Chapter 4 - The Mercer Island Fortress
Light spilled into the dark cellar. I cowered back, ready to fight with every ounce of strength left in my body, but then I saw green eyes looking down at me through a blood-spattered face.
"Clara," Declan gasped, breathing heavily. A deep cut ran along his left cheekbone, and his white button-down shirt was stained dark red across his shoulder. "It's over. The house isn't safe. My private security unit is outside."
I scrambled out of the cellar, clutching James. The living room was a scene of utter devastation. Two men lay unconscious and bound on the rug, while three heavily armed men in black uniforms with Declan’s corporate security logo held the perimeter.
"Mr. Rowan, the helicopter is touching down on the athletic field two blocks away," Marcus, Declan's chief of security, reported crisply. "We have secured the street. Mr. Vance has been flagged at all international airports."
Declan didn't answer Marcus. He stepped toward me, his hand hovering near James, visibly shaking. He was bleed, battered, and exhausted, yet he looked at our son with a raw, agonizing reverence.
"Let me carry him," Declan whispered softly. "Please, Clara. Let me protect my son."
I looked at the blood on his shirt, then into his eyes. There was no billionaire tycoon in front of me now. There was only a man who had just risked his life in a snowstorm to stand between a bullet and his family. I carefully placed the blue bundle into his arms.
Declan’s breath hitched. He cradled the six-pound infant against his broad chest, his large, battle-worn hands surrounding James with an astonishing, delicate tenderness. A single tear cut a clear path through the blood and dirt on Declan's cheek.
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"I'm sorry, James," Declan murmured, kissing the soft fuzz on the baby's head. "Your father was a fool. But nobody will ever scare your mother again."
Twenty minutes later, a silent, black helicopter carried us through the blizzard, leaving Maple Street behind and heading toward the dark, heavily fortified waters of Mercer Island—Declan’s private island estate.
