Chapter 6 - The Ultimatum
My mother's cheerful voice made my stomach violently churn.
"If you blow this cabin, you kill your own bloodline," I warned her, my grip tightening on the phone.
Evelyn laughed, a dry, emotionless sound that echoed through the speaker.
"I can always find you a new wife to give me proper heirs," she replied coldly.
"Send Mara out the front door alone, and I will let you and the bastards live."
I didn't even bother answering her ridiculous demand.
I hung up the phone, crushed it beneath the heel of my boot, and looked at Silas.
"Can you walk?" I asked him, helping him to his feet.
"I can hobble well enough to shoot," Silas grunted, leaning heavily against the concrete wall.
I went to the basement door and opened it, finding Mara huddled fiercely over the sleeping twins.
"There is an old smuggling tunnel beneath this floorboard that leads to the river," I told her.
I pulled back a heavy rug and pried open a hidden wooden trapdoor.
"We have to go right now, before she detonates the perimeter," I urged.
Mara climbed down into the dark, damp tunnel, clutching the babies tightly to her chest.
Silas followed her, limping painfully down the wooden ladder.
I stayed behind for a few precious seconds to set the timer on the cabin's self-destruct sequence.
If my mother wanted an explosion, I was going to give her a massive one.
I jumped into the tunnel and pulled the trapdoor shut just as the timer hit zero.
The earth above us shook violently as a deafening explosion completely obliterated the safehouse.
Dirt and dust rained down on our heads, but the reinforced tunnel held firm.
We moved quietly through the dark passageway for nearly a mile until we reached the riverbank.
A small, untraceable motorboat was hidden beneath a camouflage tarp in the reeds.
We loaded into the boat, and I started the silent electric motor, drifting away into the night.
Mara looked at me, her face pale in the moonlight.
"Where do we go now?" she whispered, holding our children close.
"We can't run forever," I replied, my eyes hardening with fierce determination.
"We have to hit her where she lives, but I need an army to breach her estate."
I pulled out a burner phone and dialed the only number I knew could provide that kind of firepower.
"Dominic Rossi," a gruff voice answered on the third ring.
May you like
"Rossi, it's Grant Waverly," I said, staring out at the dark water.
"I am ready to surrender the entire Southside territory to your family."
