Chapter 5 - The Siege at MidnightThe security lights around the Lake Forest estate flickered once, twice, and then died completely.
Total darkness swallowed the mansion.
I was barricaded inside the second-floor nursery with Noah, our backs pressed against the reinforced steel door while heavy footsteps echoed up the grand staircase. Downstairs, the muffled sound of silenced gunshots shattered the quiet night, followed by the heavy thud of a body hitting the marble floor.
Dominic was down there alone, facing Marcus Vance and a private strike team from Apex Gen-Tech.
"They're outside the window," Noah whispered, clutching my hand with a grip so tight my fingers went numb. His dark eyes weren't filled with panic anymore; they were wide with a terrifying, unnatural clarity. "The glass isn't real, Clara. They're already in the room."
Before I could process his warning, the reinforced glass window facing the dark forest shattered inward in a shower of glittering shards.
Three figures dressed head-to-toe in black tactical gear dropped silently onto the nursery rug, their night-vision goggles glowing an eerie, toxic green in the pitch blackness. They didn't shout warnings. They raised suppressed submachine guns, their laser sights painting red dots across the walls.
"Take the boy," a harsh voice hissed through a comms unit. "Leave the girl as collateral."
I didn't think. Panic gave way to a primal, desperate surge of adrenaline. I grabbed the heavy wooden rocking chair beside the crib and hurled it directly at the lead operative’s chest, sending him crashing backward into the toy chest.
"Run, Noah!" I screamed, grabbing the boy by the hand.
We bolted toward the adjoining bathroom just as a burst of automatic gunfire chewed through the doorframe behind us, sending splinters of oak raining down like confetti. I locked the bathroom door from the inside, shoved the heavy cast-iron bathtub against the wood, and dragged Noah down behind the vanity sink.
Outside the door, heavy boots pounded against the floorboards.
"Clearing the perimeter!" a voice shouted.
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Then came a sound that froze the blood in my veins: Dominic’s voice, cold and echoing from the hallway outside.
"Step away from that door, Vance, or your next breath will be your last."
