Chapter 4 - The Lion's Gambit
Dominic didn't give up his throne; he ignited a war.
He grabbed an assault rifle from the concealed gun rack beside his desk and loaded heavy magazines into his tactical vest. He knelt in front of me, placing a small, red emergency button into my small hands.
“Lily, listen to me very carefully,” Dominic said, his eyes fixed on mine with absolute intensity. “Stay under this desk. If anyone other than me opens that door, press this button. It will seal you in a safe pod that drops straight into the underground escape tunnel. Do you understand?”
I nodded, clutching the red button and my rabbit. “Don't let the bad man hurt Mommy.”
“Over my dead body.”
The steel door opened just enough for Dominic to slip through, sliding shut behind him with a deafening metallic thud.
Outside, the hallway exploded into chaos. I could hear the rhythmic thunder of Dominic’s rifle, the sharp cracks of returning gunfire, and the heavy thuds of men falling to the floor. Dominic wasn't fighting like a leader behind a defensive line—he was fighting like a madman possessed by vengeance.
Through the security monitors under the desk, I watched him move like a shadow. He cleared the eastern wing single-handedly, dropping three of Vincenzo’s men before they could even raise their weapons.
He cornered Vincenzo on the grand balcony overlooking the main foyer.
“You took four years of my life, brother,” Dominic’s voice echoed across the monitor, cold and sharp as a razor. “You forged her death certificate. You paid off the doctors. You kept her trapped in the servant quarters under heavy sedation so she couldn't remember who I was!”
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Vincenzo backed away toward the railing, holding the purple vial high over the marble floor below.
“Step back, Dominic!” Vincenzo screamed, his polished composure shattering. “One more step and I drop it! She dies, and your precious little bastard grows up an orphan!”
