Chapter 8
The silence in the concrete safehouse was heavy following Silas’s brutal rejection of the parley. The reality of the situation settled over the room like a suffocating blanket. Silas walked back over to Mara, his dark eyes softening only slightly when he looked at his sleeping son.
"He's going to throw everything he has at us," Silas murmured, crouching beside the sofa. He reached out and gently brushed a loose strand of hair from Mara’s face, his tattooed fingers warm against her fair skin. "I need you to be strong for a little while longer."
"I can be strong," Mara whispered, leaning imperceptibly into his touch. "But how did he know to call that satellite phone? This place is supposed to be off the grid."
Silas’s hand froze. The softness vanished from his eyes, replaced by a terrifying, cold realization. The satellite phone was encrypted, its number known only to his absolute inner circle—the men standing in the room with them, and the men holding down the estate.
"Dante," Silas barked, standing up and turning to his scarred lieutenant. "Who had the frequency for this line?"
Dante’s face paled. "Just me, Boss. And Julian, the head of your personal security detail."
Silas looked around the room. Julian was not there. He had been assigned to the perimeter patrol when they arrived at the cabin.
"Where is Julian?" Silas demanded, his voice dropping to a lethal, quiet register.
"He was supposed to be on the southern ridge," Dante said, unholstering his weapon.
Before anyone could move, Bruno suddenly leaped to his feet. The massive German Shepherd let out a vicious, bloodcurdling snarl, the fur on his back standing straight up as he stared at the heavy steel door of the cabin.
The guards outside had gone entirely silent. There were no radio check-ins. No footsteps crunching in the snow.
"They're here," Silas said, the chilling truth settling over him. Julian had sold them out to the Lane family. The safehouse was compromised.
"Positions!" Dante roared, kicking over a heavy oak table to create a barricade. The remaining four guards in the room instantly took cover, aiming their assault rifles at the windows and doors.
Silas grabbed Mara by the arm, hauling her up from the sofa. He dragged her and the sleeping Theo into the narrow, concrete hallway that led to the reinforced bathroom—the only room without exterior walls.
"Get inside the tub," Silas ordered, his voice echoing in the confined space. "Keep your body over Theo. Do not come out until I open this door."
"Silas, please," Mara cried, absolute terror gripping her chest as she climbed into the cast-iron tub, clutching the toddler. Bruno jumped in right after her, positioning his massive body over both of them like a furry shield.
Silas pulled a secondary weapon from his ankle holster—a compact 9mm pistol—and pressed it into Mara’s trembling hands.
"If anyone comes through this door who isn't me, you pull the trigger until it clicks," Silas commanded, his dark eyes burning with fierce, desperate intensity. He leaned down, pressing his lips fiercely to her forehead. "I'm coming back for you."
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He slammed the heavy wooden door shut, locking her in the dark.
A second later, the front door of the cabin exploded inward with a deafening, catastrophic boom. The siege of the Blackwood cabin had begun, and Mara was trapped in the dark, holding a gun, praying to a god she wasn't sure was listening to spare the violent man she had somehow fallen in love with.
