Chapter 5 - Shadows Across the Estate Grounds
The rain began around midnight, drumming a relentless tattoo against the leaded glass windows of the private guest wing. Inside the sitting room, the heavy velvet drapes were pulled tight against the storm. Sarah sat on the sofa with Lily asleep against her shoulder, the little girl breathing softly in a deep, exhausted slumber.
I paced near the fireplace, the soft click of my shoes on the hardwood floor the only sound breaking the silence. My phone buzzed in my hand with an encrypted text from my lead security operative, Marcus. The wine glass had been successfully recovered from the banquet hall before the staff cleared the tables, and it was currently sealed in an insulated evidence container on its way to an independent laboratory in Manhattan. But that was only half the battle. Alessandro had resources within the estate staff, and staying in the main house was no longer safe.
A sharp, metallic scrape echoed from the hallway outside the heavy oak door.
I froze, raising a hand to signal Sarah to stay silent. I drew the suppressed firearm from beneath my suit jacket, my thumb sliding the safety off with a faint click. The movement was entirely instinctive, born of a world Sarah had never asked to enter.
Outside, a muffled voice muttered a curse, followed by the soft crunch of heavy boot leather pivoting away from the door. Marcus and his men had intercepted whoever was sent to scout the corridor.
"Dominic?" Sarah whispered, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to remain calm. "Was that...?"
"A scout," I murmured, walking swiftly to the door and locking the deadbolt with a firm twist of the heavy brass key. "Alessandro isn't waiting for morning. He knows the lab results will destroy him, so he's trying to clean the slate tonight."
Sarah looked down at sleeping Lily, her knuckles white where she gripped the fabric of the sofa cushion. "We can't stay here. If they find us—"
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"They won't," I interrupted, my voice resolute. "My private transport is waiting at the south gate. We're moving to the riverside safehouse outside the city. Pack whatever Lily needs. Now."
She nodded once, the fear in her eyes hardening into fierce determination. In that moment, I realized that the cold isolation I had maintained as head of the family was gone; I was no longer just protecting a syndicate, I was protecting my own.
