The brutal punishment for singing a dead mother's lullaby.

Megan’s blood ran completely cold. She instinctively pushed Felix behind her legs, shielding the toddler with her own body. The dim light of the wine cellar cast long, terrifying shadows across Sabrina’s face, highlighting the manic, desperate gleam in her eyes.

"Sabrina, please," Megan pleaded, keeping her voice as steady as possible. "Dante is upstairs. If you hurt us, he will never stop hunting you."

"Dante is dead by now," Sabrina laughed, a harsh, brittle sound that echoed off the stone walls. "My father sent his best men to tear this house apart. They were given specific orders to put a bullet in his charming, stubborn head. You see, Megan, if I can't have him, nobody can. And as for you..."

Sabrina took a slow step forward, raising the silver pistol until it was perfectly level with Megan’s heart.

"You ruined everything. I was going to be the queen of this city. And he threw me out like garbage because you played a stupid song on a piano," Sabrina snarled, her polished facade completely crumbling into ugly, visceral hatred. "I'm going to blow your heart out, and then I'm going to make sure that little brat never cries for a mother again."

"No!" Megan shouted, absolute terror giving way to a fierce, primal maternal instinct.

Her bandaged hands were practically useless, bruised and swollen, but she refused to die cowering in the dark. Beside her, resting on an old wooden tasting barrel, was a heavy, glass decanter.

As Sabrina stepped closer, her finger tightening on the trigger, Megan didn't hesitate. She grabbed the heavy glass decanter with both hands, ignoring the blinding flash of agony that shot up her arms, and hurled it with every ounce of strength she possessed directly at Sabrina’s face.

The heavy glass struck Sabrina squarely in the forehead, shattering upon impact.

Sabrina screamed, a sound of pure shock and pain, as she stumbled backward. The suppressed pistol discharged wildly into the air, the bullet sparking against the stone ceiling. She dropped the gun, clutching her bleeding face as she fell to her knees.

Megan didn't wait for her to recover. She scooped Felix into her arms, groaning as her injured hands screamed in protest, and kicked the silver pistol away into the darkness beneath the wine racks.

"You bitch!" Sabrina shrieked, scrambling blindly on the floor, her hands desperately searching for the lost weapon. "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to skin you alive!"

Megan backed away toward the heavy steel vault door, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She had disarmed the heiress, but they were still trapped. The vault required Dante’s code, and the only way out was up the stairs, straight toward the heavy gunfire.

"Mommy, scary," Felix whimpered, burying his face in her neck.

"I know, baby, I know," Megan whispered rapidly.

Sabrina finally found the gun. She raised her head, blood streaming down her face from the cut on her forehead, her eyes filled with absolute, murderous rage. She aimed the weapon at Megan once more, her hand shaking violently.