The flashing red of the engine lights cast long, violent streaks across the wet asphalt of the hotel courtyard. Darra sat on the back of an ambulance bumper, the scratchy wool blanket pulled tight around her shoulders, her hands still trembling from the heat of the fourth floor.

"How many?" Darra asked, scooping Chloe into her arms, pressing the little girl's head into her shoulder.

"At least six," Aiden said, checking the magazine of his sidearm. "A professional extraction squad. They aren't here for ransom. They're here to finish what they started in the hotel."

"We can't go down the main stairs," Marcus’s voice crackled over the tactical comms unit clipped to Aiden's collar. "Stairwell B is compromised. They’ve cut the power grids and flooded the ground floor with gas."

Aiden swore, a vicious curse that made Darra flinch. "Follow me," he ordered, motioning for Darra to stay tight behind him.

They sprinted down the dimly lit hallway of the east wing. Every shadow looked like an executioner. The smell of sulfur and smoke drifted up from the lower levels, bringing back the immediate, suffocating terror of the Grand Horizon fire. Darra’s lungs burned, but she locked her jaw, holding Chloe tighter against her chest as her legs pumped down the corridor.

They reached the end of the hall—a dead end paneled in cherry wood. Aiden pressed his palm against a hidden biometric scanner embedded in the wood grain. With a soft click, a secret door slid open, revealing a dark, narrow steel staircase leading down into the subterranean levels of the estate.

"Get in," Aiden pushed them inside.

"What about you?" Darra asked, grabbing his sleeve.

"I'm going to buy you time," Aiden said coldly, raising his weapon as he turned back toward the main corridor. "Marcus has an armored transport waiting at the drainage exit three levels down. Get Chloe out."

"I'm not leaving you to die!" Darra shouted.

Aiden turned, his glacial blue eyes softening for a single, shattering fraction of a second. "You already saved my daughter once, Darra. Let me save mine this time."

Before she could answer, he slammed the heavy steel door shut, locking it from the outside.