Chapter 6
The heavy steel door of the panic room hissed shut, sealing Lena in absolute silence. The sudden quiet was jarring, a stark contrast to the chaotic roar of gunfire and explosions tearing the mansion apart outside. The room was small but intensely fortified, lined with reinforced steel, survival supplies, and a bank of security monitors that currently displayed static, their camera feeds destroyed by the assault.
Lena paced the length of the room, her hands trembling violently. She checked her phone, but there was no signal within the thick walls. Every passing second felt like an hour. She imagined Emmett bleeding out on the marble floors. She imagined Theo crying in the dark beneath the kitchen, terrified and alone.
"I can't just wait here," Lena whispered to herself, her bright, expressive eyes darting around the small space.
She walked over to a heavy metal lockbox bolted to the desk. It was unlocked. Inside rested a sleek, silver 9mm handgun and two spare magazines. Lena had never fired a gun in her life. She was a maid, a gentle girl who knew how to fold napkins and polish silver. But as she stared at the weapon, the image of Natalie's cruel smile flashed in her mind. Natalie wanted her dead. Natalie wanted to take Theo.
Lena picked up the gun. It was heavier than she expected, the cold metal grounding her frantic thoughts. She remembered watching the guards in the courtyard practicing; she remembered how they racked the slide to load a bullet into the chamber.
With trembling hands, she pulled the slide back. It locked with a sharp, satisfying click.
She approached the steel door and pressed the internal release button. The heavy locks disengaged with a mechanical thud, and the door swung open.
The roar of the battle instantly flooded her ears. The mansion was filled with the acrid stench of cordite, smoke, and blood. Lena slipped out of the master office and into the ruined hallway. The velvet carpets were torn, the walls riddled with bullet holes.
She needed to get to the kitchen. She needed to get to Theo.
She crept down the secondary servants' staircase, a narrow, winding set of stairs she knew better than anyone. The sounds of heavy fighting were concentrated at the front of the house, meaning the back corridors were mostly abandoned.
As she reached the bottom landing, a shadow detached itself from the wall.
"Well, look who finally decided to come out of hiding," a sickly sweet voice echoed in the dim corridor.
Lena froze, raising the silver handgun with shaking arms. Standing ten feet away, flanked by two heavily armed Voss mercenaries, was Natalie. She had traded her burgundy satin gown for sleek, black tactical clothing, but the diamond earrings still caught the dim emergency lighting. She held a suppressed pistol casually at her side.
"Natalie," Lena breathed, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"Emmett's men are putting up a good fight in the foyer," Natalie smiled cruelly, taking a slow step forward. "But they are distracted. Leaving me free to slip through the kitchen entrance. I was just on my way to dig that little bastard out of the safe room, but finding you here? This is a gift."
"Don't you go near him," Lena warned, her voice trembling but her grip on the gun tightening. "I'll shoot you. I swear I will."
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Natalie threw her head back and laughed, a chilling, hollow sound. "You? A maid? You couldn't even stop me from burning your arms, Lena. You don't have the stomach to kill."
Natalie raised her pistol, aiming squarely at Lena’s chest. "Say goodbye to your stolen life, sweetheart."
