Chapter 5 - THE BARRICADE
The blinking red timer on the monitor felt like a physical blow to my chest.
04:59
Carlo Bellini wasn't just here to take the ledger. He was here to ensure the Moretti bloodline ended tonight.
"He's going to blow the safe room," I whispered, pure terror freezing the blood in my veins.
"Emily, listen to me," Silvio groaned, struggling to push himself up against the steel wall. His face was chalk-white, the blood pooling rapidly on the concrete floor beneath him. "The door is reinforced. It can withstand small arms fire, but not a shaped C4 charge."
I spun around, looking desperately around the windowless, ten-by-ten concrete bunker. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
"We have to get out!" I panicked, rushing to the heavy steel door.
"No!" Silvio shouted, grabbing my ankle with his good hand. The effort made him cough violently, spraying blood onto his white shirt. "If you open that door, his men will gun you both down before you take two steps. Carlo wants the kid dead."
Noah, startled awake by the shouting, sat up on the cot. He rubbed his eyes, clutching the wooden music box.
"Emily?" Noah asked, his voice trembling as he saw the blood on the floor. "What's wrong with Silvio?"
"He's hurt, sweetie, but he's going to be okay," I lied, my voice shaking so badly I barely recognized it. I ran over to the cot and pulled Noah tightly against my side.
I looked back at the monitor.
Carlo and his men were at the end of the hallway, methodically clearing the last remaining guards Luca had left behind. The muffled pop-pop-pop of suppressed gunfire echoed faintly through the thick walls.
03:45
"Silvio, what do we do?" I begged, tears springing to my eyes. "We can't just sit here and wait to die!"
Silvio forced himself up onto one knee, grimacing in agony. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a heavy, black tactical radio.
"There's an emergency ventilation shaft," Silvio gasped, pointing a shaking finger toward a small, square metal grate near the ceiling in the back corner of the room. "It leads up to the roof. Luca had it installed in case the primary exits were compromised."
I looked at the grate. It was small. Too small for Silvio’s massive frame. Too small for me.
"Noah can fit," Silvio said, reading my mind.
I looked down at the nine-year-old boy trembling against my leg.
"No," Noah cried, burying his face in my apron. "I'm not leaving you, Emily! I want my dad!"
"Noah, listen to me," I said, kneeling down and framing his tear-streaked face with my hands. I forced every ounce of calm I could muster into my voice. "You have to be brave right now. You are going to climb into that vent, and you are going to crawl all the way to the roof. Do you understand?"
"But what about you?" Noah sobbed, his dark eyes wide with terror.
"I'll be right behind you," I lied smoothly, the most agonizing lie I had ever told.
02:30
Silvio tossed me his heavy black pistol. I caught it clumsily, the cold metal heavy and terrifying in my hands.
"The vent cover is secured from the inside," Silvio instructed, his breathing becoming shallow and ragged. "Pull the two release pins on the side. Boost him up."
I didn't hesitate. I dragged the small metal folding chair from the corner and placed it directly under the vent. I climbed up, my fingers desperately clawing at the metal grate until I found the release pins. I yanked them hard.
The grate swung open, revealing a dark, narrow shaft stretching upward.
I jumped down and grabbed Noah, lifting his small body onto the chair.
"Climb, Noah. Go," I ordered, pushing him up toward the opening.
Noah hesitated, clutching the wooden music box to his chest. He looked down at me, his lip trembling.
"Tell Daddy I love him," Noah whispered, a tear slipping down his cheek.
My heart shattered into a million pieces. "He knows, baby. He knows. Now go!"
Noah scrambled into the dark shaft, his small sneakers disappearing into the shadows as he began the terrifying climb toward the roof.
I quickly snapped the metal grate shut, locking the release pins back into place to conceal his escape route.
01:15
I stepped down from the chair, turning back to face the heavy steel door.
Silvio was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. He was fading fast.
"Silvio?" I whispered, kneeling beside him.
He didn't open his eyes. "Tell the boss... I held the line."
He went completely still.
A sob tore from my throat. I was alone.
On the monitor, Carlo Bellini stepped right up to the camera outside the safe room. He looked directly into the lens, a cruel, arrogant smile twisting his lips.
He held up the explosive canister and pressed it against the heavy steel door.
00:45
I backed away from the door, raising Silvio’s heavy pistol with both hands. My arms shook violently, the weapon feeling impossibly heavy. I had never fired a gun in my life.
"Emily Carter," Carlo’s voice crackled through the intercom system outside the door. "I know you can hear me."
I didn't answer. I just kept the gun trained on the center of the door.
"My sister told me you were a stubborn little maid," Carlo chuckled darkly. "If you open this door right now and hand over the boy, I promise I will make your death quick."
"He's not here, Carlo!" I yelled back, my voice echoing in the concrete bunker. "He's gone!"
Carlo laughed. "There is no way out of that room, sweetheart. We have the blueprints."
00:15
I backed up until my spine hit the far wall, my eyes locked on the heavy steel deadbolt.
"Say goodbye to the Moretti bloodline," Carlo mocked over the intercom.
00:05
00:04
00:03
I closed my eyes, bracing for the explosive concussive force that would end my life.
00:02
00:01
A deafening, thunderous roar ripped through the safe room.
But it didn't come from the door.
It came from the wall directly behind me.
The solid concrete wall violently exploded inward, showering the room in a terrifying hail of dust, debris, and jagged chunks of cinderblock.
I was thrown forward, crashing hard onto the floor, the pistol skidding away from me into the dust cloud. My ears rang with a high-pitched, agonizing whine.
I coughed, waving the thick gray dust away from my face, struggling to push myself up on trembling arms.
I looked back at the wall that had just exploded.
A massive, gaping hole had been blown straight through the reinforced concrete, connecting the safe room to the underground maintenance tunnels beneath the estate.
And stepping through the jagged hole, illuminated by the flashing red emergency lights, holding a heavy breaching shotgun, was Luca Moretti.
His face was covered in concrete dust, his eyes burning with a terrifying, absolute fury.
He saw me on the floor. He saw Silvio’s motionless body.
And then, his dark eyes frantically searched the small, ruined room.
"Where is Noah?" Luca roared, panic finally breaking through his lethal exterior.
Before I could answer, the heavy steel door on the other side of the room violently blew off its hinges as Carlo’s explosive finally detonated.
The door crashed onto the floor, crushing the metal folding chair.
The dust settled, revealing Carlo Bellini and his six armed men standing in the ruined doorway, weapons raised.
Carlo stared through the smoke, his arrogant smile freezing as he saw Luca standing in the breached wall.
"Hello, Carlo," Luca said softly, raising the heavy shotgun directly at his rival’s chest.
But Carlo didn't raise his weapon. He didn't order his men to fire.
Instead, a slow, malicious grin spread across Carlo’s face.
He stepped to the side, revealing someone standing behind him in the hallway.
My blood turned to ice.
Standing behind Carlo, held tightly by the scruff of his neck by a massive Russian mercenary, was Noah.
The mercenary had caught him as he tried to open the roof hatch.
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And in Noah’s small, trembling hands, wasn't the wooden music box.
It was Claire’s stolen urn.
