CHAPTER 3 – THE SIEGE
CHAPTER 3 – THE SIEGE
The explosion ripped through the front gate with enough force to shatter every window overlooking the courtyard.
Glass rained across the marble foyer.
Security alarms howled through the mansion.
Smoke rolled over the snow-covered grounds.
For a fraction of a second, no one moved.
Then Emmett Cross became the man Chicago feared.
"Lock down the estate!" he barked.
His voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Every guard snapped into motion.
Steel security doors slammed over the first-floor entrances.
Hidden barricades rose from beneath the driveway.
Floodlights ignited across the property, turning the blizzard into a field of white fire.
Tommy grabbed his radio.
"North wall secure!"
"East team report!"
Gunfire answered him.
Three sharp bursts echoed from the front entrance.
A guard cried out.
Another shouted, "Snipers!"
Emmett was already moving.
He sprinted toward the staircase.
Mrs. Ingrid appeared in the hallway, clutching Luna protectively.
The little girl had been jolted awake by the blast.
She looked terrified.
"What happened?" she cried.
Emmett knelt in front of her.
His voice softened.
"Listen to me, Luna."
"You stay with Mrs. Ingrid."
"No matter what you hear..."
"You do not leave the panic room."
She looked at him with frightened eyes.
"Is it the bad man?"
Emmett didn't lie.
"Yes."
Her tiny fingers grabbed his sleeve.
"He found me..."
For one impossible moment, the feared mafia boss simply looked at the frightened child.
Then he placed his hand gently over hers.
"He found the wrong house."
Mrs. Ingrid hurried Luna toward the hidden panic room concealed behind an antique bookshelf.
The steel door closed with a heavy thud.
Seconds later—
A bullet shattered the chandelier above Emmett's head.
He didn't flinch.
"Roof!" Tommy shouted.
"Two shooters!"
Emmett fired twice through the broken skylight.
One silhouette disappeared.
The other rolled behind a chimney.
Outside...
Black SUVs burst through the destroyed front gate.
Eight.
No...
Ten vehicles.
Doors flew open.
Men dressed in winter tactical gear poured into the estate carrying assault rifles.
Victor hadn't come to threaten.
He had come to erase everyone inside.
Miles away...
Inside an abandoned meatpacking warehouse...
Diana Harper hung from a steel beam with her wrists bound above her head.
Blood trickled from a cut across her forehead.
Victor Brennon walked slowly around her.
Five years had changed him.
His beard hid part of his face.
Gray streaked his hair.
But his eyes remained the same.
Cold.
Patient.
Cruel.
He smiled as he checked his expensive watch.
"Right on schedule."
Diana forced herself to look at him.
"You'll never get her."
Victor laughed.
"Oh, Diana."
"I already know exactly where she is."
Her heart stopped.
"No..."
"You sent her to Emmett."
Victor poured himself a glass of whiskey.
"Interesting choice."
"You always did believe monsters have rules."
Diana remained silent.
Victor walked closer.
"You know what fascinates me?"
He crouched beside her.
"Emmett Cross spent years pretending he was different from men like me."
"He called me immoral."
"He called me reckless."
Victor smiled wider.
"But when enough people start shooting..."
"Everyone becomes the same."
Diana spat blood at his shoes.
"You don't know him."
Victor's smile faded.
"No."
"I made him."
Back at the Cross Estate...
The assault intensified.
Bullets ripped into the stone columns.
Windows exploded.
The front fountain erupted as automatic fire shredded the marble.
Tommy slid beside Emmett behind an overturned grand piano.
"We've counted at least thirty attackers."
Emmett calmly reloaded.
"Too many."
Tommy nodded.
"They're not trying to enter."
"They're keeping us busy."
Emmett froze.
Then realization struck.
"The tunnels."
Beneath the Cross Estate lay an emergency escape system built decades earlier.
Only a handful of people knew it existed.
If Victor knew...
Someone inside had betrayed them.
Emmett grabbed his radio.
"Basement team!"
No response.
Again.
"Basement team!"
Only static.
His eyes darkened.
"They're already below us."
Hidden beneath the mansion...
The emergency tunnel stretched beneath layers of reinforced concrete.
Mrs. Ingrid hurried Luna through the dim passage.
Emergency lights flickered overhead.
Luna clutched her stuffed rabbit tightly.
"Are we safe?"
Mrs. Ingrid forced a smile.
"We will be."
Behind them...
A metallic sound echoed through the tunnel.
Clang.
Clang.
Someone was cutting through the blast door.
Mrs. Ingrid stopped.
The sound came again.
Closer.
Then—
A calm voice echoed through the darkness.
"Mrs. Ingrid..."
"You've always been loyal."
Victor Brennon.
His voice came through the tunnel speakers.
"You have exactly one minute."
"Hand me the child."
"And everyone else lives."
Luna buried her face against Mrs. Ingrid.
The older woman stood straighter.
Her hands shook.
Her voice did not.
"You'll have to kill me."
Victor chuckled.
"I expected that answer."
The cutting torch roared louder.
The steel door began to glow red.
Emmett burst into the underground level seconds later.
Smoke filled the corridor.
He saw the glowing blast door.
He heard Luna crying behind it.
He understood everything.
Victor had never intended to attack the mansion.
The assault outside had only been a distraction.
His real target had always been one little girl.
Emmett looked at the six guards beside him.
"Open the armory."
Tommy stared.
"The heavy weapons?"
Emmett nodded once.
"No one..."
May you like
He loaded another magazine.
"...takes a child from my house."
