Chapter 3 - The Man at the GateEmma screamed.
I grabbed her.
Alessandro wheeled toward the door.
“Stay here.”
Another gunshot echoed through the mansion.
Then a third.
Security alarms erupted.
Red lights flashed across the hallway.
Victor burst into the room.
“Sir!”
Alessandro’s voice became ice.
“How many?”
“Two confirmed shooters. Possibly three.”
Victor looked at me.
“Take the girl.”
Alessandro stopped him.
“No.”
Victor stared.
“Sir?”
“Nora stays here.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“What?”
He turned to me.
“Because they aren't here for me.”
My blood froze.
“They're here for Emma.”
The mansion doors slammed shut downstairs.
Footsteps thundered through corridors.
Emma buried her face in my chest.
Alessandro reached for a hidden control beneath his desk.
A section of the bookshelf moved.
Behind it was a narrow metal door.
“Get inside.”
I stared.
“You built a panic room?”
“I built it after the first attempt on my life.”
Victor pulled a gun.
“I'll hold the corridor.”
“You won't.”
Alessandro pointed toward the hidden door.
“Get them out.”
“Sir…”
“Now.”
Victor hesitated.
Then obeyed.
We entered the passage.
Alessandro followed.
I stared at him.
“You're coming?”
“Yes.”
“You can't walk.”
His eyes hardened.
“I've never needed to.”
We moved through the dark corridor.
Emma clung to me.
Then we heard footsteps behind us.
Fast.
Too fast.
Victor shouted from the other side.
“Go!”
A bullet struck the metal door.
I screamed.
Alessandro shoved me forward.
“Run.”
We reached the end of the passage and entered a garage.
Three black SUVs waited.
A driver opened the rear door.
I pushed Emma inside.
Alessandro followed.
Victor slammed the door.
The SUV tore out of the underground garage.
I held Emma against me.
She was crying.
“Mommy…”
“I’m here.”
Alessandro sat across from us.
His face was pale.
Blood streaked his white sleeve.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You?”
He glanced down.
“Not mine.”
A phone began vibrating.
Alessandro looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“My brother.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes.”
He answered.
A man's voice came through the speaker.
“You've got twenty minutes.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“The little girl is not supposed to leave the house.”
My blood turned to ice.
Alessandro's voice was quiet.
“You fired at my mansion.”
“I warned you.”
“Who are you working for?”
A pause.
Then the voice laughed.
“You already know.”
The call ended.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Your brother wants Emma?”
He looked out the window.
“He isn't my brother.”
“What?”
“He’s my uncle.”
That made no sense.
“Why would your uncle want my daughter?”
Alessandro looked at Emma.
“Because your daughter is the only person left who can prove what happened twelve years ago.”
“What happened?”
He did not answer.
The SUV suddenly stopped.
Victor opened the front door.
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone is blocking the road.”
Alessandro looked ahead.
Three vehicles had stopped across the street.
Men stepped out with guns.
One of them raised his weapon.
Then Emma whispered something.
“That's him.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
She pointed through the glass.
“The man who came to Daddy’s house.”
My blood ran cold.
Because I knew that man too.
May you like
He had stood beside Daniel’s coffin.
And I had thought he was the funeral director.
