Chapter 5 - THE SIEGE OF GREENWICH ESTATE
“Get Rosa and Lily into the panic room now!” Ethan shouted, throwing his body in front of Rosa.
“Ethan, what’s happening?!” Rosa panicked, scrambling toward the playroom door to grab Lily.
“Natalie’s father knows the engagement is over,” Ethan said, pulling a sleek black handgun from a hidden drawer beneath the coffee table. “He knows if I analyze that gold button, I’ll have enough physical evidence to put him and Natalie in federal prison for attempted murder and corporate espionage. They aren't trying to crash my stock anymore, Rosa. They’re trying to destroy the evidence—and everyone who knows about it.”
Before Rosa could react, the glass windows of the grand foyer shattered down the hall.
CRASH!
Shouts and heavy footsteps echoed through the lower level.
“Find the girl!” a harsh voice yelled from the hallway. “Voss wants the maid and the kid silenced before the police arrive! Burn the master suite!”
Ethan grabbed Rosa’s arm, pulling her and Lily into the private study behind the master bedroom. He shoved open a hidden bookshelf, revealing a reinforced steel door with an electronic keypad.
“Get inside,” Ethan commanded, punching in a eight-digit code. The steel door hissed open.
“Ethan, come with us!” Rosa cried, holding Lily tightly against her chest. Lily was crying now, terrified by the loud noises.
“I have to seal the doors from the outside, or the override system won't activate,” Ethan said, looking into Rosa’s eyes. He reached out, gently cupping her cheek, then kissed Lily’s forehead. “I won't let anyone hurt my family again. I promise you.”
“Ethan, no!” Rosa screamed.
Ethan pushed the emergency lock button inside the frame and slammed the reinforced steel door shut. The heavy locks clicked into place with a deafening THUD.
Inside the pitch-black panic room, Rosa held Lily tight, hearing the distant sound of muffled gunshots and breaking glass outside.
Outside in the corridor, Ethan stood alone in the dim emergency lighting.
Three men in tactical gear rounded the corner, armed with suppressed pistols. When they saw Ethan standing in the center of the hallway holding a weapon, the leader smirked.
“Ethan Harmon,” the man said, raising his gun. “Mr. Voss sends his regards.”
“Voss made a mistake,” Ethan said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
“Oh yeah? What mistake?”
“He thought I was just a businessman,” Ethan replied.
Before the intruder could pull the trigger, Ethan lunged.
Ethan had spent five years in elite special operations intelligence before building his financial empire—a detail the media had long forgotten. In three swift, brutal movements, Ethan disarmed the first man, broke his arm, and used him as a human shield against the second attacker’s gunshots.
The hallway exploded into chaotic hand-to-hand combat. Ethan fought with lethal precision, taking down two of the mercenaries within seconds. But as he turned toward the third man, a shadow stepped out from the doorway behind him.
THACK!
A heavy iron bar struck Ethan across the back of the head.
Ethan collapsed onto the marble floor, his vision blurring, blood dripping down his temple.
Through his hazy vision, he saw a pair of high-heeled shoes walk up to him.
Natalie Voss stood over him, wearing black leather gloves, a cold, psychotic smile on her face. In her hand, she held a remote detonator.
“You should have just married me, Ethan,” Natalie whispered softly, kneeling next to his bleeding head. “We could have had it all. But you chose a filthy maid and her little bastard.”
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She pulled a small silver drive from her pocket and tossed it onto his chest.
“The police are going to find this mansion burned to the ground,” Natalie sneered. “A tragic electrical fire that consumed the billionaire, his secret family, and his entire legacy. And I... will inherit everything as your grieving ex-fiancée.”
