“So the device may have been planted earlier.”
Vincent nodded.
“Someone has been tracking her.”
A guard’s voice crackled through Vincent’s earpiece.
He listened, then turned toward the window.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“Unknown vehicle outside the east gate.”
“Plate?”
“Stolen.”
“How many?”
“Two men visible.”
I moved toward the door.
“Lock down the house.”
Vincent caught my arm.
“Adrian, this could be exactly what they want.”
I pulled free.
“Then disappoint them.”
The mansion transformed in seconds.
Steel shutters descended over the lower windows. Guards moved through the hallways with weapons drawn. The electronic gates sealed. Every exterior light blazed against the rain.
Elena ran toward the kitchen.
I followed.
Lily stood near the island, holding a wooden spoon like a sword while the cook crouched beside her.
When she saw me, her face brightened.
“You still have the colors!”
Then she noticed the guards.
Her smile vanished.
“Mommy?”
Elena dropped to her knees and pulled Lily into her arms.
“It’s all right, sweetheart.”
But children hear fear even when adults hide it.
Lily looked at me.
“Is Buttons in trouble?”
I realized I still had the battered rabbit tucked beneath one arm.
“No,” I said. “Buttons is safe.”
A sharp crack sounded outside.
Then another.
Gunfire.
Elena covered Lily’s ears.
The guards shifted into position.
“Safe room,” Vincent ordered.
I took Lily before Elena could protest.
The child clung to my neck, trembling now.
“What was that noise?”
“Thunder.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“But thunder is in the sky.”
“This house is strange.”
That answer seemed to satisfy her for half a second.
Then another burst of gunfire echoed near the gates.
We moved quickly down a hidden corridor behind the pantry. Elena stayed close beside me, one hand pressed to Lily’s back.
The safe room was buried beneath the mansion, protected by reinforced steel and an independent ventilation system.
Once inside, Vincent sealed the door.
Four guards remained with us.
A bank of monitors showed every camera around the property.
Two black SUVs had crashed through the outer barrier. Men in dark clothing moved between trees, firing toward the house.
“They’re not here to negotiate,” Vincent said.
My gaze moved across the screens.
“They’re drawing attention.”
“What?”
“There are too few of them to take the mansion.”
Vincent understood immediately.
“A distraction.”
A warning alarm sounded.
One of the guards turned to the security panel.
“Motion detected in the west service tunnel.”
No outsider knew that tunnel existed.
No outsider should have known.
“Someone gave them the plans,” I said.
Vincent’s face hardened.
The tunnel camera flickered.
Then went black.
Lily began to cry quietly against my shoulder.
I pressed her face into my neck.
“Look at me, piccola.”
She lifted wet eyes.
“Remember what you said about brave people?”
Her lower lip trembled.
“They still need hugs.”
“That’s right.”
I held her tighter.
“So you hug me, and I’ll be brave for both of us.”
Her tiny arms wrapped around my neck.
Elena stared at me as though seeing something she had not expected.
The emergency lights flickered.
A metallic sound came from beyond the safe-room door.
Someone was trying to override the lock.
Vincent drew his weapon.
The guards formed a line.
“Stay behind me,” I told Elena.
“You’re holding Lily.”
“Exactly.”
The lock mechanism clicked once.
Then stopped.
A voice came through the wall speaker.
“Adrian.”
Every muscle in my body froze.
I knew that voice.
It was older, rougher, weakened by pain.
But I knew it.
Elena’s hand flew to her mouth.
“No,” she whispered.
The speaker crackled.
“Adrian, do not open the door.”
My heartbeat thundered.
“Matteo?”
Lily lifted her head.
“Daddy?”
Elena made a broken sound.
Vincent stared at the speaker, his weapon still raised.
The voice returned.
“You have less than two minutes before the ventilation system releases gas.”
One of the guards rushed to the control panel.
“System shows normal.”
“It’s lying,” the voice said. “Someone rewired it months ago.”
I stepped toward the speaker.
“Where are you?”
“No time.”
“You have been gone for five years.”
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Where are you?”
The voice weakened.
“Close.”
A monitor suddenly came alive.
The west tunnel camera displayed a man leaning against the concrete wall.
His hair was longer. A beard covered his face. His clothes were soaked with blood.
But it was him.
Matteo.
Alive.
Elena stumbled toward the screen.
Lily stared at the image.
“That’s Daddy,” she whispered.
My brother lifted his face toward the camera.
“Get Lily out through the north escape shaft,” he said. “Do not trust the guards inside the room.”
The four guards turned toward one another.
Vincent raised his weapon.
No one breathed.
Then one guard fired.
The shot struck Vincent in the shoulder, throwing him against the wall.
