Chapter 4 - The Siege Begins
The sound of automatic gunfire erupted from the front lawn, echoing violently through the dark mansion.
Damian immediately shoved Salvatore down toward the floor, shielding the old man with his body.
"Keep your head down," Damian ordered his father.
He turned to Elena, his dark eyes glowing in the dim emergency lighting that had just kicked on.
"Can you shoot?" Damian asked, tossing a spare pistol from his ankle holster onto the bed.
Elena grabbed the heavy weapon, her hands remarkably steady despite the chaos.
"I can hit what I aim at," Elena replied coldly.
Damian gave her a sharp, approving nod.
"Take him down to the basement panic room through the servant's staircase," Damian commanded.
"Do not stop for anyone, and do not open the vault for anyone except me."
"What are you going to do?" Salvatore asked, gripping his son's arm tightly.
"I am going to have a family reunion with Uncle Carlo," Damian growled, racking the slide of his gun.
Damian sprinted out of the bedroom, disappearing into the dark hallway toward the gunfire.
Elena helped Salvatore to his feet, draping his frail arm over her shoulder to support his weight.
"This way, Mr. Russo," Elena urged, guiding him toward the hidden door behind the wardrobe.
They slipped into the narrow, dusty staircase that the household staff used to navigate unseen.
The heavy thud of combat boots echoed from the floorboards directly above their heads.
Carlo's men had already breached the first floor of the estate.
Elena kept the gun raised, clearing every dark corner as they descended deeper into the house.
They reached the sub-basement, a cold concrete hallway leading to the reinforced steel vault.
Salvatore was panting heavily, his heart struggling to handle the extreme stress.
"Just a little further," Elena whispered, seeing the heavy biometric scanner next to the vault door.
Suddenly, a massive figure stepped out from the shadows at the end of the hall.
It was one of Carlo's mercenaries, holding a suppressed submachine gun aimed right at them.
"End of the line, old man," the mercenary sneered, raising his weapon.
Elena did not even blink.
She raised her pistol and fired two shots perfectly into the center of the mercenary's chest.
The man collapsed backward, dropping his weapon on the concrete floor.
Salvatore stared at his secretary in absolute shock.
"You handled that very well for an office worker," Salvatore noted, breathing heavily.
"I am highly organized," Elena replied, rushing forward to scan Salvatore's hand on the vault panel.
The heavy steel door hissed and unlocked with a loud, mechanical clank.
They pushed inside the safe room, surrounded by monitors displaying the mansion's security cameras.
Elena locked the massive door from the inside and turned on the monitors to find Damian.
She scanned the screens, expecting to see Damian fighting his way through the foyer.
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Instead, she saw Damian lying completely motionless on the marble floor of the dining room.
Standing directly over his bleeding body was Grant Mercer, Damian's own head of security.
