Chapter 2 - The Bleeding Steward
Hannah immediately dropped to her knees right beside the bleeding man.
She ignored the thick blood soaking into her torn uniform skirt.
She pressed both of her hands firmly against the severe wound on Walter's neck.
Dominic raised his weapon and scanned the dark corners of the massive kitchen.
He kicked the pantry door open but found absolutely nothing inside.
He quickly pulled a secure radio from his belt and triggered the estate lockdown.
Heavy steel shutters instantly crashed down over every window and door in the mansion.
Nobody could get out of the house now.
Hannah shouted that Walter was rapidly losing too much blood to survive.
She told Dominic to open the second drawer on the left side of the cooking island.
Dominic found a sharp paring knife and a roll of clear plastic tubing inside.
He threw the items onto the floor right next to her.
Hannah worked with a terrifying, flawless surgical precision.
She made a small incision in the steward's throat and inserted the plastic tube to open his airway.
Dominic watched her hands move without a single tremor of hesitation.
He realized that poor people did not learn these kinds of advanced medical procedures.
He knew she was a highly trained trauma surgeon hiding in a maid's uniform.
Walter suddenly gasped for air through the plastic tube.
His eyes darted wildly toward Dominic in sheer panic.
The old man tried to speak, but only a wet rattle came from his throat.
Hannah told Walter to stay perfectly still and save his strength.
Walter violently grabbed Dominic's jacket sleeve with his bloody hand.
He weakly mouthed a single word over and over again.
Dominic leaned down closely to read the dying man's lips.
Walter was saying the word bride.
Dominic felt a sudden, freezing chill run down his entire spine.
A loud gunshot suddenly echoed from the upper level of the estate.
The shot came directly from the east conservatory where he had left his mother.
Dominic swore loudly and checked the ammunition magazine in his pistol.
He ordered Hannah to stay on the floor and keep Walter breathing.
He sprinted out of the kitchen and ran toward the grand staircase.
He took the marble steps two at a time with his gun raised.
He reached the upper hallway and found his mother's bodyguards dead on the floor.
The door to the conservatory had been completely blown off its heavy iron hinges.
Dominic stepped over the bodies and entered the smoke-filled room.
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His mother was completely gone.
Vanessa was sitting calmly in his mother's leather chair holding a smoking gun.
