Chapter 4: Blood in the Rain
Chapter 4: Blood in the Rain
The first explosion shook the mansion so violently that dust rained from the ceiling of the underground archive.
The emergency lights flickered back to life, bathing the room in an eerie crimson glow.
Gabriel shoved me behind a steel filing cabinet.
"Stay down!"
Another burst of automatic gunfire echoed from somewhere above us.
The walls vibrated.
Whoever had come wasn't trying to rob Sebastian Lombardi.
They had come to erase him.
Gabriel pressed his finger to the earpiece hidden beneath his collar.
"Report!"
Only static answered.
Then—
"...North corridor... multiple casualties..."
The transmission ended in a scream.
Gabriel cursed under his breath.
"They've cut the communications."
I stared at him.
"How many people are attacking?"
"I don't know."
His jaw tightened.
"But they knew exactly where to hit."
That frightened him.
And if Gabriel was afraid, everyone else should have been.
Three floors above us, Sebastian sat motionless in his wheelchair.
The grand bedroom was empty except for two armed guards.
Rain hammered against the windows.
The lights failed.
Darkness swallowed the room.
One guard reached for his flashlight.
The second never had the chance.
The window exploded inward.
A suppressed rifle cracked once.
The bullet struck the guard in the throat.
Before his body hit the floor, three masked figures rolled through the shattered glass.
Professional.
Silent.
Disciplined.
One raised his weapon toward Sebastian.
"Target confirmed."
Sebastian didn't flinch.
Instead, he calmly reached beneath the armrest of his wheelchair.
Click.
A hidden panel slid open.
Inside rested a compact black pistol.
The first attacker fired.
Sebastian fired first.
The bullet struck the man's shoulder, spinning him sideways.
The second attacker lunged forward.
Too late.
A bookshelf behind Sebastian swung open, revealing a narrow steel passage hidden inside the wall.
The wheelchair accelerated backward.
The attackers rushed after him.
The door slammed shut inches before they reached it.
One emptied an entire magazine into solid steel.
Nothing.
Sebastian disappeared into the darkness beneath his own mansion.
Meanwhile...
Gabriel led me through a maze of underground tunnels.
"I didn't know this place existed."
"Very few people do."
The passage smelled of concrete and machine oil.
Emergency lights blinked every few feet.
Somewhere overhead, explosions continued.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears.
"What about Sebastian?"
"He has his own escape route."
"You sound confident."
"I designed it."
That surprised me.
"You?"
Gabriel nodded without slowing.
"I've been with him for twenty-three years."
"You knew him before the bombing."
"I knew his father."
His voice became distant.
"I carried Sebastian out of the burning car."
I looked at him.
"You were there?"
"I watched his father die."
For the first time, I understood.
Gabriel wasn't an employee.
He was family.
We reached a reinforced security room.
Eight surveillance monitors covered one wall.
Half were black.
The others showed armed men moving through the mansion with military precision.
One camera focused on the medical wing.
I froze.
Dr. Victor Reynolds stood inside the MRI room.
Completely calm.
He wasn't hiding.
He wasn't running.
He was opening a locked cabinet.
Gabriel leaned closer.
"What is he doing?"
On the screen, Reynolds removed a thick folder.
He slipped it into a leather briefcase.
Then he looked directly into the security camera.
And smiled.
Not the smile of a frightened doctor.
The smile of a man whose plan was unfolding exactly as expected.
My stomach dropped.
"He knew."
Gabriel turned toward me.
"Knew what?"
"The attack."
Before either of us could speak again, the doctor calmly reached up...
...and waved at the camera.
As though he knew we were watching.
Then he pulled a small remote from his pocket.
"What is that?" I whispered.
Gabriel's eyes widened.
"No..."
Reynolds pressed the button.
Every monitor went black.
An instant later, the security room erupted in sparks.
The main control panel exploded.
The blast threw Gabriel across the room.
I hit the concrete floor hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.
Smoke filled the air.
Alarms screamed.
Somewhere in the darkness, I heard footsteps.
Not Gabriel's.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching.
A flashlight beam swept through the smoke.
A man's voice echoed across the ruined control room.
"Find the therapist."
Another voice answered.
"The boss wants her alive."
Alive.
Not Sebastian.
Me.
I crawled behind the wreckage of the shattered console, trying to quiet my breathing.
The footsteps came closer.
One pair.
Then another.
A boot stopped less than three feet from where I was hiding.
The beam of the flashlight drifted across the floor.
Toward my hand.
I held my breath.
The light paused.
"She's here," a man said quietly.
Before he could raise his rifle—
A deafening gunshot exploded through the room.
The attacker collapsed instantly.
Behind him stood Sebastian Lombardi.
Rainwater dripped from his black suit.
His pistol was steady.
His face was colder than death itself.
"You touched my doctor," he said.
His voice was almost gentle.
"That was your last mistake."
Then something happened that stopped every person in the room.
Using one hand against the wall...
Sebastian Lombardi pushed himself upward.
For one impossible second...
May you like
He wasn't sitting anymore.
He was standing.
