Chapter 3 - The Breach
The heavy double doors of the office burst open before Roman could cross the room. Two of his armed security guards stumbled backward into the room, gasping for air, before collapsing to the floor. Standing in the doorway was a man Emma had never seen before—tall, scar-faced, wearing a tailored charcoal suit that couldn't hide the cruel smirk playing on his lips. Behind him stood four more men, all holding suppressed firearms.
"Well, well, well," the scar-faced man drawled, stepping over the groaning guard. "If it isn't the mighty Roman Callahan, playing babysitter in his ivory tower."
Roman raised his weapon, his aim rock steady. "Vance. You've got five seconds to turn around before I paint this floor with your brains."
Vance chuckled, a dry, grating sound. "Tough talk, Roman. But we both know the rules of the game. Your brother stole something very valuable from our organization. A ledger containing accounts that could put half the syndicates in the Tri-State area behind bars for life. We spent seventeen months looking for Caleb. And when he vanished into thin air, we figured his bloodline would eventually lead us to the prize."
Emma clutched Lily tighter to her chest, pulling the baby off the sofa and crouching behind the heavy mahogany desk. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Caleb stole a ledger? The thought spun wildly in her head. The quiet, gentle mechanic who sang country songs to her belly had been mixed up with organized crime.
"Caleb is gone," Roman said, his voice deadly calm, though his finger hovered dangerously close to the trigger. "Whatever he took, he didn't leave it with me."
"Maybe not with you," Vance said, his eyes scanning the room and finally landing on the trembling woman behind the desk. "But who is that? An old girlfriend? A stray cat you picked off the street? Wait a minute..." Vance squinted, a cruel light entering his eyes. "Look at the baby's face. Well, I'll be damned. Caleb left a parting gift."
"Leave them out of this, Vance," Roman warned, a dangerous edge creeping into his tone. "This is between you and me."
"Nothing is just between us anymore, Callahan," Vance sneered, raising his own gun and aiming it directly at Emma and the infant. "Hand over the ledger, or I start with the brat and work my way up to the mother."
Emma screamed as Vance's finger tightened on the trigger.
In a blur of motion, Roman fired. His bullet missed Vance's chest by inches, shattering the plaster wall behind him and forcing the intruder to duck. Instantly, gunfire erupted in the penthouse. Glass shattered from the floor-to-ceiling windows, raining down like diamonds over the city skyline. Roman dived behind a concrete pillar, returning fire with lethal precision, dropping two of Vance's guards before they could adjust their aim.
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"Emma, run!" Roman roared over the deafening roar of automatic gunfire. "The private stairwell behind my desk! Go!"
Emma didn't hesitate. Adrenaline surged through her veins. Clutching Lily with one arm, she scrambled behind the desk, found the hidden steel push-door Roman had pointed to with his eyes, and threw herself into the dark, echoing stairwell just as a volley of bullets chewed through the wood where she had been sitting a second before.
