Chapter 4 - Ambush in the Dark
"Get behind me!" I shoved Maya toward the bedroom, drawing the silenced 9mm pistol from the holster beneath my tailored suit jacket in one fluid motion.
The front door kicked open with a splintering crash.
A heavy-set man in a dark tactical jacket burst through the frame, a suppressed hand gun raised. Before he could acquire his target, I fired twice. The muffled thwip-thwip of my weapon echoed in the small apartment, and the intruder collapsed onto the scuffed floorboards with a heavy thud.
Maya screamed from the bedroom doorway.
"Stay down!" I bellowed, moving to the side of the doorframe just as a hail of bullets tore through the drywall, showering the living room in plaster dust and splintered wood.
In the bedroom, the sudden noise erupted into chaotic crying. The triplets were awake, terrified, screaming for their mother.
"Adrian!" Maya cried, trying to reach the kids.
"Get on the floor with them, Maya! Lock the bedroom door and do not come out!" I shouted, dropping to one knee as a second gunman lunged through the doorway.
I stepped into his guard, grabbing his wrist and twisting it violently until his bone snapped. He gasped in pain, but I didn't give him a chance to recover. I slammed my elbow into his jaw, sending him crashing into the coffee table, scattering coloring books and crayons everywhere.
Outside in the hallway, gunshots rang out—loud, unsuppressed bursts. Marcus was engaging the second team coming up the stairs.
"Adrian! Clear the room and get to the fire escape!" Marcus’s voice crackled through my earbud amidst the gunfire. "They brought heavy security! Hart wants this place wiped clean!"
Rage—pure, unadulterated fury—consumed me. Harrison Hart had dared to send hitmen into a room where my children slept. He had ordered a hit on the woman I loved in her own home.
I advanced down the hallway like a demon unleashed, firing through the doorway until the corridor fell deathly silent. Two more men lay motionless on the linoleum floor.
I rushed back into the apartment, my suit jacket torn, covered in drywall dust.
"Maya!" I kicked open the locked bedroom door.
She was huddled in the corner between two cribs, her arms wrapped around all three toddlers, shielding them with her own body. Lily was sobbing hysterically, her tiny hands clutching Maya’s shirt. Leo was wide-eyed with terror, while Sam was buried against his mother’s neck.
Maya looked up at me, her eyes wide with a horrific realization. This was the world she had fought so hard to protect them from. This was the blood and violence of the Vale name brought directly into her sanctuary.
"We have to go. Now," I said, holstered my gun and extending a hand to her.
"No!" she wept, clutching the children tighter. "Look at this! Look at what you brought here! They could have died!"
"If we stay here, Hart’s men will send reinforcements!" I knelt beside her, my voice urgent, stripping away all anger, leaving only desperate love. "Maya, listen to me! Harrison Hart tried to kill you to protect his daughter’s reputation! Salvatore won't protect you either! I am the only person on this planet who can keep them alive tonight! Please, trust me. Just for tonight!"
She looked at her crying children. She looked at the bullet holes tearing through her living room walls. She knew I was right. In Chicago, when the Vales and Harts wanted someone gone, there was no hiding in a rental apartment.
"Okay," she sobbed, standing up, struggling to hold two of the toddlers at once. "Okay!"
I instantly scooped up Leo and Sam into my arms, holding them tight against my chest. Leo looked up at me, his tiny hands grabbing my suit lapel. His gray eyes met mine, and even in the middle of chaos, a profound, soul-shattering connection locked between us.
"I’ve got you, buddy," I whispered to him, my heart breaking and rebuilding itself in a fraction of a second. "I've got you."
Maya held Lily tightly against her shoulder.
We moved fast, bypassing the bloody hallway, slipping through the rear window onto the iron fire escape just as Marcus reached the alley below, his black SUV idling with the doors thrown open.
Rain lashed against our faces as we scrambled down the metal stairs. I held my sons close, shielding their small bodies from the cold wind with my coat. Marcus covered our rear, his eyes scanning the dark rooftops of Pilsen.
"Get in! Get in!" Marcus barked.
We piled into the back seat of the reinforced SUV. The heavy doors slammed shut, sealing us in soundproof, bulletproof safety. Marcus stomped on the accelerator, the tires screaming against the wet asphalt as we launched into the Chicago night.
In the back seat, the sudden quiet was suffocating.
The three toddlers, exhausted and terrified, clung to Maya. She sat in the middle, shivering, her arms wrapped around them, her head bowed in tears.
I sat across from them on the leather bench, watching my family.
"Where are we going?" Maya whispered, looking up at me through dark, wet lashes. "We can't go to a hotel. They’ll find us."
"We’re going to my private estate in Geneva Lake," I said softly, grabbing a warm wool blanket from the side compartment and wrapping it around her and the kids. "No one knows about it. Not my grandfather. Not the Harts. It’s completely off the grid."
I reached out, gently touching Lily’s soft hair. The little girl didn't pull away this time; she buried her face deeper into her mother’s chest, but her tiny hand reached out and grabbed one of my fingers, holding on tight.
May you like
I looked at Maya.
"Tomorrow, the war begins," I said, my voice cold with absolute resolve. "I am going to take Harrison Hart down. I am going to strip my grandfather of his empire. And when the dust settles, Maya... I am going to build a life for us where no one will ever scare you again."
