Chapter 9 - The Shadow at the Estate
When they pulled through the gates of the Manhattan estate late Sunday night, the air felt different. Heavier.
Dominic’s phone buzzed in the center console before the car even came to a complete stop. He glanced at the screen, and his entire demeanor shifted instantly. The relaxed, brooding man from the highway vanished, replaced by an apex predator locked onto a target.
"What is it?" Sophia asked, feeling a cold knot form in her stomach.
"Marco," Dominic muttered, answering the call on speaker. "Report."
"Boss," Marco’s voice came through the dash, tight and strained. "We have a situation at the east perimeter. Someone tried to probe the security grid about an hour after you crossed the state line. We caught one of them."
Dominic’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. "Who sent them?"
"Bellini’s crew," Marco said grimly. "They figured out you left the city unprotected for a family event in Pennsylvania. They thought you went soft, Boss."
Sophia’s blood ran cold. Bellini. The name she had heard Dominic murmur in the kitchen months ago. The rival syndicate. The war she had tried so desperately to pretend didn't exist.
"Keep the girl and the child in the main foyer," Dominic ordered, his voice dropping into an absolute, freezing authority. "Lock down the inner perimeter. I’m coming in."
He hung up before Marco could reply.
Dominic turned to Sophia, his eyes searching her face with fierce urgency. "Sophia. Listen to me very carefully. You and Lily are staying in the panic-room suite behind my private study until I clear the grounds. No exceptions."
"Dominic, no," Sophia pleaded, grabbing his arm. "If Bellini’s men are here, this isn't just a game anymore. We need to leave—"
"There is nowhere safer in this city than behind my walls," Dominic interrupted, his voice fierce, cutting through her panic. He reached across the console, his hand cupping the back of her neck, pulling her forward until their foreheads touched. "I brought you into my house. I swore I would protect you. Let me do my job."
Before she could answer, the front gates of the estate echoed with the muffled, distant pop of a silenced gunshot.
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Panic erupted in the back seat as Lily stirred, whimpering in her sleep.
Dominic didn't hesitate. He killed the headlights, unbuckled his seatbelt, and drew a sleek, matte-black firearm from a hidden holster beneath his jacket, his eyes locked on the dark shadows stretching across the mansion lawn.
