Chapter 2 - AMBUSH IN THE DARK|
Two muffled gunshots shattered the quiet room.
The lead hitman collapsed instantly, his heavy body crashing into a glass side table and sending crystal decanters shattering across the hardwood floor. The second shooter panicked, sweeping his automatic rifle across the room in a blind, spray-and-pray burst.
Bullets ripped through the plaster, shredding a millions-dollar canvas painting and sending splinters flying through the air.
"Nora! Cover!" Dominic yelled.
He grabbed her arm with a grip like cold iron, yanked her toward the heavy marble fireplace, and returned fire over the stone mantle. His third shot found its mark, and the second hitman went limp near the foyer console.
Silence reclaimed the penthouse, heavy and thick with the acrid smell of burnt gunpowder and expensive cologne.
Nora lay curled against the hearth, gasping for air, her uniform covered in plaster dust and glass shards.
Dominic knelt beside her, his hands rapidly scanning her arms and shoulders for blood. His icy blue eyes were wild with an adrenaline she had never seen in him before.
"Are you hit?" he demanded, his voice tight.
"No," Nora wheezed, pushing herself up. "No, I'm okay. But... are there more?"
Dominic stood up, walking over to the fallen assassin. He flipped the man over with his boot, retrieving a tactical radio that was buzzing with static.
"Alpha team, report," a harsh voice crackled through the speaker. "Is Russo dead? Did you secure the safe codes?"
Dominic pressed the button, his face cold as stone. "Tell Vincent Marro that if he wants my penthouse, he'll have to come up here and take it himself."
He crushed the radio beneath his heel.
Then he turned to look at Nora, standing amidst the ruin of his home.
"You brought me the phone," Dominic said quietly, looking at her as if seeing her for the night's first time. "You could have walked out the back door and let them shoot me."
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"My father taught me right from wrong," Nora said, her voice shaking slightly as she brushed dust off her apron. "And Chloe is a snake."
Dominic stepped closer, offering her his hand. "Come on, maid. We have a empire to win back."
