Chapter 11 - Blood on the Marble
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The deafening roar of automatic gunfire shattered the massive crystal chandeliers above them. Glass rained down like deadly, glittering snow onto the frantic guests.
Sophia didn't scream. Her maternal instincts overrode her terror entirely. She grabbed Emma from her chair, hauling the terrified, crying toddler into her arms, and dove beneath the heavy, solid oak head table.
Alessandro stood his ground, a terrifying force of nature in a tailored tuxedo. He fired with surgical precision, dropping three Viper assassins before they could even aim their weapons at the fleeing crowd.
“Move! Move!” Alessandro yelled, grabbing Sophia’s arm and dragging her and Emma out from under the table.
He shielded their bodies with his own broad back, leading them in a frantic sprint toward the hidden panic room behind the main library. Bullets chipped the marble pillars around them, sending showers of sharp dust into their faces.
Sophia kicked off her high heels, running barefoot in her heavy, ruined wedding dress, clutching Emma so tightly her arms ached.
They burst through the library doors, the heavy oak splintering as a barrage of bullets hammered against it from the hallway.
Alessandro slammed the doors shut, throwing the heavy iron deadbolt to buy them seconds. He rushed to the massive stone fireplace, punching a sequence into a hidden keypad behind a sconce.
The fireplace groaned, sliding sideways to reveal a thick, impenetrable steel vault door.
“Get in!” Alessandro commanded, shoving Sophia and Emma inside the dimly lit, fortified room.
“I’m not leaving you out here!” Sophia screamed, grabbing his bloody tuxedo sleeve.
“I have to seal it from the outside to lock the deadbolts,” Alessandro lied smoothly, his gray eyes softening with a desperate, fierce love. “I will clear the house. I promise I’ll come back for you.”
“Alessandro, no!”
Before she could pull him inside, Alessandro hit the emergency close button. The heavy steel door hissed shut, sealing Sophia and her daughter in absolute, terrifying silence, leaving the man she loved to face an army of assassins alone.
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Sophia collapsed onto the floor of the vault, wrapping her arms around a sobbing Emma, rocking back and forth.
She was safe. But the silence in the vault was agonizing. Every second that ticked by felt like a physical blow. She had no idea if her husband was alive or bleeding out on the marble floors of his own home.
