I stumbled backward out of Victor’s arms, coughing as thick, grey smoke began pouring into the hallway outside.

"Stay behind me!" Victor roared, his voice instantly snapping back into the cold, lethal command of an elite commander.

He didn't hesitate. He pulled his concealed firearm from his shoulder holster with lightning speed, racking the slide back as he rushed toward the heavy oak library doors.

Before he could reach them, the doors were kicked violently inward.

Marcus Sterling stumbled backward into the room, bleeding heavily from a gash across his forehead, clutching an asNextlt rifle in one hand.

"Boss! We’ve been breached!" Marcus gasped, coughing as he scanned the smoke-filled corridor. "The perimeter security grid just went offline. Multiple armed intruders wearing tactical gear crossed the north wall through the greenhouse. They’re blowing the secondary access gates!"

"Who sent them?" Victor demanded, his voice like cracking ice as he stepped out into the hallway, firing two rapid shots toward the shadowy figures advancing down the corridor.

Bang! Bang!

A man in black tactical gear dropped behind a marble pillar down the hall, shouting orders in a harsh, clipped cadence.

"It’s not Vance’s crew," Marcus yelled over the sound of automatic gunfire echoing through the grand foyer. "It’s the syndicate! The remnants of the old guard—the ones we cleaned out of the shipping docks last month. They’re executing a retaliatory hit!"

My heart plummeted into my stomach. The romantic fog of the library vanished instantly, replaced by the brutal, terrifying reality of Victor’s underworld empire. I was trapped inside a multimillion-dollar fortress while professional mercenaries waged war in the corridors.

"Bennett!" Victor shouted over the deafening rattle of gunfire. He grabbed my arm, pulling me back toward the hidden service alcove behind the massive stone fireplace. "Get into the panic shelter beneath the wine cellar! Do not stop for anything!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" I screamed, fighting against his grip. "You can't fight an entire tactical squad by yourself!"

"Obey the damn order for once in your life!" Victor yelled, his dark eyes flashing with fierce, desperate panic. He pressed a small brass key into my palm and slammed the hidden stone panel open, revealing a dark, descending steel staircase. "Marcus! Cover her!"

Before I could argue further, Marcus shoved me into the dark stairwell just as a volley of automatic rifle fire chewed through the wooden paneling right where I had been standing.

Clatter! Bang!

The stone panel slammed shut behind me with a heavy, automated click, plunging me into absolute darkness.

I stood on the cold concrete steps, trembling violently, my hands clutching the brass key. I could hear the muffled sounds of gunfire, explosions, and shouting echoing through the floors above me. Victor was up there, fighting for his life against men who wanted to tear his entire empire down to ash.

I couldn't just hide in a hole like a coward.

I pulled my phone out of my uniform pocket, praying for a signal beneath three feet of reinforced concrete. The screen flickered... one bar of LTE.

I didn't call 911. The police in Chicago took twenty minutes to respond to wealthy estates, and by then, everyone in this house could be dead.

Instead, I dialed the only number that mattered.

Tommy answered on the second ring, his voice raspy and panicked. "Nora? What is going on? I saw breaking news on TV about an explosion at the Russo estate—"

"Tommy, listen to me very carefully," I whispered fiercely, pressing my phone against my ear. "You remember when dad taught us how to override the municipal security grid protocols during the old warehouse days?"

"Nora, what are you talking about? Are you crazy? You’re working for a billionaire!"

"Tommy! Do you want me to come home alive or not?" I snapped. "Get on your laptop right now. Access the public utility substation firewall on 4th Street, route a localized power surge through the estate’s secondary transformer box, and pop every smart-lock door on the ground floor. Now!"

There was a tense, agonizing pause on the other end of the line.

"I’m... I’m in," Tommy breathed, the sound of furious keyboard tapping clattering through the speaker. "Nora, if this blows the substation, the whole neighborhood goes dark."

"Do it!"

FLASH!

Every emergency light inside the underground shelter flickered and died instantly, plunging the entire estate into pitch-black darkness.

Upstairs, the sound of automatic gunfire abruptly stopped, replaced by confused shouts as the mercenaries' high-tech tactical visors and digital comms fried out from the power surge.

I grabbed a heavy brass candelabra from the landing, slipped the hidden stone panel open a crack, and stepped back out into the war zone.