fine. Do you remember what I told you about our family? We are fighters. No one touches us."
Noah nodded bravely, wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm not scared, Dad."
"Good boy," Dominic said, kissing Noah's forehead. He turned to Viktor. "Report."
"Marcus brought at least fifteen guys, boss," Viktor said, checking his ammunition. "They used heavy explosives to breach the front gates and EMP charges to disable the primary security grid. They're heavily armed. They want you, and they want to make sure Noah doesn't survive to speak."
Dominic's eyes narrowed into slits of pure fury. "Marcus thinks he can come into my house, attack my family, and walk out alive?"
Suddenly, the reinforced oak doors of the third-floor master suite shook violently from a heavy impact.
BOOM!
A voice echoed through the hallway outside, amplified by a loudspeaker. It was Marcus Kane.
"Dominic!" Marcus's voice was filled with a unhinged, desperate arrogance. "Give it up, brother! The police are paid off! They won't be coming for another thirty minutes! I have fifteen men out here! Hand over the boy and sign the transfer documents for the shipping lines, and I might let you live!"
Dominic walked slowly toward the reinforced doors. He pressed the intercom button on the wall.
"Marcus," Dominic said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "You killed my wife. You poisoned my son. You bled my house for three years while pretending to be my friend."
Outside, Marcus laughed—a cold, cruel sound. "Claire was a mistake! She found out about the Moretti deal! I had to clean it up! And the boy? He was just leverage, Dominic! You were weak! You let love make you soft! I am the one who built this empire!"
"You didn't build anything, Marcus," Dominic replied softly. "You're just a parasite. And tonight, I pull you off my skin."
"Break the door down!" Marcus ordered his men outside.
BOOM! BOOM!
The heavy steel hinges of the suite door began to groan under the onslaught of breaching charges.
Dominic turned to his men. "Viktor, take the left flank. Marco, take the right. Sarah..."
Dominic walked over to Sarah. He reached into his pocket and handed her a small, sleek keycard.
"There is a hidden escape hatch behind the bookshelf in Noah's closet," Dominic instructed her, looking deep into her eyes. "It leads to a secure underground tunnel that exits half a mile away in the woods. Take Noah and Ellie. Go now."
Sarah looked at him, horror in her eyes. "What about you?"
"I stay," Dominic said firmly. "I end this tonight. If Marcus leaves this room alive, he will hunt Noah for the rest of his life. I won't let my son live in fear."
"Dominic, no! You can't fight them all alone!" Sarah cried out, instinctively reaching out and grabbing his arm.
Dominic looked down at her hand on his arm, then raised his eyes to meet hers. For a moment, amidst the chaos and the threat of death, a profound connection passed between them.
"Protect my son, Sarah," Dominic whispered, pressing his hand over hers. "And protect Ellie. I will come for you in the woods."
BOOM!
The top hinge of the door snapped.
"GO!" Dominic roared.
Sarah didn't hesitate any longer. She grabbed Ellie with one arm and pushed Noah’s wheelchair toward the closet. She swiped the keycard against a hidden scanner behind the bookshelf. The back wall slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a dark, concrete staircase leading downward.
"Come on, Noah! Hurry!" Sarah urged.
Noah looked back at his father. "Dad! I love you!"
Dominic turned, offering his son a sharp, confident smile. "I love you too, son. Now go!"
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Sarah pushed Noah's wheelchair into the tunnel and pulled Ellie inside. As the heavy secret door slid shut behind them, sealing them in the dark, the main suite doors were blown off their hinges.
The deafening sound of an all-out firefight exploded on the other side of the wall.
