Chapter 6 - THE LOCKET
The intruder raised his weapon, the red laser sight painting a dot directly on Olivia’s chest.
"Got them," he barked into his headset.
Olivia didn't think. Instinct took over. She threw the heavy wool coat directly over the man’s head, blinding him for a split second, and shoved him hard. He stumbled backward, his gun firing harmlessly into the ceiling.
"Run, Lily! To the stairs!" Olivia screamed.
She pushed her daughter out of the bathroom. The bedroom was a war zone. Nero was dragging a second man into the hallway, growling viciously.
Olivia grabbed a heavy brass lamp from the nightstand and swung it with all her might, striking the entangled intruder in the knee. He collapsed with a howl.
She sprinted into the corridor after Lily.
"Lily, wait!"
But in the darkness, the seven-year-old was disoriented. Instead of heading toward the back service stairs, she ran toward the grand east staircase.
At the bottom of the stairs, the front doors burst open. Flashlights swept up the marble steps.
Lily froze on the landing, terrified like a deer in headlights.
"Grab the kid!" a voice shouted from below.
Olivia ran faster than she ever had in her life, but she was too far away.
Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the upper balcony. Gabriel.
He tackled the lead man on the stairs, sending them both tumbling down the marble steps in a brutal mess of limbs. Matteo appeared a second later, firing precise shots into the dark, forcing the remaining men to scatter into the foyer.
Gabriel rolled to his feet at the bottom of the stairs, breathing heavily.
"Lily, come here!" Olivia yelled, reaching the landing and pulling her daughter into her arms.
"I'm sorry," Lily cried. "I dropped Grandma's locket."
Olivia looked down. The antique silver locket her mother had given Lily was lying halfway down the stairs, glinting in the moonlight.
"Leave it," Olivia said, pulling her back.
"No, it's mine!" Lily squirmed, trying to reach for it.
"Gabriel, look out!" Matteo shouted.
One of the intruders on the floor had drawn a backup weapon. He aimed at Gabriel's back.
Gabriel spun, but the man fired.
A sharp crack echoed. Gabriel grunted, stumbling sideways, gripping his left shoulder.
Matteo returned fire, dropping the shooter instantly.
Silence fell over the foyer, heavy and ringing.
Olivia rushed down the steps. "Mr. Duca! Are you—"
"I'm fine," Gabriel winced, his white shirt blossoming with dark red. "Through and through. Keep moving."
He leaned against the banister, coughing. He looked down and saw Lily's locket on the step. He reached down to pick it up.
As his fingers brushed the silver, a cold, elegant voice echoed from the shattered front doorway.
"Leave it, Gabriel."
The emergency floodlights flickered on, casting harsh, blinding light across the grand entrance.
Standing in the doorway, flanked by four heavily armed private mercenaries, was Elena Duca. She wore a tailored black trench coat, her silver hair perfectly coiffed despite the hour.
She didn't look like a woman staging a home invasion. She looked like a CEO arriving for a board meeting.
"Aunt Elena," Gabriel spat, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "I should have known."
"You always were slow to see what was right in front of you," Elena said smoothly. She stepped into the foyer, her heels clicking on the marble. She reached down and picked up Lily's locket, examining it with disdain. "Such cheap trinkets you let into this house, Gabriel. Just like the staff."
She looked up, locking eyes with Olivia.
Olivia saw it immediately. Elena’s right hand was gloved, but beneath the cuff of her coat, a sliver of blue braided thread was visible.
"You dug up my wife's grave," Gabriel said, his voice trembling with a rage that shook the chandelier above them. "To put her rosary in Marcus's safe."
Elena smiled thinly. "Marcus was getting greedy. He wanted too large a percentage of the company for his role in framing you for your father's death. I needed a reason for you to kill him. Finding that rosary would have sent you into a blind rage. You would have done my dirty work for me."
She sighed, tossing the locket onto the floor. "But you had to go and let the maid find the bugs too early."
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Elena snapped her fingers. The mercenaries raised their rifles, aiming at Gabriel, Matteo, Olivia, and Lily.
"Sign the trust over to me right now, Gabriel," Elena demanded, pulling a folded document from her pocket. "Or I will kill everyone in this room. Starting with the child."
