Chapter 5 - Blood in the MahoganyTwo men in black tactical gear, faces obscured by balaclavas and night-vision goggles, stepped through the shattered doorway. Their rifles swept the room, instantly locking onto Bennett.
Instead of freezing, Bennett fired twice.
The first mercenary dropped instantly, a clean round through the visor. The second managed to squeeze off a burst, the bullets tearing into the wall inches from Bennett’s shoulder before Bennett closed the distance, slamming the heavy butt of his pistol into the man’s temple with bone-crushing force. The mercenary crumpled to the floor.
More shouts echoed from the hallway.
Bennett didn't hesitate. He stripped the dead man’s assault rifle and extra magazines, slipping out through a private side exit that led toward the underground armory and communications hub.
The mansion was plunging into darkness as the emergency generators flickered and died. Red emergency strobes began to pulse along the baseboards, casting long, bloody shadows across the ancestral portraits.
Moving like a ghost through his own burning home, Bennett reached the central security nexus. Screens flickered across the wall—most of them fried or showing static, but one feed from the courtyard remained active.
Walter was pinned down behind an armored SUV outside, returning fire alongside three surviving guards against a dozen heavily armed assailants bearing an unfamiliar insignia stitched onto their tactical vests: a coiled viper over a dagger.
The Syndicate of the Black Adder. An old rival faction Bennett thought he had wiped out in Chicago three years ago.
"Walter," Bennett spoke into his earpiece, his voice dead calm.
"Boss! You're alive—"
"How many are left?"
"At least ten out there, and God knows how many inside sweeping the wings. They're looking for something, Boss. Or someone."
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Bennett’s blood ran cold. They weren’t just hitting his estate for territory or revenge. They knew about the little girl. They knew about Clara.
Someone inside his inner circle had sold them out, and they knew the bloodline connection between Elena and the child hiding beneath his desk.
