Chapter 7 - The Siege In The Dark
The emergency backup lights flickered on, casting a dim, eerie red glow over the nursery.
Downstairs, the sound of automatic gunfire erupted. The Bellini family hadn't just sent a warning; they had sent an army.
Luca shoved the ledgers into his coat. He handed me the silver key from Catherine’s box.
"Hannah, listen to me," he said, his eyes locking onto mine. "Take Sophie. Use the servant’s staircase. It leads down to the old wine cellar. There’s a reinforced panic room behind the wine racks. Lock yourselves inside. Do not open it for anyone."
"What about you?" I asked, my heart pounding against my ribs.
"Thomas and I will hold them off."
"No," Thomas said firmly. "I am going with Hannah. I swore to Catherine I would protect her daughter."
Luca looked at the old man. The respect between them was absolute. "Keep her safe, Tommy."
Luca pulled a heavy assault rifle from a hidden panel in the wall and ran out into the hallway.
I grabbed Sophie’s hand. "Come on, sweetie. We’re playing a game of hide and seek."
We hurried out of the nursery, Thomas following closely behind, his pistol drawn. We slipped through a hidden doorway disguised as a bookshelf and descended the narrow, winding servant’s staircase.
The air grew cold and damp as we reached the cellar. The sounds of the gunfight above us were muffled but terrifying.
We wove through the massive oak wine barrels.
"Here," Thomas said, pointing to a specific rack. He pulled a lever hidden behind a dusty bottle of Pinot Noir.
The rack swung open, revealing a heavy steel door.
I rushed Sophie inside the panic room. It was stark but secure, with concrete walls and a heavy iron locking mechanism.
Thomas stepped in behind us. He grabbed the iron handle to pull the door shut.
But a hand shot out and grabbed the edge of the door, stopping it from closing.
I screamed.
A man in a tactical vest pushed his way into the room, raising a shotgun.
He wasn't looking at me or Sophie. He was looking at Thomas.
"The old man dies first," the hitman snarled.
He pulled the trigger.
Thomas dove, pushing me and Sophie to the floor. The blast tore through the concrete wall where we had just been standing.
The hitman pumped the shotgun, aiming down at Thomas.
"Goodbye, old timer."
Before he could fire, I saw it. The heavy, iron fire extinguisher mounted on the wall beside me.
I didn't think. I ripped it off the wall, hoisted it over my head, and brought it down with all my strength onto the back of the hitman’s skull.
The man collapsed like a sack of bricks.
The shotgun clattered to the floor.
I stood there, panting, staring at the man I had just knocked unconscious.
Thomas slowly got to his feet. He looked at the man on the floor, then at me.
"You swing hard, Hannah," Thomas said, a grim smile touching his lips.
"I was a waitress before this," I breathed. "I carried heavy trays."
I kicked the shotgun away and helped Thomas push the heavy steel door shut. The deadbolt engaged with a loud, satisfying clank.
We were safe.
But as Thomas leaned against the wall to catch his breath, his coat fell open.
I gasped.
A massive patch of crimson blood was spreading across Thomas’s white shirt, just below his ribs. He had been hit by a stray piece of shrapnel from the shotgun blast.
"Mr. DeLuca!" I cried, rushing to him.
Thomas slid down the wall, clutching his side. His face was pale, his breathing shallow.
"It's alright, Hannah," he whispered. "It's just a scratch."
"It’s not a scratch," I said, tearing off my apron to press it against the wound.
Sophie sat beside him, tears streaming down her face. "Grandpa Tommy, don't go to sleep."
Thomas smiled weakly and touched her cheek. "I won't, sweetheart."
He looked at me. His eyes were losing focus.
"Hannah," he whispered. "If I don't make it... there is one more thing you need to know. About your mother."
"My mother is safe," I said, applying pressure to the wound. "Just hold on."
"No," Thomas choked out. "Your mother didn't just find the files on the Bellini family. She found something else. Something about Vanessa."
"What about Vanessa?"
Thomas coughed. "Vanessa isn't Elias Thorne’s niece."
I stared at him. "What?"
"She was a plant. A girl they hired off the streets to infiltrate the Moretti family." Thomas’s eyes widened with a sudden, horrifying realization. "Hannah... she has the basement key. The skeleton key."
My blood ran cold.
Luca had sent Vanessa to the basement. To the vault.
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"The explosives," Thomas gasped, his head falling back against the concrete. "She wasn't trying to steal the money. She was trying to arm the fail-safe."
TITLE: The Basement Vault
