The sound of breaking glass from the upper floor echoed sharply across the quiet courtyard, slicing through the heavy tension like a razor. Ethan didn't flinch. His phone remained pressed to his ear, his knuckles white as his grip tightened on the device. The color had completely vanished from his face, leaving his skin the shade of old marble.

The first explosion ripped through the western security gate with a concussive roar that shook the heavy stone foundations of the mansion. Shouts echoed across the courtyard, followed immediately by the sharp, rhythmic chatter of suppressed automatic gunfire.

“They’re in!” Vance’s voice crackled over the handheld radio from the main foyer. “North courtyard breach! They’re using thermal breaching charges!”

“Hold the main staircase!” Ethan shouted back into his comms, drawing his twin tactical pistols. “Do not let them past the second-floor landing!”

Upstairs, a muffled cry echoed down the corridor. My heart leaped into my throat.

“Noah!” I gasped, abandoning the command center and sprinting toward the private family quarters before Ethan could stop me.

I burst through the door to Noah’s bedroom just as the glass window overlooking the terrace shattered inward in a glittering cascade of destruction. A masked operative in full tactical gear dropped silently through the window frame, a suppressed assault rifle raised and sweeping toward the bed.

Without thinking, I raised the compact sidearm Ethan had given me and squeezed the trigger twice.

Bang! Bang!

The intruder stumbled backward, his tactical vest absorbing the impact, but the sudden shock threw him off balance, sending him crashing over the broken window sill and down onto the stone patio below.

“Clara!” Ethan yelled, rushing into the room behind me, his weapon drawn and scanning the shadows. He saw the fallen operative, then looked at me, wide-eyed. “Are you hit?”

“I’m fine!” I panted, rushing to the bed where Noah was huddled under the heavy blankets, wide-eyed and shaking with terror. I threw my arms around him, shielding his small body against mine. “You’re okay, buddy. I’ve got you.”

“Clara, they’re breaching the front doors!” Vance shouted over the radio, his voice frantic. “There are too many of them—!”

Static hissed violently across the channel, cutting Vance off mid-sentence.