Chapter 7 - MOTHER’S BLOOD, MOTHER’S LOVE
"DOWN!" Julian screamed, tackling Rose to the floor of the porch as a hail of gunfire perforated the front of the wooden house.
Marcus and Ethan drew their weapons, returning suppressive fire into the surrounding tree line.
Outside, dark tactical vehicles tore up the manicured grass of the farmhouse lawn. Men clad in full combat armor flooded the property, firing ruthlessly into the structure.
"We have to get to the basement!" Ethan shouted over the deafening noise of automatic weapons. "They've set up a localized frequency jammer! We can't call in our private security force!"
Julian hoisted Rose into his arms and sprinted down the hallway as glass shattered around them. They scrambled down the cellar stairs, Marcus kicking the heavy reinforced door shut behind them and throwing the heavy iron bolt into place.
The sound of heavy boots echoed from the floorboards directly above them.
Then, the gunfire stopped.
Complete, chilling silence fell over the farmhouse.
Slowly, heavy footsteps walked across the living room floor directly above the basement trapdoor. The footsteps stopped right on top of the wood.
A deep, cold voice spoke—a voice that carried the terrifying precision of a killer, yet possessed a haunting tone that made Rose’s blood sing.
"Hello, Rose."
Rose stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the wooden ceiling. Tears streamed down her face. "Gabriel..."
"Don't say my name," the voice barked back through the floorboards. "You lost the right to speak my name thirty years ago when you traded me to Arthur Vance for fifty thousand dollars and a comfortable life."
"That is a lie!" Rose cried out, stepping onto the first wooden stair despite Julian trying to hold her back. "Gabriel, listen to me! I never sold you! I went to sleep with you in my arms, and when I woke up, you were gone! I searched for you every day of my life! I cried until my eyes ran dry!"
A dark, bitter laugh echoed from above. "Lie all you want. I saw the bank receipts, Rose. I saw the contract with my father's signature on it."
"The contract was forged by Eleanor Vance!" Julian shouted up toward the ceiling. "She manipulated the files to turn you against your own mother! I am Julian! Arthur Vance was my biological father! My father swapped us to protect you from Eleanor!"
Silence hung in the air for five agonizing seconds.
"A poetic story," Gabriel replied coldly. "But dead men tell no lies, and living men tell nothing else. Step out of the cellar, all of you. Or I breach the floor and burn this house to the ground."
Julian looked at Marcus and Ethan. They were outmatched, outnumbered, and trapped.
"We fight our way out," Marcus whispered, checking his magazine. "We take Gabriel down before he hurts her."
"No!" Rose commanded softly, grabbing Marcus's wrist. "You will not raise a gun against your brother."
"Mother, he's going to kill us!" Ethan pleaded.
"He won't," Rose said, her voice filled with an unshakeable, mystical certainty that only a mother possesses.
She walked past her three adopted sons and reached for the iron bolt of the cellar door.
"Mother, no!" Julian cried.
May you like
Rose pulled the bolt back. The iron screeched loudly in the quiet room.
She pushed the door open and stepped up into the light of the living room, standing entirely unarmed before her biological son.
