Chapter 3 - The Breach
The shockwave threw Maeve backward against the heavy oak cabinets.
Declan immediately dove over the island, tackling Maeve to the tile floor as a shower of razor-sharp glass rained down on them.
The deafening roar of automatic gunfire erupted from the front lawn.
“They breached the gate!” Gabriel shouted, pulling a heavy handgun from the small of his back.
Roman was already moving, kicking open the secret panel beneath the kitchen island to reveal a hidden armory cache.
He tossed a tactical shotgun to Declan.
“Get her to the panic room!” Roman ordered, racking the slide of an assault rifle.
Declan grabbed Maeve by the arm and hauled her to her feet.
“Move!” he roared.
Maeve didn't freeze.
She had spent her entire life navigating chaotic, violent situations in the worst neighborhoods of the city.
She ran down the hallway alongside Declan, the sound of boots and shouting echoing from the shattered foyer.
The panic room was hidden behind a heavy bookcase in the library, the exact room she had cleaned the night before.
Declan punched a code into the keypad hidden inside a fake book.
The heavy steel door hissed open.
He shoved Maeve inside.
“Lock the door behind me,” Declan commanded, turning back toward the hallway.
“Wait!” Maeve yelled, grabbing his arm.
Declan stopped, looking back at her with wild, adrenaline-filled eyes.
“What?”
Maeve reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a heavy ring of brass keys.
“Mrs. Hess said these lock the steel shutters over the first-floor windows,” Maeve said rapidly.
“The control box is in the utility closet by the stairs.”
Declan stared at the keys in shock.
He grabbed them from her hand, a fierce, terrifying grin spreading across his face.
“Good girl,” he breathed.
He slammed the panic room door shut.
Maeve stood in the pitch-black, silent room.
The heavy steel completely muted the sound of the firefight raging outside.
She sank to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees, trying to control her breathing.
She was locked in a metal box while the mafia fought a war in the living room she had just dusted.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
The silence was agonizing.
Suddenly, the keypad on the outside of the door began to beep.
Someone was trying to open the door.
Maeve backed away into the darkest corner of the room, grabbing a heavy brass fire extinguisher from the wall.
The steel door hissed and slowly swung open.
A man stepped into the dim light of the library, holding a suppressed pistol.
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It wasn't Roman, Declan, or Gabriel.
It was a man wearing a tactical mask and a bulletproof vest bearing the crest of the rival Moretti family.
