The silence that settled over Room 412 was heavier than the smell of antiseptic and ozone.

"Get down!" Damian yelled, shoving Elena and Leo behind a concrete pillar just as the hallway erupted into a firestorm of bullets.

Damian fired back, his rifle barking in the narrow corridor. The concrete pillar chipped and cracked under the heavy barrage of enemy fire.

"Elena!" Damian shouted over the deafening noise. "There's a manual override lever for the escape tunnel behind that electrical panel. You have to pull it!"

"What about you?" she cried out, holding Leo close as concrete dust rained down on them.

"I'll buy you time! Go!"

Elena didn't hesitate. She dragged herself along the floor, keeping Leo protected under her body, toward the metal panel on the wall.

Damian stood up from behind the pillar, firing a sustained burst of suppressing fire. He hit two of Elias's mercenaries, sending them crashing to the floor. But Elias was smart. He flanked to the right, aiming directly at Elena.

"Elena, watch out!" Damian screamed.

He threw himself in front of her just as Elias fired.

A bullet tore into Damian's shoulder. The impact spun him around, and he fell to one knee, pain exploding through his chest. He dropped his rifle, his vision blurring.

"Damian!" Elena screamed.

She reached the panel, ripped it open, and pulled the heavy red lever. With a loud, grinding screech of metal, the heavy steel security door of the escape tunnel began to slide open.

Elias stepped forward, his gun pointed directly at Damian's head. "It's over, Damian. You're a great leader, but you got soft. Love made you weak."

"No," a voice echoed from the end of the hall. "It was his pride that made him weak."

The mercenaries parted.

Walking down the smoke-filled corridor was a woman dressed in a long, expensive black trench coat. Her blonde hair was perfectly coiffed, her red lipstick striking against her pale skin.

Damian’s breath caught in his throat.

It was Sofia.

She looked exactly as she had three years ago, untouched by the explosion that was supposed to have torn her to pieces. On her left hand, she wore her diamond wedding ring—the very ring Damian had placed on her finger.

"Sofia," Damian whispered, his voice thick with blood and betrayal.

"Hello, Damian," she said, her voice smooth, devoid of any maternal warmth as she looked at Leo, who was crying in Elena's arms. "You look terrible. But then again, you never did know how to handle a crisis."

"How could you do this?" Damian growled, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "He is your son!"

"He is a key to a vault, Damian," Sofia said coldly. "Our father's money belongs to me. Not to you, and certainly not to a child who doesn't even know what three hundred million dollars means. I gave him life. The least he can do is secure my future."

She looked at Elena, her eyes narrowing with distaste. "And you. My pathetic little sister. Always playing the hero. You should have stayed in Russia cleaning floors."

"You're a monster, Sofia," Elena spat, her eyes burning with hatred. "Our father would despise what you've become."

"Our father is dead," Sofia said. She turned to Elias. "Grab the boy. Kill the other two. Let's finish this."

Elias stepped toward Elena to rip Leo from her arms.

But Damian wasn't done fighting.

With a roar of pure, primal rage, Damian lunged forward, grabbing Elias’s legs and slamming him to the ground. Elias’s gun skattered across the floor. Damian pinned him, unleashing a barrage of heavy, blood-soaked punches into Elias's face.

"Run!" Damian roared to Elena. "Get Leo out of here!"

Elena looked at Damian, bleeding and fighting for their lives. She grabbed Leo, slipped into the escape tunnel, and hit the emergency close button from the inside.

The heavy steel door began to slide shut.

Through the narrowing gap, Elena saw Sofia drawing a small, silver pistol from her coat, aiming it at Damian’s back while he wrestled with Elias.