Chapter 13 - Betrayal from Within
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Gunfire erupted from the main living area, echoing down the marble corridors of the penthouse.
Liya’s blood ran cold. The impenetrable fortress had fallen.
"Move!" Marcus yelled, grabbing Liya’s arm and dragging her toward the secret panic room entrance hidden behind the bookshelf. "The medical team is getting your mother. Go!"
Liya scrambled into the reinforced steel room just as the medical staff rushed Eleanor inside on a specialized wheelchair. The heavy metal door slammed shut, plunging them into dim emergency lighting.
Through the security monitors on the wall, Liya watched the horror unfold.
Heavily armed mercenaries wearing the Romanov crest poured out of the private elevators. But they hadn't breached the security alone. Adrian’s own uncle, Lorenzo, was standing with them, directing the soldiers toward the master bedroom.
"Lorenzo disabled the security grid," Liya whispered in horror.
"Where is Adrian?" Eleanor asked frantically.
Liya scanned the monitors. She found him on the feed for the rooftop helipad. Adrian was fighting a brutal, desperate battle against five armed men. He moved with lethal precision, dropping two mercenaries with his handgun, but he was heavily outnumbered.
He took a bullet to his leg and collapsed onto the rain-slicked concrete.
"No!" Liya screamed, slamming her hands against the monitor.
A tall figure stepped into the camera frame on the roof. It was Elena Romanov, holding an umbrella, smiling down at the bleeding mafia king.
"You chose poorly, Adrian," Elena’s voice crackled through the security audio feed. "Now, I will take your empire, and my men will find your little waitress hiding in the penthouse."
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Liya didn't think. She turned to the rack of emergency weapons on the panic room wall. She had never held a gun in her life, but watching the man she loved bleeding on the roof changed her instantly.
She grabbed a heavy Glock 19.
