Chapter 3 - Ambush at the Lake
Two weeks later, a sudden late-season blizzard swept across Lake Michigan, blanketing the estate in heavy snow. Inside, Emma was laughing as she showed Stone a drawing of a giant yellow sunflower. For the first time since Claire’s death, Stone smiled—a real, genuine smile that brought color back to his hardened face. Sofia watched from the doorway, her heart swelling with a quiet, undeniable affection for the dangerous man who treated her daughter like a princess.
Suddenly, the estate’s security alarm blared, red lights flashing through the grand halls. Moretti’s mercs had breached the perimeter under cover of the storm, intent on kidnapping Sofia and Emma to force Stone into giving up his territory.
May you like
Stone’s eyes turned back into flint. He ushered Sofia and Emma into a hidden panic room behind his bookshelf. “Stay inside. Lock it from the interior. No matter what you hear, do not come out until I open this door.”
Taking his custom weapons from the hidden wall safe, Stone became the demon Chicago feared. He moved through the darkened hallways like a phantom, eliminating Moretti’s hitmen one by one with lethal precision. He took a bullet to his shoulder, but he felt no pain—only a ferocious, roaring instinct to protect the mother and child who had brought him back to life. When the smoke cleared, five attackers lay motionless, and Stone sent a grim message back to Moretti: Touch my family again, and Chicago will burn.
