Chapter 5 - Whispers in the Dark
Before I could confront Victor, danger struck the estate.
It was past midnight when the perimeter alarms flickered silently on my desk monitors. A tactical breach team, paid by an unknown buyer, had bypassed the outer gate cameras and cut power to the eastern wing of the mansion.
Red emergency lights flooded the corridors. Outside my study, I heard subtle footfalls moving down the hall toward the children's quarters.
I drew my sidearm and moved quickly through the dark. But when I reached the nursery, the room was already secured from the inside. Clara had acted instantly—she had moved the triplets into the heavy reinforced safe room behind the walk-in closet, locking the steel door behind them just as the intruders breached the floor.
I swept the hallway with two of my loyal bodyguards, taking down the three armed intruders before they could reach the sleeping wing.
When the threat was neutralized, I opened the safe room door. Clara was sitting on the floor, holding all three girls in her arms, shielding their eyes so they wouldn't see the blood or the weapons.
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"They're safe," Clara said, her voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through the room.
Lucia looked out from behind Clara’s shoulder, wide-eyed, watching me lower my weapon and engage the safety. For the first time, she saw me not as a threat, but as the wall standing between her and danger.
