Chapter 8 - The Line of Defense
"Alexander, someone is in the house. The power is cut," Elena whispered into her phone, her voice shaking as she locked the panic room door behind the girls. She didn't go inside with them. She couldn't risk the intruder figuring out the code.
"I'm five minutes away, Elena. Don't engage. Hide!" Alexander roared through the phone.
But Elena heard footsteps on the stairs. She grabbed a heavy bronze statue from a hallway table and waited in the shadows.
A flashlight beam cut through the dark. It was Victoria, looking deranged, her hair matted to her face, holding a heavy wrench she had used to smash the glass.
"Where is she?" Victoria screamed into the empty hallway. "Where is the little rat who stole my life?"
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Victoria turned toward the nursery. Elena didn't hesitate. She stepped out of the shadows and swung the bronze statue, striking Victoria hard in the shoulder. Victoria shrieked, dropping the wrench, and tackled Elena to the floor. They fought viciously in the dark, but Elena was fighting for the lives of two little girls, and a mother's instinct—even a surrogate one—knows no limits.
Suddenly, the front doors burst open with a deafening crash. Flashlights and laser sights flooded the hallway. Alexander and his security team swarmed the second floor.
