Chapter 5 - The Second WishBefore Maya could scream, a heavy hand clamped over her mouth, dragging her backward away from the cot where Ellie stirred sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
“Quiet, sweetheart,” a gravelly, unfamiliar voice hissed in her ear, the cold barrel of a pistol pressing against her temple. “Julian sends his regards. Tell him thanks for the audit warning.”
Maya’s eyes widened with sheer terror. She kicked backward, her heel connecting hard with the intruder's shin, causing him to grunt in pain and loosen his grip.
“Mommy?” Ellie whimpered from the bed, sitting up in the dark, her little hands clutching her stuffed rabbit. “Who’s that?”
“Run, Ellie! Hide in the closet!” Maya screamed, breaking free just as the second intruder stepped through the broken window, raising his weapon.
The sound of a gunshot echoed like thunder inside the small room, a bullet embedding itself in the wooden doorframe inches from Maya’s head.
Ellie shrieked, pulling her knees to her chest.
Before the intruder could fire a second shot, the hallway door behind them blew inward off its hinges with a tremendous roar of splintering oak.
Roman DeLuca stood in the doorway.
He wasn't wearing his suit jacket. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing the grim, terrifying reality of a man who had built his empire in blood. In his right hand, he held a heavy Sig Sauer P226, his dark eyes locked onto the intruders with the terrifying, cold fury of an apex predator.
“You’re standing in my house,” Roman’s voice was a lethal, quiet whisper that made the temperature in the room plummet.
The first intruder spun around, raising his pistol toward Roman—
Bang. Bang.
Two clean, precise shots echoed through the confined space. The man dropped his weapon and crumpled to the floor.
The second intruder panicked, lunging toward Maya and grabbing her by the arm, pressing his gun to her neck. “Drop the gun, DeLuca, or the maid dies right now!”
Roman stopped. His dark eyes locked onto the barrel pressed against Maya’s pale throat. For a fraction of a second, a flicker of raw, blinding panic crossed his hardened features.
“Let her go,” Roman commanded, his voice trembling with suppressed violence.
“Drop the weapon!” the man screamed, backing toward the broken window.
Suddenly, a tiny voice piped up from the dark corner of the room.
“Mr. Roman?”
The intruder glanced down, startled.
Ellie stood by the cot, her eyes wide with tears, clutching her rabbit. She looked up at the terrifying mafia boss, her lower lip trembling.
“My second wish,” Ellie whispered, her tiny voice cutting through the ringing silence of the room. “I wish you would make the bad men go away... so Mommy doesn't have to be scared anymore.”
Roman looked at the little girl.
Then he looked at the man holding Maya.
The hesitation lasted less than a heartbeat.
With blinding, inhuman speed, Roman raised his pistol and fired a single shot through the intruder’s shoulder. The man roared in agony, dropping his weapon and releasing Maya as he collapsed to the floor.
Within seconds, half a dozen armed guards flooded through the broken doorway, securing the perimeter and hauling the two wounded men out into the corridor.
Maya sank to her knees, shaking uncontrollably, gasping for air.
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Roman dropped his gun onto the desk, crossed the room in two strides, and dropped down beside Maya and Ellie. He didn't care about the blood on the floor or the broken glass. He pulled Ellie into his arms, burying her small face against his broad chest, while his free arm wrapped tightly around Maya’s trembling shoulders.
“It’s over,” Roman murmured, his voice thick with emotion as he held them both. “You’re safe. No one will ever touch you again.”
