HE THOUGHT THIS WAS A CORPORATE EVENT

The darkness was absolute.

For two seconds, there was total silence. Then the backup generators kicked in, bathing the mansion in a dim, eerie emergency glow.

“Protect the boss!” a guard shouted.

Guns were drawn. The sound of safeties clicking off echoed through the massive foyer.

I didn’t wait for permission. I grabbed Helen’s wheelchair and yanked her backward into the study, slamming the heavy oak door shut behind us just as the first spray of bullets shattered the front windows.

Glass exploded inward. Women screamed. Men shouted in Italian and English.

“Leo!” Helen cried out.

I spun around. The leather sofa where I had left the boy was empty.

“He’s not here!” I panicked, dropping to my knees and looking under the desk.

“I’m here,” a small voice whispered from behind the heavy velvet curtains.

I crawled over and pulled him into my arms, shielding his body with my own.

Outside the door, the gunfire was deafening. It sounded like a warzone. I clamped my hands over Leo’s ears, praying the heavy wooden door would hold.

“Nora, listen to me,” Helen said. She had wheeled herself beside the safe and was pulling something out of the very back. It was a heavy, silver revolver.

She checked the cylinder with surprising efficiency and held it steady on her lap.

“If that door opens and it is not my son,” she said, her voice ice-cold, “you push my chair down so I have a clear line of sight. Do you understand?”

I nodded, too terrified to speak.

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped.

The silence that followed was worse. It was heavy, expectant.

“Vincent?” Helen called out cautiously.

No answer.

Then, a voice echoed from the hallway. It wasn’t Vincent’s.

“Caroline,” a man’s voice called out. It was smooth, polite. The voice from the phone. Thomas. “Are you alright, sis?”

“I’m fine!” Caroline yelled from somewhere near the front door. “They’ve got me pinned down by the stairs!”

“Don’t worry. The Morettis brought plenty of friends,” Thomas said.

My blood ran cold. The Morettis weren’t here to kill Vincent because of a rivalry. They were here as hired muscle for Caroline’s brother.

“Where’s the old woman?” Thomas asked.

“In the study,” Caroline answered. “The nurse took her in there. Get them. The boy is in there too.”

I heard heavy footsteps approaching the study door.

Helen raised the silver revolver, her hands perfectly steady.

“Nora,” Helen whispered. “Behind the desk. There’s a latch on the floorboards. It leads to the wine cellar. Take Leo and go.”

“I’m not leaving you,” I whispered back fiercely.

“You have a daughter who needs you. Go!”

The doorknob jiggled. Then, a heavy kick slammed against the wood. The frame splintered.

I grabbed Leo, threw back the rug behind the desk, and found the brass ring. I yanked it up, revealing a dark, narrow stone staircase.

Another kick. The door flew open.

A tall man with a scar across his jaw stood in the doorway, raising an assault rifle.

Helen didn’t hesitate. She fired.

The gunshot in the small room was deafening. The man stumbled backward, clutching his shoulder, and collapsed into the hallway.

“Go!” Helen screamed at me.

I pushed Leo down the stairs into the darkness and followed, pulling the heavy trapdoor shut just as Thomas stepped over his fallen man and looked into the room.

I slid the deadbolt on the underside of the trapdoor into place.

We were in total darkness. The air smelled of damp earth and old wine.

“Keep moving,” I whispered to Leo, taking his hand.

We crept through the rows of dusty wine racks toward the far end of the cellar. There was a small, high window that led out to the gardens. If I could get it open, we could escape.

But as we reached the back wall, a flashlight beam clicked on, blinding us.

Standing in front of the window, holding a silenced pistol, was a man in a gray overcoat.

Mark.

His face was bruised and bleeding from where Vincent had beaten him, but he was grinning.

“Well, well,” Mark said, spitting blood onto the stone floor. “Looks like my wife’s plans just went to hell. But I think I’ll take my retirement fund anyway.”

He pointed the gun at Leo.