Chapter 6
The violent retaliation of the Shaw family arrived just before dawn, exactly forty-eight hours after Julian had burned their casino to the ground.
Julian was in the war room—a reinforced, windowless bunker beneath the estate—when the alarm klaxons began to wail, flashing harsh red light across the concrete walls. Marcus burst into the room, his tactical vest heavily loaded with ammunition.
"Boss, they hit the perimeter!" Marcus yelled over the blaring siren. "It’s a coordinated strike. They breached the western gates with an armored truck. At least forty men, heavily armed."
Julian’s expression turned to stone. He methodically strapped a shoulder holster over his dark sweater, checking the slide of his heavy, matte-black pistol. The negative space tattoos on his hands blurred as he moved with lethal efficiency.
"Hold them at the courtyard," Julian ordered, his voice echoing with cold, absolute authority. "Do not let a single man set foot on the marble of my house. Where are Tessa and Rosie?"
"They are in the master suite," Marcus reported. "I stationed four of our best men outside the door."
"Move them to the panic room," Julian commanded. "Now."
Upstairs, the sound of distant explosions rattled the crystal chandeliers in the grand hallways. Tessa shot out of bed, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. She was fully recovered from her sleep deprivation, her survival instincts razor-sharp. She scooped Rosie out of the adjoining nursery bed, wrapping the toddler in a thick down blanket.
"What's happening, Mommy?" Rosie whimpered, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"It's just a loud thunderstorm, sweetie," Tessa lied smoothly, holding the girl tightly against her chest. "We are going to go play in the special hiding room."
The door to the suite flew open. Four heavily armed Mercer guards rushed in.
"Miss Ward, we have to move," the lead guard barked, gesturing toward the hallway. "The boss wants you in the vault."
Tessa didn't hesitate. She ran barefoot down the opulent, amber-lit corridors, surrounded by the towering guards. The sounds of the firefight outside were growing louder—the rapid, terrifying stutter of automatic weapons and the shouts of dying men filtering through the reinforced windows.
As they reached the grand sweeping staircase, the front double doors of the mansion buckled under a massive impact.
"They breached the foyer!" one of the guards yelled, raising his rifle.
"Get them down the servants' stairs!" the lead guard ordered, pushing Tessa toward a hidden wooden door panel in the wall.
Tessa burst through the hidden door, plunging into the narrow, dimly lit staircase that led to the subterranean levels. She could hear the deafening roar of gunfire erupting in the foyer behind them as Julian’s men engaged the Shaw invaders.
She reached the bottom of the stairs, sprinting down the concrete corridor toward the heavy steel door of the panic room. Her hands shook violently as she punched in the biometric code Julian had given her.
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The heavy steel bolts hissed, and the door swung open. Tessa threw herself and Rosie inside, hitting the emergency lock button. The massive door slammed shut, sealing them in absolute silence.
Tessa collapsed onto the floor, clutching Rosie tightly. She was safe, but the man who had torn his empire apart to protect her was currently fighting a war on the floor above. She stared at the steel door, praying to a god she wasn't sure was listening to keep Julian Mercer alive.
