Chapter 5 - The Siege
The storm outside raged, matching the storm brewing within the walls of the Vance Estate.
By midnight, the power to the main grid was cut. The heavy emergency generators kicked in with a low hum, plunging the estate into a dim red emergency light.
"They're cut the perimeter fence!" a guard yelled over the comms system.
I stood in the central command room, wearing a tactical vest Elias had forced me to wear, holding Rose and Lily in a double harness strapped to my chest. I refused to go into the subterranean safe room. If Blackmask breached the perimeter, I wanted to be able to move, not be trapped in a box.
Elias stood at the center of the room, racking the slide of an assault rifle. He looked terrifying—a warlord preparing to defend his realm.
"Ava," he said, walking up to me. He placed a small, silver-plated pistol into my hand. "Do you know how to use this?"
"Point and pull the trigger," I said, my knuckles white as I gripped the weapon.
"Keep the safety on until you see someone who isn't me or Viktor," Elias instructed, kissing my forehead lingeringly. "Stay behind the bulletproof glass in the inner sanctuary. I will end this tonight."
"Don't die," I whispered, pulling his collar down to kiss him fiercely on the mouth—a fast, desperate kiss filled with everything I hadn't said yet.
Elias looked stunned for a fraction of a second, then a dark, fierce smile broke across his face. "I have too much to live for now."
He turned and strode out of the command center, leading his men into the dark corridors.
Minutes later, the battle erupted.
The sound of gunfire was deafening, echoing through the heavy stone hallways. Explosions rattled the foundation of the house. Through the security monitors, I watched in high-definition night vision as Elias’s men engaged the Blackmask mercenaries. Elias moved like a specter of death, his tactical precision lethal and absolute.
Suddenly, the security feed for the eastern wing went dark.
A loud CRACK echoed from the heavy oak doors leading to the command center. Someone was breaching the room from the private servants' staircase—the very staircase Marcus knew about!
The door burst open in a shower of wood splinters.
Two mercenaries rushed in, guns raised. I didn't panic. The instincts of a mother protecting her young took over completely. I ducked behind the heavy steel control console, raised the small pistol with both hands, clicked off the safety, and fired.
BANG! BANG!
The shots were wild, but one bullet caught the lead mercenary in the shoulder, causing him to drop his weapon. Before the second man could aim at me, Viktor flanked them from the hallway, cutting them down with a burst of submachine gunfire.
"Ava! Get back!" Viktor yelled, taking cover beside me.
Behind the fallen mercenaries walked Marcus.
He was a ghastly sight—his face burned and bandaged, his leg in a heavy brace, dragging behind him. He held a heavy shotgun, his eyes wide with a mix of madness and greed.
"Ava!" Marcus screeched, his voice crackling with insanity. "You ruined my life! Marcone promised me everything! I’m taking those babies, and I’m going to watch Marcone sell them to the highest bidder!"
"You're sick, Marcus!" I screamed back, stepping out from behind the console, pointing my pistol straight at his chest. "You are a monster!"
"I'm your husband!" he roared, raising the shotgun. "You belong to me!"
BANG!
A shot echoed, but it didn't come from my gun, nor from Marcus's shotgun.
Marcus froze. He dropped the shotgun, looking down at his chest in disbelief. A dark, gaping hole was torn right over his heart.
He stumbled backward, falling onto his back, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling as the life drained out of him.
Behind him stood Elias, holding a smoking handgun. He walked past Marcus’s corpse without a single glance down, stepping directly toward me.
"Is it over?" I gasped, my whole body shaking as the tears finally spilled over.
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"The mercenaries are dead," Elias said, dropping his gun and wrapping his strong arms around me and the babies, holding us tight against his chest. "Marcone’s forces are completely wiped out. And Marcus will never hurt you again."
I buried my face in his neck, sobbing with a mixture of overwhelming grief, shock, and ultimate relief. The terror that had haunted me for years had finally ended in the snow and blood of upstate New York.
