Chapter 3 - The Siege of the EstateChaos erupted outside the library doors as the gunshot echoed through the sprawling mansion. Heavy footsteps rushed down the corridor—bodyguards loyal to Dean, planted over the past year to replace Massimo’s original detail.
Massimo did not panic. Fear was a luxury he had discarded decades ago.
With a sudden, explosive burst of upper-body strength, Massimo grabbed the heavy mahogany side table beside his wheelchair and hurled it directly at Dean. The heavy furniture caught Dean off guard, crashing into his knees and sending his first shot wide into the priceless oil painting behind Massimo’s desk.
Dean cursed, stumbling back as Massimo whipped out his Beretta and fired three rapid shots into the door frame, splintering the wood and forcing the incoming guards to scramble for cover in the hallway.
“Secure the perimeter!” Dean roared, clutching his bruised leg as he retreated behind a marble pillar. “Kill everyone in the house! No witnesses—starting with the housekeeper and her kid!”
Massimo’s blood ran cold. Carla and Nina.
He had spent years building an empire of blood and steel, believing that emotional attachments were weaknesses to be excised. But as he thought of little Nina holding that basin of warm water and calling him “Uncle Massimo,” a fierce, protective rage ignited deep within his chest.
He gripped the wheels of his chair, pivoting sharply toward the hidden panic room panel behind the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
Working with frantic precision, Massimo punched the digital security code into the brass keypad concealed behind a leather-bound volume of Shakespeare. With a low hydraulic hiss, a narrow section of the bookshelf swung inward, revealing a reinforced steel corridor equipped with backup communications and a heavy arsenal.
Bullets slammed into the oak bookshelves around him, sending wood splinters flying.
Massimo wheeled himself inside just as a hail of gunfire chewed through the entrance. He slammed the emergency override button, sealing the heavy steel door shut with a resounding thud that muffled the violent war zone raging outside.
Inside the dimly lit panic room, Massimo’s heart hammered against his ribs. His legs remained useless, but his upper body was forged from iron. He strapped an automated tactical vest across his chest, loaded multiple magazines of ammunition into his tactical belt, and grabbed a customized submachine gun.
Through the security monitor feed linked to the estate’s closed-circuit cameras, he watched the horrifying scene unfolding in the staff quarters.
Two armed enforcers hired by Dean were kicking open the door to the kitchen where Carla and Nina had taken refuge.
“Carla!” Massimo muttered, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the control console.
He pulled up the master override panel for the estate’s automated security defenses—a legacy system he had installed years ago, completely independent of the network Dean had managed to compromise.
“Initiate Lockdown Protocol Omega,” Massimo commanded into the encrypted console mic.
Instantly, heavy steel security shutters slammed down over every window and door in the main mansion. Alarms wailed through the halls. In the staff quarters, gas valves automatically cut off, and high-voltage security grids activated across the exterior gardens, trapping the intruders inside an inescapable trap.
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Massimo maneuvered his wheelchair out of the panic room through its secondary exit, which led directly into the subterranean wine cellar beneath the estate.
If Dean wanted a war, he would give him one. And it would end in blood.
