Chapter 3 - THE TRAP CLOSES"Guard!" Elena shrieked, though her voice lacked its earlier confidence. "Marcus! Get up here now!"
Silence answered her. The heavy wrought-iron gate slammed into the floor with a deafening crash, sealing off the staircase and trapping Lorenzo, Leo, and me in the upper wing.
Lorenzo fired three rapid shots at the iron bars, but they were reinforced with ballistic steel. They didn't even dent.
"She’s locked down the estate's internal security grid," Lorenzo cursed, turning sharply to me. His anger vanished, replaced by an urgent, focused intensity. He grabbed my arm, his grip firm but careful not to disturb Leo. "Listen to me closely. The panic room in my master suite is five doors down. If Elena has overridden the main grid, she’s going to flood this wing with gas or worse. We have to move now."
"I... I can't run fast, Mr. Rossi. I'm weak, and Leo—"
"You're not running. You're staying behind me," Lorenzo interrupted, tearing off his expensive silk tie and binding it securely around my hand and Leo’s blanket, anchoring the baby safely against my chest so I wouldn't drop him if things turned physical.
Suddenly, the overhead ventilation grates hissed violently. A thick, sweet-smelling white vapor began to billow out, pouring down into the hallway.
Chloroform.
"Hold your breath!" Lorenzo shouted, ripping his custom suit jacket off, tearing the inner lining away, and pressing it firmly over my nose and mouth while using his own body as a shield against the cascading fog.
"What about you?" I muffled through the fabric.
"I don't go down that easily," he muttered, his eyes bloodshot and blazing with adrenaline.
May you like
He kicked open the door to his master suite, dragging me inside just as the hallway outside dissolved into a milky, opaque sea of toxic gas. He slammed the heavy oak door, throwing three separate deadbolts and engaging the manual steel latch from the inside.
We were safe for the moment—but we were trapped in the inner sanctum of the most dangerous man in Tennessee, with an assassin relative outside and a secret that could get us all killed.
